(EnergyAsia, September 10 2013, Tuesday) — Australian engineering firm Thiess said it has secured a A$1.8 billion contract from coal seam gas producer QGC to construct gas compression facilities and associated works for its liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the Surat Basin in Queensland state. (US$1=A$1.10). In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange,...
(EnergyAsia, September 10 2013, Tuesday) — GE Oil & Gas, a unit of the US engineering solutions giant, said it will relocate its global headquarters from Florence in Italy to London in England next January. Florence will remain the global headquarters for GE Oil & Gas Turbomachinery Products & Services, a more than $6 billion...
(EnergyAsia, September 10 2013, Tuesday) — With the resounding September 7 election of a new Australian government under conservative Tony Abbott, the mining lobby has won a protracted battle to repeal the controversial carbon tax implemented by the previous Labour Party administration. The tax, proposed and implemented by Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard who took...
(EnergyAsia, September 9 2013, Monday) — Canada’s Prophecy Coal Corp said it has secured new contracts from several buyers totalling more than 30,000 tonnes per month for coal supply from its Ulaan Ovoo mine in Mongolia. The Vancouver, British Columbia miner said the buyers include the owners and operators of cement plants, a metallurgical plant,...
(EnergyAsia, September 9 2013, Monday) — Upstream company Interra Resources has made its largest acquisition to date while clean energy expert DNV KEMA and oilfield specialist Glacier Energy have started up regional operations in Singapore. Singapore Exchange-listed Interra Resources said it has agreed to pay US$78.5 million to acquire Indonesia’s PT Benakat Barat Petroleum (BBP)...
(EnergyAsia, September 9 2013, Monday) — While the West continues its debate on whether to go to war against Syria, China wrapped up major oil and gas deals with Russia, Kazakhstan and its leading natural gas supplier, Turkmenistan, the the past week. Chinese President Xi Jinping launched his hectic schedule with a two-day trip to...
(EnergyAsia, September 6 2013, Friday) — The economy of resource-rich Kyrgyzstan will grow by around 7.4% this year, reversing a 0.9% contraction last year, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The landlocked Central Asian state was dealt a major setback last year when its largest investor, Canada’s Centerra Gold, slashed production by 70% following a...
(EnergyAsia, September 6 2013, Friday) — In the on-going battle over control of Vietnam’s vital coal industry, state trader Vinacomin has won the latest round against the power industry and the country’s business groups. The Finance Ministry has acceded to demands by Vinacomin, the country’s main coal exporter, to reinstate the previous 10% tax rate...
(EnergyAsia, September 6 2013, Friday) — Asia’s largest physical jet fuel trader said it is venturing into fuel oil, the region’s main oil product, with the signing of a three-year lease to store refined products on Singapore’s Jurong Island. China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corporation Ltd (CAO) said it will lease five tanks with a combined...
(EnergyAsia, September 5 2013, Thursday) — Australia’s BHP Billiton said it has started up its ninth metallurgical coal mine with the opening of the 4.5-million tonnes/year Daunia operations in central Queensland state. The US$1.4 billion mine, which was delivered several months early and US$250 million under budget, is among seven that BHP equally owns and...
(EnergyAsia, September 5 2013, Thursday) — South Korea’s steel and power producer, Posco, said it and Mongolia’s largest conglomerate, MCS, will jointly own and operate a US$2 billion plant to produce liquid fuels from coal. Their newly established Baganuur Energy Corp will build the “clean energy” plant in the Baganuur district of Mongolia’s Ulan Bator...
(EnergyAsia, September 5 2013, Thursday) — The Chinese government has taken its widening campaign against corruption to the powerful oil industry, implicating senior executives from state-owned companies and their contacts. The Communist Party has relieved Jiang Jiemin, a former chairman of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and President of PetroChina, of his positions as director and...
