(EnergyAsia, January 16 2013, Wednesday) — GAIL, India’s state gas giant, has started up the country’s third terminal to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) at Ratnagiri in the western state of Maharashtra. Located around 340km south of Mumbai, the Dabhol LNG terminal will be the conduit for imported natural gas to provide fuel for power (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 16 2013, Wednesday) — Mired in its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of 1929, the West strangely has failed to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the rapid growth in the emerging economies led by China. In its latest Emerging Markets Index report, HSBC chief economist Stephen King observed that (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 16 2013, Wednesday) — Police have arrested five people, including three executives of state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), following last week’s fire that killed at least three workers at the company’s oil storage depot in the north-western state of Gujarat. Another two workers are still unaccounted for after the fire destroyed a tank...
(EnergyAsia, January 15 2013, Tuesday) — Without a national carbon price floor, companies would be reluctant to invest in Australia’s domestic carbon offset mechanism known as the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI), predicts carbon consulting firm RepuTex. Even with a floor price in place, the CFI is expected to deliver at most only five million tonnes (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 15 2013, Tuesday) — Mechel, a leading Russian mining and metals company, said it has completed the acquisition of a 55% stake in a Pacific port that will enable it to expand coal exports to the Asian markets. Mechel said the Russian government approved the offer by logistics subsidiary Mecheltrans to acquire the (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 15 2013, Tuesday) — Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions will grow at a slower rate this year, rising by just 0.4% from 2012 levels on the back of reduced output from the metals sector and an increase in the nation’s renewable power generation, said carbon consulting firm RepuTex. The company expects Australia’s emissions to...
(EnergyAsia, January 14 2013, Monday) — Tata Power, India’s largest integrated power utility, said it has started up the fourth 800 MW unit at its coal-fired power plant in Mundra in Gujarat state. Using the energy efficient supercritical boiler technology, the plant is owned and operated by wholly owned subsidiary Coastal Gujarat Power Limited (CGPL). (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 14 2013, Monday) — China’s coal trade deficit widened sharply last year after preliminary data released by the General Administration of Customs showed exports plunged 36.7% while imports rose 29.8% over 2011 levels. In 2011, China exported 14.67 million tons of coal and imported 223.4 million tons million metric tons last year. ...
(EnergyAsia, January 14 2013, Monday) — Mongolia may have found a way to export coal by sea, thus reducing its current overwhelming dependence on land-based sales to China. Singapore-listed commodities trader Noble Group has agreed to invest in a multi-billion-dollar coal and rail development project in Mongolia that will include the use of a Russian (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 14 2013, Monday) — Boosted by increases in onshore basins, US crude oil production is expected to rise from 6.4 million b/d last year to 7.3 million b/d in 2013 and 7.9 million b/d in 2014, said the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The agency pinpointed the bulk of new production as taking place...
(EnergyAsia, January 11 2013, Friday) — TransCanada Corp has been selected to design, build, own and operate a C$5 billion pipeline to deliver natural gas to a proposed export terminal along the British Columbia coast in western Canada. (US$1=C$0.99). The contract was awarded by Calgary-based Progress Energy, a fully owned subsidiary of Malaysia’s state energy (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 11 2013, Friday) — The China Coal Trade and Development Association will hold the industry’s annual coal supply contracts conference in Haikou City in Hainan province on January 15-18. The association has told coal producers and buyers to submit their contracts and proposals for discussion by January 15. The negotiations are vital for...
(EnergyAsia, January 11 2013, Friday) — Hong Kong-based Sinopec Kantons Holdings Limited, which is building an oil storage project in Indonesia and expanding into Europe, has bought a 50% stake in a Fujairah project being developed by Singapore’s Concord Energy Pte Ltd. The Sinopec subsidiary said its fully owned subsidiary, Sinomart KTS Development Limited, will (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 11 2013, Friday) — The global coal market is awaiting the impact of China’s decision to scrap the 40% tax on coking coal exports since the start of the year. The Finance Ministry may also be considering lifting the export tariff on crude coal to help align domestic prices, hurt by excess capacity...
(EnergyAsia, January 10 2013, Thursday) — Six months after experiencing the world’s largest power blackout affecting more than 650 million people, India continues to struggle with keeping the lights on despite the government’s promise to fix the problem. What was once an issue for inhabitants in the country’s vast rural regions and smaller cities has...
(EnergyAsia, January 10 2013, Thursday) — Faced with competition from cheap natural gas, US coal consumption for power generation fell to a 20-year low of 829 million short tons (mmst) in 2012, said the Energy Information Administration (EIA). In 2011, the US consumed 932.5 mmst of coal for power generation. But that downward trend will (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 10 2013, Thursday) — The Indian government should appoint an independent regulator to oversee the country’s troubled coal sector and a special committee of experts to provide solutions into its worsening energy problems, said a local non-governmental organisation (NGO). In a report on India’s coal sector, Pune-based Prayas Energy Group said an independent...
(EnergyAsia, January 9 2013, Wednesday) — After years of public pressure, the Indian government has taken the first tentative step to consider restructuring and even spiltting up Coal India Limited (CIL), which is responsible for over 80% of the country’s domestic production and much of its imports. This week, the Coal Ministry issued a tender...
(EnergyAsia, January 9 2012, Wednesday) — Beleaguered state-owned Coal India Limited (CIL), which accounts for over 80% of the country’s domestic coal output, will provide more ammunition for its critics as it is likely to miss its production target for the current financial year ending March 31. For the first three quarters of FY2012, it...
(EnergyAsia, January 9 2013, Wednesday) — Russia’s leadership in the natural gas business could come under threat from rising exploitation and production of shale reserves in the US, and potentially from Europe and other parts of the world. According to US-based GBI Research, shale prospects in Europe may well reshape the continent’s energy market dynamics (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 9 2013, Wednesday) — Port Waratah Coal Services expects to soon submit its plans for the construction of a fourth terminal, estimated to cost at least A$5 billion, to handle coal exports from Newcastle port in Australia’s New South Wales state. (US$1=A$0.96). The company, which claims to operate the world’s largest coal export...
(EnergyAsia, January 8 2012, Tuesday) — Environmental groups are demanding that governments impose an immediate ban on all oil and gas exploration activities in the Arctic region in the wake of the grounding of a Shell rig in the remote ecologically-sensitive northern part of the planet. The Kulluk was refloated yesterday and towed away after (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 8 2013, Tuesday) — State-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) said it has signed fuel supply agreements (FSAs) with 35 of the country’s 114 major power companies. The company, which accounts for more than 90% of the country’s coal production and handles the bulk of its import, said it is confident of achieving its...
(EnergyAsia, January 8 2013, Tuesday) — In a belated announcement, Singapore’s Keppel FELS Limited said it has delivered its first KFELS Super B Class jack-up oil drilling rig to a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Aramco. Named SAR 202, the rig was delivered 13 days ahead of schedule, on budget and with a perfect safety record (more…)
(EnergyAsia, January 8 2013, Tuesday) — China and India together account for around 76% of the 1.4 billion MW new coal-fired power capacity now being around the world, said Washington DC, US-based World Resources Institute in a recent paper. If fully constructed, the 1,199 new plants will more than offset the loss of older plants...