(EnergyAsia, February 4 2013, Monday) — China’s electricity consumption grew 5.5% to reach 4.9 trillion kilowatt hours last year, said the National Energy Administration (NEA). The growth rate was sharply down from 2011’s 11.7%, reflecting last year’s weaker economic performance. China’s economic growth slowed down to 7.6% last year after expanding by 9.3% in 2011....
(EnergyAsia, February 4 2013, Monday) — Canada’s Bellatrix Exploration said it and an unnamed South Korean company have formed an equal joint venture to invest a total of C$300 million to develop shale deposits in west-central Alberta province. (US$1=C$1). The Asian firm, likely to be state-owned Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC), acquired another Canadian oil (more…)
(EnergyAsia, February 4 2013, Monday) — Australia-listed Riversdale Resources said it has agreed to acquire a portfolio of coal assets in Canada from Devon Energy and Consol Energy for a total of US$49.5 million. Located in the Crowsnest Pass area of southwest Alberta, the portfolio covers more than 35,000 acres near the towns of Blairmore...
(EnergyAsia, February 1 2013, Friday) — Work on developing a large coal mine in Canada’s British Columbia province is being disrupted by an on-going dispute between Vancouver-based HD Mining and unions opposed to the company’s use of temporary workers imported from China. While stating it is committed to developing Murray River’s 688 million tonnes of (more…)
(EnergyAsia, February 1 2013, Friday) — Coal India Ltd (CIL) will lead efforts to build a 180-km rail line to deliver coal from northern Chhattisgarh state as part of a wider investment in a rail system to speed up fuel delivery to power plants around the country. CIL is expected to set up and take...
(EnergyAsia, February 1 2013, Friday) — Singapore Exchange-listed Rotary Engineering Limited said it has secured a S$300 million contract to build a 800,000-cubic metre oil storage tank on an island south of Singapore. (US$1=S$1.25). Rotary said it has been appointed by Tankstore Limited as the main engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the expansion (more…)
(EnergyAsia, February 1 2013, Friday) — China’s coal import rose 57.9% to around 289 million metric tons last year. Thermal coal comprised more than 35% of the total, with lignite and coking coal each at around 18.5% and anthracite at nearly 12%. Australia and Indonesia supplied more than 70% of China’s coal imports last year,...
(EnergyAsia, January 31 2013, Thursday) — One of Japan’s largest oil companies, Idemitsu Kosan, has become the latest member of a crowded bandwagon proposing to build a liquefied natural gas project in western Canada for export to Asia. Japan’s third largest refiner will form an equal joint venture with Calgary, Alberta-based pipeline operator AltaGas to (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 31 2013, Thursday) — Global trade flows are becoming more inter-regional as companies move production closer to end markets, suggesting that globalisation could be at a turning point, according to a survey by an international logistics firm. “Global trade flows from manufacturers in the East to consumers in the West are undergoing a (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 31 2013, Thursday) — Saudi Basic Industries Corporation has announced the opening of four new state-of-the-art technology and innovation facilities in 2013, two in Saudi Arabia and one each in India and China, bringing the total number of its research facilities around the world to 18. The new centres represent a strategic investment (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 31 2013, Thursday) — Japan’s trade deficit soared 170% to a record 6.9 trillion yen last year on the back of surging energy imports and lower export earnings. (US$1=90 yen). The world’s third largest economy reported a 3.8% rise in import expenditure and a 2.7% decline in export earnings for 2012. Energy accounted...
(EnergyAsia, January 30 2013, Wednesday) — Liquefied natural gas (LNG) consumers will have further reason to prepare for higher prices as the world’s third largest supplier said its production could decline by more than six percent this year to 297 cargoes. Each shipment of LNG cargo varies between 125,000 and 175,000 metric tons. Indonesia’s oil...
(EnergyAsia, Jan 30 2013, Wednesday) — State PetroVietnam has signed an agreement with Japanese and Kuwaiti companies to jointly build a long-delayed 200,000 b/d refinery in the coastal town of Nghi Son located about 200 km south of Hanoi city. The US$9 billion plant in Thanh Hoa province will process heavy Kuwaiti crude oil to (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 30 2013, Wednesday) — GE Oil & Gas has announced the establishment of a new technology and service centre near Basra City to support development and production of Iraq’s oil-rich North Rumaila region. The facility, which was opened earlier this month, brings the latest GE technology and expertise to local customers to help (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 30 2013, Wednesday) — Five people were killed and several others injured when an oil storage tank exploded in central China’s Hunan Province early this week. Most of the victims were in the vicinity of the tank in a residential building under construction in a village in Xiangtan City. The incident was believed...
(EnergyAsia, January 29 2013, Tuesday) — Citing rising consumption in China, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has raised its forecast for 2013 world oil demand growth for the second consecutive month. In its latest January monthly report, the Paris-based agency said world oil demand will grow by 930,000 b/d to 90.8 million b/d in 2013,...
(EnergyAsia, January 29 2013, Tuesday) — India’s consumers could face sharply higher energy costs this year as the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has agreed to let domestic natural gas prices rise to US$8.5 per million metric British thermal unit (mmBtu) from their current level of US$4.2. As natural gas is used mostly for...
(EnergyAsia, January 29 2013, Tuesday) — For the third consecutive month, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has kept its forecasts for global oil demand to grow by just under 800,000 b/d for 2013. With no major revision to its November and December outlook, OPEC said it expects world demand to grow by 760,000 (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 29 2013, Tuesday) — Asia could face higher liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices as global demand for the fuel is set to exceed supply this year, said Steve Hill, vice president of global LNG and oil marketing at UK’s BG Group. LNG spot prices in Asia have stayed stubbornly in the US$15-$20 per...
(EnergyAsia, January 28 2013, Monday) — The Chinese government has completed a feasibility study for the construction of the Trans-Asia Railway linking China with Central Asia, according to a regional coal player citing Kyrgyzstan’s Transport Ministry. Australia’s Celsius Coal Limited, which is developing coking coal deposits in Kyrgyzstan’s Uzgen Basin, said the proposed railway route (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 28 2013, Monday) — PEOPLE: Australia’s International Coal Limited has announced the appointment of Glenn Simpson as CEO and the resignation of Managing Director Hugh Dai. A trained geologist with an honours degree in Applied Science (Geology) and a Graduate Diploma of Business Administration, Mr Simpson has over 20 years of experience in (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 28 2013, Monday) — China faces four major challenges in reforming its natural gas sector to help meet a targeted doubling in consumption to 260 billion cubic metres by 2015 from 2011 levels, said the International Energy Agency (IEA). Planners will face their most important challenge in aligning domestic gas prices with the...
(EnergyAsia, January 25 2013, Friday) — Norway’s DNV said it and Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) have signed an agreement to jointly study the feasibility of establishing an liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering infrastructure in South Korea. The study will focus on the ports in the south-eastern area of Pusan, and western areas around Incheon and (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 25 2013, Friday) — After reaching a post-Soviet record last year, Russian oil production will probably peak in the next few years as the gains from new oil fields are offset by falling output from brownfield sites, said US ratings agency Fitch. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. According to the Ministry of...
(EnergyAsia, January 25 2013, Friday) — Kisault, a town located 800 km north of Vancouver in Canada’s British Columbia province, offers investors the quickest and cheapest platform to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) and other energy products, said newly established Kisault Energy. Kisault, a purpose-built resource town with infrastructure and housing for more than 1,000 (more…)