(EnergyAsia, September 4 2013, Wednesday) — European energy group GDF Suez said it and consortium partners have been awarded a contract to build and operate a 415 coal-fired power plant with a steam capacity of 587MW in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator. GDF Suez, Japanese trading house Sojitz Corp, South Korean power producer Posco...
(EnergyAsia, September 4 2013, Wednesday) — In separate analyses, two environmental lobby groups have accused the palm oil sector and its leading members of destroying Indonesia’s sizeable rainforests and causing record air pollution in Southeast Asia The industry was the single largest driver of deforestation in Indonesia between 2009 and 2011, accounting for about a...
(EnergyAsia, September 4 2013, Wednesday) — Ghana’s trade with China, now larger than its dealings with the US, is on course to exceed last year’s record US$5.43 billion in coming years as the African state ramps up oil production and exports. Ghana, which only began producing oil in 2010, has been a major recipient of...
(EnergyAsia, September 3 2013) — in Singapore, Crystal Yeo has rejoined energy education and training firm The Oxford Princeton Programme as regional sales manager for the Asia-Pacific region while energy efficiency and customer engagement company Opower has opened its Asia Pacific headquarters as part of its global expansion. Before rejoining Oxford Princeton, Ms Yeo, who...
(EnergyAsia, September 3 2013, Tuesday) — Canada’s SouthGobi Resources Ltd is looking to revive the fortunes of its Mongolia-focused coal activities after announcing an end to investment dispute with local state agencies with the receipt of three pre-mining agreements. The share price of the Toronto-listed company has been in steep decline over the last two...
(EnergyAsia, September 3 2013, Tuesday) — Manila Electric Co (Meralco) said its power generation subsidiary and Thailand’s Electricity Generating Public Co Ltd (EGCO) have agreed to jointly develop a 460MW coal-fired power plant in Quezon province in the Philippines. In a statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the utility said Meralco Powergen Corp will own...
(EnergyAsia, September 2 2013, Monday) — Australian Pacific Coal Limited said it and Rio Tinto Exploration have begun jointly exploring for coal in Mount Hillalong in Australia’s Queensland state. Last week, the partners activated their exploration option and joint venture agreement for work on the Bowen Basin deposits that they had signed on August 8...
(EnergyAsia, September 2 2013, Monday) — Belgian gas ship owner and operator EXMAR said it has agreed to provide a 700,000 tonnes/year floating liquefaction and storage unit for a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) project along the Douglas Channel on Canada’s British Columbia province. EXMAR said it signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Houston,...
(EnergyAsia, September 2 2013, Monday) — The world will continue to rely heavily on coal for its energy need despite calls and predictions for its demise, said consultant Frost & Sullivan. In Europe, coal-based power generation is undergoing a revival after appearing to be in terminal decline the last decade. This is happening despite the...
(EnergyAsia, August 30 2013, Friday) — An Asia expert from the International Energy Agency (IEA) will be speaking at the POWER‐GEN Asia conference and exhibition in Bangkok, Thailand on October 2 to 4, said organiser PennWell Corporation. Yerim Park, the IEA’s Southeast Asia Programme Officer, will speak on the issues and challenges of meeting the (more…)
(EnergyAsia, Aug 30 2013, Friday) — Nigeria has appointed Goldman Sachs, UBS and Credit Suisse to manage part of its US$1 billion sovereign wealth fund that was set up to protect and invest the country’s finances. The three banks will manage US$200 million from the Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) fund alloted to protecting the fund...
(EnergyAsia, August 30 2013, Friday) — China’s slowing economy is hurting its coal miners as they face up to the prospects of mounting losess and reduced production for 2013. For the first half of the year, the China Coal Transport and Distribution Association (CCTD) said the country’s mines fell 3.7% to 1.79 billion tonnes with...
(EnergyAsia, August 29 2013, Thursday) — India’s Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and UK major BP said they have jointly found new gas condensate reserves off the east coast of India in the Cauvery basin. The deepwater block CY-DWN-2001/2 (CYD5) reserves, located 62 km from the coast in the Cauvery Basin, is the second gas discovery...