(EnergyAsia, October 16 2013, Wednesday) — Four years after venturing into Kenya’s oil refining sector, India’s Essar Energy plc said is exiting the business with the sale of its 50% stake in Kenya Petroleum Refineries Ltd to the government of the East African nation for US$5 million. Essar Energy, which is listed in London, said...
(EnergyAsia, October 16 2013, Wednesday) — As Russia continues shifting its political and economic focus to Asia, its energy trade with China could quadruple to over 100 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) by 2025, predicts consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. Agreements for oil, coal and power supply have already been struck and while negotiations on...
(EnergyAsia, October 14 2013, Monday) — Canada and Japan last Friday signed a “statement on oil and gas cooperation” to raise their bilateral energy relationship. http://energycontents.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=301 According to Canada’s Department of Natural Resource (NRCan), the two governments have agreed to establish a policy dialogue and annual high-level meeting to encourage cooperation on trade and investment...
(EnergyAsia, October 14 2013, Monday) — Australia’s Orpheus Energy said it has secured additional loading capacity with port operator PT Suryacitra Mahkota Mandiri to barge coal from nearby mines in South Kalimantan in Indonesia starting this month. Orpeus Energy said it has added exclusive loading capacity to barge 40,000 tonnes of coal per month from...
(EnergyAsia, October 14 2013, Monday) — Mechel OAO, a leading Russian mining and metals company, said its application for US$2.5 billion to finance the first-phase development of a coal project has been approved by the supervisory board of the Vnesheconombank’s (VEB). The loan, payable over 13.5 years with a grace period till 2017, will be...
(EnergyAsia, October 14 2013, Monday) — Australia’s Orpheus Energy said it has secured additional loading capacity with port operator PT Suryacitra Mahkota Mandiri to barge coal from nearby mines in South Kalimantan in Indonesia starting this month. http://energycontents.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=301 Orpeus Energy said it has added exclusive loading capacity to barge 40,000 tonnes of coal per month...
(EnergyAsia, October 14 2013, Monday) — Canada and Japan last Friday signed a “statement on oil and gas cooperation” to raise their bilateral energy relationship. According to Canada’s Department of Natural Resource (NRCan), the two governments have agreed to establish a policy dialogue and annual high-level meeting to encourage cooperation on trade and investment opportunities...
(EnergyAsia, October 11 2013, Friday) — The organiser of the Gastech Conference & Exhibition is inviting students to apply for its programme which will take place during the event in Seoul, South Korea on March 24-27 2014. http://energycontents.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=301 Established in 2006, the Gastech Student Programme is designed to facilitate potential careers in the gas industry....
(EnergyAsia, October 11 2013, Friday) — The US must better plan its domestic energy production as oil, gas and nuclear projects are increasingly competing in areas that are struggling with shrinking water supplies, said a Massachusetts-based civil society. In a research report prepared by Synapse Energy Economics, the Civil Society Institute (CSI) singled out coal-fired...
(EnergyAsia, October 10 2013, Thursday) — Following agreements with two Russian port operators, Australia’s Aspire Mining said it has secured export routes to Europe and northern Asia for its fully-owned Ovoot coking coal project in Mongolia. http://energycontents.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=301 Aspire’s deal with Russia’s OTECO, the Taman Port operator on the Black Sea, will enable it to load...
(EnergyAsia, October 10 2013, Thursday) — More than half of China’s proposed 363 coal-fired power plants are slated to be built in areas of high or extremely high water stress, said Washington DC, US-based World Resources Institute (WRI). http://energycontents.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=301 “If these plants are built, they could further strain already-scarce resources, threatening water security for China’s...
(EnergyAsia, October 10 2013, Thursday) — Canada’s Prophecy Coal said it has added another customer to its Ulaan Ovoo mine in Mongolia with an agreement for the supply of 30,000 tonnes of thermal coal. The Vancouver, British Columbia firm said the unnamed “new customer with substantial presence in the region” will begin lifting the coal...
