(EnergyAsia, October 28, Wednesday) — Saudi Arabia’s state oil giant Aramco is set to award a contract to expand 12 bulk storage plants that will serve as major fuel distribution points across the country.  Local firm MS al Suwaidi Industrial Services Company is said to be the frontrunner to win the contract for which a...

(EnergyAsia, October 28, Wednesday) — Oil major BP has been given the green light to build a 50-million-litre fuel storage terminal at Port Howard in New Zealand despite objections from residents near the site. The proposed project, which was subject to a four-day consent hearing, will consist of seven new storage tanks to be built...

(EnergyAsia, October 28, Wednesday) — The Indonesian government has approved plans by Japan’s Inpex Holdings Inc to build a US$10-billion floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.  Indonesian state-owned gas and oil giant Pertamina is seeking a 30% stake in the 4.5-million-tonne-per-year plant which is expected to be completed in 2016.  Inpex is currently the sole...

(EnergyAsia, October 28, Wednesday) — Singapore’s EMS Energy Limited said its subsidiary, Engineering & Marine Services (Pte) Ltd, has secured a letter of intent (LOI) from Vietnam’s Hoang Long Joint Operating Company for the manufacture and supply of offshore pedestal cranes for use in an offshore oilfield in that country. The first crane to be...

(EnergyAsia, October 27, Tuesday) — Keppel Shipyard Limited, a unit of Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine, said it is on track to deliver the first floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the US Gulf of Mexico to BW Pioneer Ltd, an affiliate of Oslo-listed BW Offshore. The vessel, BW Pioneer, will be turret-moored...

(EnergyAsia, October 18) — Oilfield services and equipment suppliers will be under pressure to consolidate and merge given the current hardware glut, warns the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). According to the consulting firm, there are now close to 570 offshore rigs on the market with more than 1,000 rigs due to be delivered. By 2012,...

(EnergyAsia, October 27, Tuesday) — The world’s oil and gas reserves fell 0.4% last year despite a 21% surge in exploration and production spending, said oil and gas research firm IHS Herold Inc and upstream corporate advisor Harrison Lovegrove & Co Ltd, a Standard Chartered group company Their joint survey of 232 oil and gas...

(EnergyAsia, October 27, Tuesday) — The world’s biggest oil producers and Asia’s leading economies are in talks to reduce or even stop using the US dollar as the reference currency for oil trading over the next decade. According to various media reports, finance ministers and central bank governors of Gulf Arab states have been holding...

(EnergyAsia, October 27, Tuesday) — Rising oil prices could well lift the gloom off Singapore’s offshore and marine sector as oil and gas companies prepare to resume exploration and production activities around the world. The Singapore companies which provide a range of services to the oil industry including rig and shipbuilding, tanker repairs and conversion,...

(EnergyAsia, October 27, Tuesday) — Chinese oil demand climbed out of its August trough to 33.8 million metric tons in September, as refiners in the world’s second largest oil consumer raised their crude processing rates and at the same time, the country’s net refined product imports went up, said energy media Platts. Analysing official data,...

(EnergyAsia, October 27, Tuesday) — Global oil supplies will peak within a few years but this will also see the end of the oil age as demand starts to fall, said a report by Deutsche Bank. According to the bank’s “The Peak Oil Market” report, underinvestment in finding new oil supplies will bring about a...

(EnergyAsia, October 27, Tuesday) — Competition for natural gas reserves will raise the cost of Chevron’s planned Wheatstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Western Australia to cost more than US$20 billion to develop, according to a local media report. Citing figures put out by US independent upstream company Apache, The Australian newspaper said it...

(EnergyAsia, October 26, Monday) — State-run Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC) has announced plans to raise its crude oil stockpile to 101 million barrels by 2013 from around 82 million barrels now. The company is also managing nearly 39 million barrels for international traders at some of its terminals as part of the national progamme...

(EnergyAsia, October 26, Monday) — An underground fuel storage tank recently blew up in Qatar’s Hilal area, injuring more than 50 people including workers travelling on a passing bus which was badly damaged. The diesel tank located below a retail station exploded during the morning rush hour. Police believe a build-up of gas was responsible...

(EnergyAsia, October 26, Monday) — Singapore’s marine fuel trade showed a surprising three percent growth in the first nine months of the year, confounding expectations that it would be dragged down by the gloom overhanging the global bunker and shipping industries. Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said the port handled more than 27...

(EnergyAsia, October 26, Monday) — The market for offshore supply vessels faces tough conditions but some niches are underserved, according to industry practitioners at the recent Marine Money Asia conference in Singapore. With oil prices rising again after breaking $80 per barrel, there remains healthy demand for accommodation and warehousing vessels as a result of...

(EnergyAsia, October 26, Monday) — The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the UN’s shipping body, has approved non-compulsory technical and operational measures to reduce greenhouse emissions from ships. The voluntary guidelines include an energy efficiency design index for new ships and existing vessels. Environmental groups, however, said the approved guidelines were disappointing and should have been...

(EnergyAsia, October 26, Monday) — Australia’s Marstel Terminals plans to invest up to A$10 million to rehabilitate and redevelop eight bulk storage tanks at Bundaberg Port in Queensland state that have been unused for five years. (US$1=A$1.08). The tanks were in relatively good condition when Marstel acquired them from Mobil Oil Australia in September last...

(EnergyAsia, October 26, Monday) — Government support for Chinese and South Korean shipbuilders is having a negative impact on the global shipbuilding industry which is already reeling from slumping vessel prices and freight rates. Industry officials warn that the world’s two largest shipbuilding countries are disregarding weak market condition and are set to flood the...

(EnergyAsia, October 26, Monday) — US major Chevron Corp said Apache Julimar Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of US-based Apache Corp, and KUFPEC Australia (Julimar) Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of the Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company ksc, have joined its Wheatstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) project as natural gas suppliers and 25% equity partners in the...

(EnergyAsia, October 23, Friday) — EOC Limited, a Singapore-based operator of offshore construction and floating production vessels, said its first floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, the Lewek Arunothai, has begun full production in the Gulf of Thailand. The vessel has also been accepted by its client, a listed state-owned upstream company supplying oil...

(EnergyAsia, October 23, Friday) — Hengyang Petrochemical Logistics Limited, a petrochemical storage and transportation services provider in China’s Yangtze Delta region, said its recent initial public offering of 18 million new shares at S$0.38 each was fully subscribed. The company said the IPO raised approximately S$6.8 million as a result of the strong interest shown...

(EnergyAsia, October 23, Friday) — Singapore’s state industrial landlord JTC Corp is deciding over whether to build large floating oil storage facilities or reclaim more land to address the problem of space shortage on the oil and petrochemicals hub of Jurong Island. An earlier study by JTC showed that establishing a very large floating structure...

(EnergyAsia, October 23, Friday) — As a sign of the continuing weakeness in the shipbuilding market, Cosco Corporation (Singapore) Limited, a subsidiary of China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company, has deferred instalment payments for a client for the construction of another vessel.  Cosco said that its 51%-owned subsidiary, Cosco Nantong, has agreed to accept payment upon...

(EnergyAsia, October 23, Friday) — Chevron Philippines is planning to either build a regional crude oil storage and blending facility or a 300-MW natural gas-fired power plant on its 120-hectare San Pascual, Batangas property south of Manila city.  The investment decision is being studied following the government’s 25-year renewal of Chevron’s lease of various parcels...