(EnergyAsia, February 14 2013, Thursday) — The Australian government has approved the proposals of two companies to develop the Maules Creek and Boggabri mine proposals in New South Wales state on the condition that they met conditions to protect wildlife and the environment. Environment Minister Tony Burke gave the approval for Whitehaven Coal Limited’s 75%-owned (more…)
(EnergyAsia, February 14 2013, Thursday) — ABB, the Swiss-based power and automation technology group, said it has won orders worth a total of US$160 million from Singapore’s Jurong Shipyard Pte Ltd to provide electrical systems for drill ships to operate in deepwater oil and gas fields off the coast of Brazil. ABB will design, supply, (more…)
(EnergyAsia, February 14 2013, Thursday) — A modest rise in Newcastle prices has seen the Chinese thermal coal import arbitrage move into negative territory, said Goldman Sachs. This development points to a fall in Chinese import volumes in Q1 2013, albeit from a very high base. Against a backdrop of relatively low and stable Chinese...
(EnergyAsia, February 13 2013, Wednesday) — The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has bad news for residents of Beijing and other heavily polluted Chinese cities. Growing by more than 9% a year since 2001, China’s insatiable appetite for coal to generate power has shown no signs of slowing down, and could soon equal what the...
(EnergyAsia, February 13 2013, Wednesday) — Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), Malaysia’s largest electricity utility, and its partners have secured two contracts to operate large power plants in Kuwait and the Malaysian state of Penang. TNB said it and Kuwait’s Kharafi National have won a seven-year contract worth RM$1 billion to operate and maintain the Shuaiba (more…)
(EnergyAsia, February 13 2013, Wednesday) — China Petroleum & Chemical Corp or Sinopec said it plans to sell 2.845 billion shares in Hong Kong to raise HK$23.97 billion to expand production capacity. (US$1=HK$7.75). Asia’s biggest refiner, which trades on the stock exchanges of Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York and London, is beefing up its global...
(EnergyAsia, February 13 2013, Wednesday) — Singapore investment firm Blumont Group has agreed to invest a total of A$10 million in equity and convertible notes for a stake in Australia-listed Celsius Coal, the companies have announced. (US$1=A$0.96). Blumont will pay A$5 million for 227.3 million new Celsius Coal shares at 2.2 Australian cents a share, (more…)
(EnergyAsia, February 13 2013, Wednesday) — International coal suppliers should dampen their expectations if they are looking to China as the promised land to absorb additional production in coming years, said US energy consulting group IHS CERA. In a new study, the Cambridge, Massachusetts firm predicts Chinese coal imports will peak before the end of...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2013, Friday) — Kunlun Energy Company Limited, a Hongkong-listed company controlled by state PetroChina Company Limited, has affirmed its commitment to become a major natural gas player with liquefied natural gas (LNG) as its key plank. Kunlun Energy announced its intention in a media statement updating its past year’s expansion activities and (more…)
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2013, Friday) — Indonesian coal miner PT Adaro Energy said its fourth-quarter production rose 7% on year to reach a record 13.31 million tonnes. Despite unfavourable weather conditions caused by higher-than-average rainfall, the company achieved its second-highest annual production of 47.19 million tonnes last year. The all-time high of 47.67 million tonnes...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2013, Friday) — Continued uncertainty in the future direction of climate frameworks, political instability in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, energy price volatility, and the global economic recession are what energy leaders consider as the top “insomnia” issues driving the world energy agenda this year, according to the World (more…)
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2013, Friday) — India’s largest power company, NTPC, has started talks with Australia’s MetroCoal to acquire a stake in its Surat Basin project in Queensland state. The state-owned company consumes more than 160 million tonnes of coal to fuel its 33,000MW power generation capacity. The Indian government has been encouraging the country’s...