(EnergyAsia, October 9 2013, Wednesday) — With the support of Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority, Bureau Veritas (BV) has started up its Deepwater Technology Research Centre (DTRC) to provide advanced technical solutions and innovations to clients in the Asia-Pacific region. Using BV’s software tools, the centre’s engineers and experts will be conducting applied research in...
(EnergyAsia, October 9 2013, Wednesday) — US Alaska state is the focus of renewed investor interest with Shell planning a major oil project while an ExxonMobil-led group has reported progress in its plan to develop an export-oriented liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal. According to consultant Douglas Westwood, Shell would have to invest as much as...
(EnergyAsia, October 9 2013, Wednesday) — Myanmar’s electricity supply system is being expanded and upgraded through a combination of aid and technical assistance from the governments of Japan and Norway working with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) while the World Bank has approved an interest-free loan for a power plant upgrade. According to the ADB,...
(EnergyAsia, October 8 2013, Tuesday) — This is an edited version of an article by Weerawat Chantanakome, CEO of the Brunei National Energy Research Institute (BNERI). The energy efficiency practice in Southeast Asia is still in its infancy stage, even though the region’s energy intensity – the amount of energy used to produce each dollar...
(EnergyAsia, October 8 2013, Tuesday) — In a groundbreaking move with one of the world’s most protected oil and gas markets, Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with two subsidiaries of Mexico’s state PEMEX to jointly develop, own and operate a shipyard in the North American country to build...
(EnergyAsia, October 8 2013, Tuesday) — Iran is expected to award contracts to Chinese and South Korean firms to help revamp two domestic refineries. According to Iranian news reports, China’s Sinopec and an unnamed South Korean firm will provide engineering services in the US$1.5 billion expansion and upgrade of the 300,000 b/d Isfahan refinery located...
(EnergyAsia, October 7 2013, Monday) — Blumont Group Ltd, a Singapore-listed company that started off in the Internet business before venturing to provide sterilisation services, has been suspended and placed on designated watch after an aborted attempt to acquire an Australian coal miner for S$146 million. (US$1=S$1.25). Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) said it will lift...
(EnergyAsia, October 7 2013, Monday) — India has started exporting electricity to Bangladesh through a new transmission line, making this the first high voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnection between two countries in South Asia. From October 5, the trading arm of NTPC Ltd, India’s largest generating utility, began supplying electricity to the Bangladesh Power Development...
(EnergyAsia, October 7 2013, Monday) — Coal India Limited (CIL) said it produced 200 million tonnes of coal in the April-October half of fiscal 2013, three percent short of target, but 4.7% more compared with the same period last year. The company blamed labour strife, weather conditions, theft and protests by local groups for disrupting...
(EnergyAsia, October 4 2013, Friday) — The world’s newest major oil refinery-petrochemicals complex started up last month in Saudi Arabia’s Jubail city with the export of a fuel oil cargo on September 23. Saudi Aramco Total Refinery & Petrochemicals Co (Satorp), named after its two partners, shipped out a second cargo of diesel a few...
(EnergyAsia, October 4 2013, Friday) — Chevron Corp said it has sold off 85% of its entitlement in the Wheatstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Australia after signing a 20-year deal to supply Japan’s Tohoku Electric Power Company Inc. Chevron and the Australian subsidiaries of Apache Energy and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company will...
(EnergyAsia, October 4 2013, Friday) — Warning that India’s power supply shortages are set to worsen, Greenpeace said Coal India Limited (CIL) has overstated the size of its reserves by around 16% and is failing to replenish its extractable coal. CIL, with an 80% share of domestic production, has only 18.2 billion tonnes of extractable...
(EnergyAsia, October 3 2013, Thursday) — An Australian Securities Exchange-listed energy firm which claims to have one of the world’s largest hydrocarbon reserves is seeking to pull out of the Sydney-based bourse to list in Singapore. Queensland state’s oil, shale and coal company Linc Energy has invited shareholders to vote at an extraordinary general meeting...