(EnergyAsia, May 17 2012, Thursday) — Worried about the rapid depletion of large mature fields while encountering difficulty accessing new reserves in certain regions, the oil industry is increasingly looking to natural gas for its salvation, said natural resources consultant GBI Research. In a new report, GBI Research said that natural gas has risen in...
(EnergyAsia, May 17 2012, Thursday) — China and Russia are targeting to raise their bilateral trade to US$200 billion by 2020 as they build on increasingly close political and economic ties. The momentum was affirmed early this month when the two sides concluded a raft of contracts worth a total of US$15 billion during a...
(EnergyAsia, May 17 2012, Thursday) — Thai state-owned energy company PTT has reshuffled the CEOs of four subsidiaries. It has appointed Tevin Vongvanich, PTT’s former CFO, as CEO of upstream company PTTEP, replacing Anon Sirisaengtaksin, who became CEO of PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC). PTTGC’s chief Veerasak Kositpaisal took over at Thaioil Plc whose CEO Surong (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 17 2012, Thursday) — Drawing on its natural gas reserves of 392 trillion cubic feet (tcf) sufficient to support 184 years of production, Australia could be ready to challenge Qatar’s position as the world’s leading liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter later this decade, said Energy and Resources Minister Martin Ferguson. Citing GeoScience Australia’s (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 16 2012, Wednesday) —Cheniere Energy Inc, which is building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export and trading business in the US, said it has secured a combined US$468 million in new investments from Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings and private equity firm RRJ Capital. Separately, the three companies have begun discussions to (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 16 2012, Wednesday) — InterOil Corp is actively lobbying the Papua New Guinea government after it had been informed that the Department of Petroleum and Energy (DPE) plans to cancel its US$6 billlion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. Energy Minister William Duma has denied the contract has been cancelled. Interoil has been in (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 16 2012, Wednesday) — US major Chevron Corp said it has secured a 20-year agreement to sell liquefied natural gas (LNG) to a Japanese power company from its US$29 billion joint-venture Wheatstone project on the coast of Western Australia. Tohuku Electric Power Co will buy up to one million tonnes of LNG a (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 16 2012, Wednesday) — Australia’s Origin Energy Ltd said it has agreed to sell some of its vast coal seam gas reserves in Queensland state to a Santos-led consortium developing the nearby rival Gladstone project to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Asia. Origin Energy is developing its gas reserves for an export-oriented (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 16 2012, Wednesday) — Royal Dutch Shell said it is leading a consortium comprising subsidiary Shell Canada Ltd, Korea Gas Corporation (Kogas), Mitsubishi Corporation, and PetroChina Company Limited to develop a giant liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in western Canada. The 12-million-tonne/year project to be sited near Kitimat, a town on the (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 15 2012, Tuesday) — Global financing for carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, a tool for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, was kept unchanged at US$23.5 billion in 2011, said US-based Worldwatch Institute. According to a new report by the Washington DC-based environmental and resources study group, there are 75 large-scale, fully (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 15 2012, Tuesday) — Backed by China’s “impressive” coal reserves, Asia will continue to lead as the world’s leading coal-producing region that includes India, Australia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Vietnam and New Zealand, said natural resources intelligence group GBI Research. In a new report, the UK-based firm said China accounted for 68% of the...
(EnergyAsia, May 15 2012, Tuesday) — Despite complaining about rising financial losses, Indian oil refiners raised their output by 3.2% to more than 121 million tonnes or 3.42 million b/d for the last financial year ending March 31 2012. The value of their products output also rose by 3.2% to US$170.15 billion, according to data provided...
(EnergyAsia, May 15 2012, Tuesday) — Asia’s refining industry is “set to flourish” in over the next four years as a result of rising demand for refined petroleum products in fast growing countries such as China and India, according to a new report by business intelligence provider GlobalData. According to, “Refining Industry in Asia Pacific (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 15 2012, Tuesday) — Rising substitution by natural gas will help reduce US coal use for power generation by 14% in 2012, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). In its latest short-term forecast, the statistical agency of the US Department of Energy said it expects the power sector’s coal consumption to fall (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 14 2012, Monday) — The Indian government has told US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton who was in New Delhi last week that it intends to maintain its annual US$15-billion trade ties with Iran despite the latest efforts by the West to isolate the Islamic regime. As if to underline this point, Iran...
(EnergyAsia, May 14 2012, Monday) — The Indonesian government is still working out details for a proposed tax on coal exports after announcing that it had begun imposing a 20% tax on the shipment of metal ores and other raw minerals from May 6. The resource-rich Southeast Asian nation said it hopes the new tax...
(EnergyAsia, May 14 2012, Monday) — Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) said it has signed an agreement with the Mongolian government to explore opportunities for jointly investing in projects to produce steel, iron ore and coking coal in the landlocked Central Asian country. State-owned SAIL, India’s leading steel making company, said it is awaiting...
(EnergyAsia, May 14 2012, Monday) — Australia’s Whitehaven Coal has offered to acquire the remaining 82.7% of coal explorer Coalworks that it does not own for A$1 per share, valuing the company at A$172 million. (US$1=A$0.99). The offer represented a 16.96% premium to Coalworks shares’ price of A$0.855 on the ASX when it was announced. (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 14 2012, Monday) — US industrial giant GE said it and China’s Shenhua Group have started up their equal joint venture GE Shenhua Gasification Technology Company Ltd to develop and deploy “cleaner coal” technology solutions in China. Based in Shanghai, the new company combines GE’s expertise in industrial gasification technologies with Shenhua’s expertise (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 11 2012, Friday) — Australia’s Linc Energy said it and China’s GCL Projects Limited (GCL) will jointly build and operate a plant in China to produce and market fuel produced from underground coal gas (UCG). GCL will hold a two-third stake in the joint venture with Linc Energy the remaining third. GCL, a subsidiary...
(EnergyAsia, May 11 2012, Friday) — The Chinese government aims to shut down 625 coal mines with an annual production capacity of 23.47 million tons by the end of this year as part of its long-term plan to improve the industry’s safety record, efficiency and profitability. According to the National Energy Administration (NEA), some of...
(EnergyAsia, May 11 2012, Friday) — Russian steel and coal mining company Mechel OAO said its 2011 consolidated net income rose 10.8% to US$727.9 million while its revenue surged 28.7% to US$US$12.5 billion. Its mining income rose 37.9% to US$2 billion while revenue climbed by a third to US$4.1 billion, helped by the company’s competitive...
(EnergyAsia, May 11 2012, Friday) — Unable to pass on costs to customers in a regulated industry, US power company AES Corp said it will sell most of its businesses in China for a total of US$134 million. The NYSE-listed company expects to complete the sale of the assets with a total capacity of 2,727 (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 11 2012, Friday) — NAES Corporation, a US-based provider of services to the energy industry, said it has secured an operations and maintenance (O&M) agreement from Singapore’s Hyflux Ltd for a 400-megawatt (MW) combined cycle power plant under construction in western Singapore Hyflux’s wholly owned subsidiary, Tuaspring Pte Ltd, is building the plant (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 10 2012, Thursday) — Yielding to relentless US pressure, India has agreed to reduce its dependence on Iranian crude oil by committing to import 14 million tonnes for the current financial year ending March 31 2013, compared with 17.5 million tonnes previously. If this target is achieved, Iranian oil will account for just...