(EnergyAsia, February 7 2013, Thursday) — Finland’s Metso said it has been selected as a primary supplier of ball and butterfly valves for a major energy and chemical project in China’s Shaanxi Province. The Helsinki-based firm said it will deploy a technical service team on-site to assist with installation and training at Shaanxi Yanchang ChinaCoal (more…)
(EnergyAsia, February 7 2013, Thursday) — Despite growing worries over health and environmental issues, China is unlikely to achieve its goal of reducing coal consumption in the current 12th five-year plan to 2015, said analysts. Coal which accounts around 70% of the country’s primary energy is responsible for much of China’s greenhouse gas emissions and...
(EnergyAsia, February 7 2013, Thursday) — Malaysian state energy company Petronas has offered to buy out the remaining 37.33% stake in listed shipping subsidiary MISC Berhad for 8.7 billion ringgit held by other shareholders. (US$1 =RM3.1). Petronas, which owns and operates liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in Malaysia and is building two more in Australia (more…)
(EnergyAsia, February 7 2013, Thursday) — China’s coal production rose four percent to 3.66 billion tons last year despite the bearish pressures asserted by low prices and high inventories, said the China National Coal Association. The country’s coal stockpile was up 58% to 85 million tons, with more than 96% held by power plants to...
(EnergyAsia, February 6 2013, Wednesday) — PHI Group, Inc, a US-listed energy and natural resources company, said it has signed an agreement to export coal from Indonesia to Vietnam. PHI said it signed the agreement with Hanoi-based My Son Import Export and Investment Joint Stock Company, a Hanoi-based company. Established in 2005, My Son...
(EnergyAsia, February 6 2013, Wednesday) — Russia’s Mechel OAO said subsidiary Mechel Bluestone has resumed operations at several of its mines in West Virginia in the US to replenish decline inventorie. The Justice Energy and Dynamic Energy mines, which were closed last October as inventories rose, are now expected to produce a total of 135,000 (more…)
(EnergyAsia, February 6 2013, Wednesday) — World oil prices are likely to hold up in coming months on rising global demand, continuing geopolitical threats to supply and monetary easing in most major economies. As an indication, prices held up last year despite facing some of the most bearish economic conditions in recent decades. Brent crude (more…)
(EnergyAsia, February 6 2013, Wednesday) — Canada has made its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) sale to overseas customers, with Norwegian shipper Golar LNG Ltd and Houston, Texas-based LNG Partners agreeing to buy the entire annual 700,000-ton output from the smallest of several consortia racing to set up export terminals along the coast of British...
(EnergyAsia, February 5 2013, Tuesday) — A BP-operated consortium has started oil production at the one of the world’s largest subsea developments at the PSVM development area in Block 31 off the coast of Angola, the UK major has announced. Since last month, three wells in the area’s Plutao field have begun producing a total (more…)
(EnergyAsia, February 5 2013, Tuesday) — Australian Rod Duke has left his number two position at Singapore LNG Corp for a senior appointment overseeing the downstream development of Queensland state’s US$18.5 billion Gladstone LNG (GLNG) project. Mr Duke, SLNG’s senior vice-president for commercial operations, was a key member of the pioneering team involved in developing (more…)
(EnergyAsia, February 5 2013, Tuesday) — Australia-listed Celsius Coal Limited said analyses of coal samples taken from last year’s drilling programme at the Uzgen Basin in Kyrgyzstan confirm the existence of “very good coking properties”. “Seams at the Min Teke project have a mix of premium thermal coal and coking coal characteristics,” the company said (more…)
(EnergyAsia, February 5 2013, Tuesday) — Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) said its board of directors has approved the full sale of the company’s stake in the Abbot Point Coal Terminal in Queensland state to the Adani family. APSEZ, a unit of the Ahmedabad-based Adani Enterprises, had acquired Abbot Point terminal in 2011...
(EnergyAsia, February 4 2013, Monday) — Mongolia’s vital coal industry is facing a growing list of problems that threatens to slow down its once high-flying economy. The country’s largest coal miner, Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi (ETT), has stopped exports to its biggest customer in China, which is threatening to sue in retaliation. Last week, the company...