(EnergyAsia, August 21 2012, Tuesday) — Chinese state commodities firm Sinochem Corp has started work on expanding an existing 31-million barrel oil storage terminal in eastern Zhejiang province. When completed in early 2014, the Aoshan Island terminal will become the country’s largest with the capacity store up to 50 million barrels of crude. The project...
(EnergyAsia, August 21 2012, Tuesday) — US business conglomerate GE has promoted Hisham Albahkali, previously Saudi Arabia’s executive for GE Energy, to President and CEO for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. A Saudi national, Mr Albahkali will lead GE’s expansion in its diverse range of businesses including oil and gas, power, water, aviation and healthcare in (more…)
(EnergyAsia, August 21 2012, Tuesday) — Jaya Holdings, a Singapore-based offshore energy services company, said it has appointed George Horsington as President of Business Development. Mr Horsington, 38, who has held senior management positions with UK’s Swire Pacific Offshore Operations Ltd, will join Jaya on September 6 to take charge of all areas of business (more…)
(EnergyAsia, August 17 2012, Friday) — Under pressure from slowing domestic demand and rising imports, the world’s leading coal producing country will raise output by just 3.7% this year, down from 8.6% last year and 9% in 2010. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s main economic planning agency, has set a new coal...
(EnergyAsia, August 17 2012, Friday) — Thai state energy firm PTT said it is preparing to invest 100 billion baht to support the government’s plan to raise the country’s strategic oil stockpile from 43 days to 90 days of consumption. At a recent forum on oil risk management in Bangkok, a senior company official said...
(EnergyAsia, August 17 2012, Friday) — Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members will have little room to boost oil production over the next five years, US consulting firm Energy Security Analysis Inc (ESAI). In its latest five-year forecast of the global crude oil markets, the Wakefield, Massachusetts firm said the call on the cartel’s (more…)
(EnergyAsia, August 17 2012, Friday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has urged China to initiate comprehensive fiscal, economic and legal measures to achieve ambitious targets for reducing pollution while growing the economy. While praising China’s green progress including its increased investment in environmental infrastructure, greater focus on achievable targets, and strengthened accountability and enforcement, (more…)
(EnergyAsia, August 17 2012, Friday) — Foster Wheeler AG said a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded a contract to deliver a waste heat recovery unit for a power generation and heat recovery project at the Map Ta Phut Industrial Complex in Thailand. Foster Wheeler will design, engineer and supply (more…)
(EnergyAsia, August 16 2012, Thursday) — The following is an edited version of a section of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on the state of the Philippines’ mining and petroleum industries, and the need for fiscal reforms. The report was published following an investigation undertaken in response to a request by Cesar V. Purisima,...
(EnergyAsia, August 16 2012, Thursday) — Malaysian independent power producer, Malakoff Corporation Berhad, has started work on the construction of Southeast Asia’s largest coal-fired power plant in Tanjung Bin in the southern state of Johor. The company is investing a total of RM6.5 billion in the 1,000MW plant which will more than triple the generating (more…)
(EnergyAsia, August 16 2012, Thursday) — The following is an edited version of a commentary by the Tokyo office of law firm Herbert Smith on a bilateral investment agreement or treaty (BIT) signed by Japan and Iraq on June 7 2012.As the first BIT between Iraq and a major economy, this is a significant and (more…)
(EnergyAsia, August 16 2012, Thursday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it is assisting China in developing a road map for carbon capture and storage (CCS) to help achieve the country’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions reduction goals. The bank is working with Chinese officials to develop a detailed plan for a staged demonstration and (more…)
(EnergyAsia, August 15 2012, Wednesday) — Sri Lanka may continue to suffer daily power cuts for at least a few more weeks due to constant breakdowns at a 17-month-old coal-fired power plant which accounts for nearly 10% of the nation’s 3.1-gigawatt generating capacity. The Chinese-built plant at Norochcholai has broken down at least five times...
