(EnergyAsia, May 20, Wednesday) — Dragged down by “deep recessions” in the developed countries, the world economy will shrink by 0.5% to 1% this year for its first decline in 60 years, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Despite major stimulus packages announced by advanced economies and several emerging markets, trade volumes have shrunk rapidly,...

(EnergyAsia, May 20, Wednesday) — India’s largest privately owned oil company, Reliance Industries, said it is giving up the “export-oriented status” of its Jamnagar refinery to enable it to sell into the growing domestic fuels market. With the change, Reliance will be allowed to sell fuel at its 1,433 retail stations across India while continuing...

(EnergyAsia, May 20, Wednesday) — Africa’s oil refiners are moving to reduce the sulphur content in their fuels, according to the findings of a recent study. The move is welcome news as more Africans are choosing to live in the cities which are increasingly congested with traffic and experiencing air pollution, said the joint study...

(EnergyAsia, May 20, Wednesday)–ExxonMobil Chemical said it has begun constructing a technology centre in Shanghai to support business growth in China and enhance the delivery of innovative solutions to customers in the region. The US$70-million centre’s first phase is expected to start up next year. The 27,000-sq m facility will be built and operated by...

(EnergyAsia, May 20, Wednesday) — Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPC) said it will start up a new 320km pipeline linking the Habshan field to the port of Fujairah to bypass the busy Strait of Hormuz by August 2011. The pipeline, with a carrying capacity of 1.5 million b/d, is aimed at enhancing the...

(EnergyAsia, May 20, Wednesday) — Venezuela is on course to boost its crude oil exports to China to one million barrels per day by 2013, up from currently around 380,000 b/d. The Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chavez, which has been actively courting China, insists that this is a realistic target as it plans to...

(EnergyAsia, May 20, Wednesday) — Malaysia’s Shell Refining Company Berhad said its first quarter net profit fell 8.1% year-on-year to RM113 million as a result of declining refining margins. (US$1=RM3.5). Dragged down by lower oil prices and reduced refinery output, revenue almost halved to RM1.8 billion. The 51%-owned subsidiary of the Anglo Dutch major reported...

(EnergyAsia, May 20, Wednesday) — France’s AREVA said its transmission and distribution division (T&D) and Shanghai Electric (SEC), a leading equipment manufacturer in China, have started up a ‘green’ ultra high voltage transformer factory in Wuhan city. Designed and built in accordance with the principles of energy saving and carbon dioxide emission reduction, AREVA said...

(EnergyAsia, May 19, Tuesday) — Malaysia’s exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) hit a record 22.87 million tonnes last year. This was up 0.9% from an already impressive 2007. Malaysia, the world’s second- biggest exporter of LNG, said its LNG export earnings surged 56% to RM40.7 billion owing to rising global demand for the clean...

(EnergyAsia, May 19, Tuesday) — Venezuela and Japan have agreed to cooperate on developing several oil and gas projects. They will jointly develop the oil fields in Venezuela’s Orinoco belt, start work on a new gas field, and also cooperate on upgrading oil refineries. The agreement was struck during a recent visit by Venezuelan president...

(EnergyAsia, May 19, Tuesday) — In an effort to raise energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, China plans to shut down many of its smaller refineries by 2011. The move is aimed at privately owned ageing refineries of less than 20,000 b/d of capacity. Most are located in Shandong and Shaanxi provinces. Last year,...

(EnergyAsia, May 19, Tuesday) — Having fallen to about a sixth of its peak price from last summer, spot prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) on the world market could fall further this year. In a recent report, Francisco Blanch, a Merrill Lynch energy analyst, said it could fall further from current spot prices of...

(EnergyAsia, May 19, Tuesday) — US experts continue to debate the reasons for last year’s massive spike in crude oil prices to more than US$147 per barrel in July. At a recent conference in Washington DC, the experts at the US Energy Information Administration’s 2009 annual conference, however, agreed that speculators were not to be...

(EnergyAsia, May 19, Tuesday) — The joint venture between Japan’s INPEX and France’s Total will soon start work on the front end engineering and design (FEED) for the development of the Ichthys field, located in the Browse Basin about 200 km off the coast of northwestern Australia and 850 kilometres to the west of Darwin....

(EnergyAsia, May 19, Tuesday) — GE Hitachi (GEH) Nuclear Energy said it has signed two agreements with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) to collaborate on building multiple GEH-designed nuclear reactors to help meet India’s energy production goals. GEH, a world-leading nuclear technology and services provider, signed separate...

(EnergyAsia, May 19, Tuesday) — Chinese oil companies could add almost 13 million b/d of new refining capacity over the next decade, said analysts. This would potentially set up China as an important exporter of refined oil products as the country’s domestic consumption is projected to grow by only 3% per year in the coming...

(EnergyAsia, May 18, Monday) — China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) and Kuwait Petroleum International have agreed to jointly build a US$9 billion oil refinery in China’s southern Guangdong province. The 300,000 b/d plant, the single largest foreign investment, will likely include a third partner, which Chinese officials have identified as a major oil company...

(EnergyAsia, May 18, Monday) — The recent outbreak of swine flu around the world is not expected to cut into global oil markets, US research firm Newedge Group said in a recent report. The 2002/2003 SARS crisis hit oil markets hard, led by lower demand for aviation fuel. However, SARS is not a comparable precedent...

(EnergyAsia, May 18, Monday) — EnergyAustralia, Australia’s largest electricity distribution network, has agreed with IBM to jointly implement an energy network monitoring and control solution. One of the main projects calls for the roll-out of 12,000 sensing devices throughout the electricity distribution network, creating a smart grid within EnergyAustralia’s overall intelligent network programme, the Distribution...

(EnergyAsia, May 18, Monday) — The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has issued a circular with a revised recommendation on marine fuel oils for ship owners, managers, operators, agents, masters, crew members, surveyors, oil cargoes and marine fuel oil suppliers and operators of oil handling facilities. The circular is aimed at updating the...

(EnergyAsia, May 18, Monday) — Thailand’s leading coal miner, Banpu, said its first-quarter earnings rose by 132% to 4.798 billion baht, thanks to hedging gains and the full operation of a 50%-owned power plant in China. (US$1=35 baht). Banpu said its coal business generated a net profit of 3.632 billion baht, an increase of 2.872...

(EnergyAsia, May 18, Monday) — The global crisis has hit Asia hard, and economic recovery will not take place before mid-2010, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said today in its latest report on the Asia Pacific region. The IMF said that Asian growth will decelerate to 1.3% this year before rebounding to 4.3% in 2010,...

(EnergyAsia, May 18, Monday) — The impact of the global economic crisis on Asia has been swifter and often deeper than for other regions, partly because of Asia’s export dependence and close integration into the global economy, said a new report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). GDP in emerging Asia, excluding China and India,...