(EnergyAsia, December 7 2012, Friday) — China views Central Asia and Russia as best suited to meet its growing energy demand and to cooperate on joint projects. This view has crystallised over the course of the year as China is encountering a mix of growing resistance and difficult operating conditions in trying to expand its...
(EnergyAsia, December 7 2012, Friday) — China may have the world’s largest shale gas and one of its largest coal reserves, but it may not yet be able to develop them into sufficiently vast amount of usable energy sources to meet its fast-rising demand. Recent analyses by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and HSBC have...
(EnergyAsia, December 7 2012, Friday) — Coal will remain the leading fuel for power generation in the US through 2040, but its share will continue to decline with the growing popularity of natural gas, nuclear and renewable energy sources, said the Energy Information Administration (EIA). In its latest Annual Energy Outlook report, the EIA predicts (more…)
(EnergyAsia, December 7 2012, Friday) — The Chinese government has set its sight on doubling the country’s 2010 GDP of 39.8 trillion yuan to 80 trillion yuan by 2020. (US$1=6.22 yuan). The newly installed government of President Xi Jinping has accepted the goal announced in his predecessor’s final official speech at last month’s 18th National...
(EnergyAsia, December 6 2012, Thursday) —- Qatargas Operating Company Ltd said it will deliver the first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Singapore’s new terminal due to open in the first quarter of next year. The cargo, to be delivered on either a Q-Flex or a Q-Max LNG vessel, will be used to commission (more…)
(EnergyAsia, December 6 2012, Thursday) — Adani Group, an India-based global infrastructure company, said it has mapped out Australia’s largest mining exploration programme in Queensland state’s Carmichael mine which it claims holds up to 10 billion tonnes of coal reserves. As part of the programme, the company said it has deployed a record number of (more…)
(EnergyAsia, December 6 2012, Thursday) — This was a week of contrasting fortunes for Singapore’s two world-leading oil rig builders. On Monday, Sembcorp Marine suffered one of its worst industrial accidents in recent years while Keppel Corp announced it had signed a US$1.2 billion contract to build two rigs. Sembcorp Marine, a subsidiary of Sembcorp (more…)
(EnergyAsia, December 6 2012, Thursday) — Traditional shipyards in Singapore are benefitting from the continuing boom in the offshore oil and gas business, with work orders flowing in for building floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels and converting old tankers into floating storage and offloading (FSO), said research firm GBI Research. In a new...
(EnergyAsia, December 5 2012, Wednesday) — A record of more than 26,700 people attended OSEA2012 in Singapore last week to make it Asia’s largest oil and gas business event. According to organiser Singapore Exhibition Services (SES), the participants from 75 countries and regions attended the event from November 27 to 30. As the premier sourcing (more…)
(EnergyAsia, December 5 2012, Wednesday) — L & L Energy Inc, a Seattle US-based company producing coal in China, said it has completed the acquisitions of another two mines located near its existing Weishe mine in Guizhou Province. Having completed due diligence processes, L&L said it has completed the US$37.1 million acquisition of the LuoZhou...
(EnergyAsia, December 5 2012, Wednesday) — Thanks to a surge in exploitation of unconventional reserves, US produced nearly 6.5 million b/d of crude oil and condensate in September for its highest monthly level since early 1998, said the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The last time US crude and condensate production reached 6.5 million b/d was (more…)
(EnergyAsia, December 5 2012, Wednesday) — Renowned commodities investor Jim Rogers has joined Singapore Exchange-listed Geo Energy Resources as a non-executive director. This will be Mr Roger’s first board seat on a Singapore-listed company. The Singapore-based global investor, who recently turned 70, is also the chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests Inc. Listed in (more…)
(EnergyAsia, December 4 2012, Tuesday) — Australian companies are at risk of a double hit from increased costs for carbon and renewable energy credits, said consulting firm RepuTex. The carbon cost alone could amount to as much as A$3.7 billion over the next four years under the Federal price mechanism scheme if proposed policy changes (more…)
(EnergyAsia, December 4 2012, Tuesday) — Hong Kong-listed New Times Energy Corporation Limited said it has agreed to acquire an integrated liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Zunyi City in China’s Guizhou province for a total of RMB35 million in cash and convertible bond. (US$1=RMB6.22). New Times Energy said it will pay RMB17 million in (more…)
(EnergyAsia, December 4 2012, Tuesday) — Australia’s Celsius Coal Limited said it has appointed Alexander Molyneux, the former CEO of Mongolia-focused coal miner SouthGobi Resources, as executive chairman from December 1. Celsius, which is focused on exploring and developing coking and thermal coal deposits in Kyrgyzstan, said it will benefit from the experience and the (more…)
(EnergyAsia, December 4 2012, Tuesday) — Centennial Coal, a fully owned subsidiary of Thailand’s largest coal company Banpu, said it would lose about one million metric tonnes of coal a year from a “temporary” closure of two of its coal mines in Australia’s New South Wales state next month for maintenance. The company, which was...
(EnergyAsia, December 3 2012, Monday) — The company at the centre of India’s worsening coal and power supply crises has sought to lay off some of the blame onto the country’s poor rail infrastructure. With coal generating some 65% of India’s electricity, its timely delivery to power plants around the country is crucial to keeping...
(EnergyAsia, December 3 2012, Monday) — Directed by an inter-ministerial group, India’s coal ministry has continued to cancel the allocations of companies for failing to start work or develop deposits within deadline. Last month, the ministry issued letters to at least eight companies rescinding their rights to develop several coal blocks around the country. The...
(EnergyAsia, December 3 2012, Monday) — Beleaguered UK major BP said it has completed the sale of oil and gas fields in the US Gulf of Mexico and agreed to sell off its North Sea assets to two companies in deals worth a total of approximately US$6.65 billion. In separate statements on November 30, BP (more…)
(EnergyAsia, December 3 2012, Monday) — In a rare moment of agreement, the world’s three leading energy agencies have all slashed their forecasts for global oil demand growth for 2012 and 2013. In their latest monthly forecasts, the International Energy Agency (IEA) representing the world’s leading 28 industrialised consumer countries, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting...
(EnergyAsia, November 30 2012, Friday) — Sri Lanka’s only oil refinery at Sapugaskanda near the capital city of Colombo resumed operations earlier this month after being forced to shut down for about two weeks on October 26. State-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) said it had to halt operations at he 50,000 b/d refinery, which is...
(EnergyAsia, November 30 2012, Friday) — India’s already hefty annual coal import bill could surge at least 25% over the next five years to a record US$18 billion, officials and traders warn. Unable to rely on domestic production to feed the country’s surging coal demand, India has seen its imports rise sharply over the last...
(EnergyAsia, November 30 2012, Friday) — North America will dramatically change the global energy map as it sharply raises oil and gas production in coming decades, predicts the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its 2012 edition of the World Energy Outlook (WEO). “North America is at the forefront of a sweeping transformation in oil and (more…)
(EnergyAsia, November 30 2012, Friday) — Far from being extinguished by official policy and competition from the large state-owned players, some of China’s small oil refineries are thriving as their owners plot expansion as well as take on a direct role in importing crude oil. The “teapot” refineries, each of less than 40,000 b/d in...
(EnergyAsia, November 29 2012, Thursday) — The following is an edited version of an article written by Susan L. Sakmar, Visiting Assistant Professor, and Andrews Kurth Energy Law Scholar, University of Houston Law Centre. It was first published by CWC News. The vast shale gas reserves that have been unlocked in the US have been (more…)