(EnergyAsia, August 15 2012, Wednesday) — US-based Air Products said its leading liquefied natural gas (LNG) technology and equipment will be used on a floating LNG (FLNG) production platform 180 km off the coast of eastern Malaysia. State oil and gas company Petronas has selected Air Products for its first floating platform to produce 1.2 million (more…)
(EnergyAsia, August 15 2012, Wednesday) — China will not meet either of its ambitious production or sale targets for its plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) later this decade, said US-based Pike Research. According to its latest report, China’s PEV production will fall well short of the government’s goal of manufacturing 500,000 PEVs a year by 2015 (more…)
(EnergyAsia, August 15 2012, Wednesday) — ASX-listed Environmental Clean Technologies (ECT) said it will apply for part of an A$90 million funding package offered by the Australian government to accelerate new lignite upgrading technologies in the Latrobe Valley. Under the terms of the Advanced Lignite Demonstration Program (ALDP), funds will be allocated to companies, which (more…)
(EnergyAsia, August 14 2012, Tuesday) — US coal consumption for power generation will fall to 825 million short tons (MMst) in 2012, their lowest level in 20 years, predicts the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). With natural gas prices expected to remain cheap, power companies will continue to snub coal through next year, said the (more…)
(EnergyAsia, August 14 2012, Tuesday) — Australian farming and environmental groups want New South Wales (NSW) state to follow the example set by neighbour Western Australia (WA) in banning coal exploration and mining in its wine growing and tourist areas. WA mining minister Norman Moore announced last month a ban on coal mining within a (more…)
(EnergyAsia, August 14 2012, Tuesday) — Manila Electric Co (Meralco) and Thailand’s Electricity Generating Public Co Ltd (Egco) are in talks to jointly expand and upgrade a 460MW coal-fired power plant in the Philippines. Egco, the 98% owner of the Quezon Power Philippines Ltd plant in Mauban, Quezon, is looking to add a 500MW unit...
(EnergyAsia, August 14 2012, Tuesday) — Environmental and local resident groups have vowed to stop the proposed construction of two new coal-fired power plants on the Philippine island of Negros Occidental. Greenpeace Southeast Asia is leading the campaign to halt separate proposals by Philippine Power Corp, a Sino-Filipino venture, to build a 70MW plant and...
(EnergyAsia, August 14 2012, Tuesday) — Indonesia’s coal production may fall short of this year’s official target of 332 million metric tons, said the Energy and Mines Ministry. Production barely reached 150 million metric tons in the first half amid an increasingly bearish outlook on coal prices weighed down by the slowing global economy. According...
(EnergyAsia, August 13 2012, Monday) — The world thermal coal seaborne trade is forecast to increase by around 4% to 871 million tonnes in 2012, and by 5% to 919 million tonnes in 2013, predicts Australia’s Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE). Asia will provide the bulk of import growth while Australia, Indonesia and...
(EnergyAsia, August 13 2012, Monday) — Chinese coal exports plunged by more than 35% to 6.28 million metric tonnes for the first seven months of the year, according to preliminary customs data. Weak market conditions in China and abroad have led to lower domestic production and sales. China’s coal prices at the main port of...
(EnergyAsia, August 13 2012, Monday) — Singapore’s leading rig builders, Sembcorp Marine and Keppel O&M, said two subsidiaries have secured contracts worth a total of nearly US$5 billion from Brazilian companies. SembMarine said wholly owned Jurong Offshore Pte Ltd has been awarded contracts worth US$4.032 billion to design and build five drillships for Sete Brasil based (more…)
(EnergyAsia, August 13 2012, Monday) — Investors in Mongolia’s coal industry face more uncertainties, with Canada’s Prophecy Coal the latest to deliver a clouded outlook. The Vancouver, British Columbia company said it has temporarily suspended mining at its Ulaan Ovoo coal mine since July as it has built up a 187,000-tonne stockpile sufficient to meet (more…)