(EnergyAsia, April 25 2012, Wednesday) — A Japanese consortium led by Marubeni Corp has started work to develop an experimental offshore floating wind farm project off the coast of Fukushima, the site of the nculear plant that was damaged by earthquake and tsunami last year. Sponsored by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 25 2012, Wednesday) — The Iranian government has cut off Internet access to six of the country’s oil refineries after it came under attacks from hackers and computer viruses. According to the Iranian Mehr News Agency, the attacks launched against the refineries, the Oil Ministry, the National Iranian Oil Company and the country’s (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 25 2012, Wednesday) — China’s oil demand turned in a mixed performance for March, rising year-on-year, but down from February, said energy media specialist Platts. Its analysis of government data showed that Chinese oil demand rose 3.3% from year-ago levels to 40.23 million metric tons (mt), or 9.5 million b/d. But, this was (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 24 2012, Tuesday) — Dubai’s ENOC said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Horizon Terminals Ltd, will build a 141,000-cubic metre bulk oil terminal in the Jebel Ali Free Zone and a 60-km jet fuel pipeline linking it to the Dubai International Airport. Horizon Terminals has awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract to Indian construction (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 24 2012, Tuesday) — Singapore’s Keppel Corporation Limited said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Keppel Energy Pte Ltd, has signed an agreement with Malaysia state energy firm Petronas to import an additional 43 million cubic feet per day (mmcf/d) of natural gas. Based on historical oil prices, Keppel Energy said the additional supply, worth about (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 23 2012, Monday) — Riding on high oil prices, OPEC’s oil export revenues will surge to hit a new record high of US$1.171 trilllion this year before easing off to US$1.133 in 2013, said the US Energy Information Administration. In its April 2012 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) report, the EIA said the Organisation (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 23 2012, Monday) — French energy infrastructure company GDF SUEZ said it has been selected by Andhra Pradesh Gas Distribution Corporation (APGDC) as strategic partner to develop a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) import terminal project on the east coast of India. GDF SUEZ said it expects to complete a feasibility study by (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 23 2012, Monday) — Japan’s Toyota Tsusho Corp said it is paying Encana C$602 million for a 32.5% royalty interest in natural gas production from the Canadian firms’s coalbed methane (CBM) reserves in Alberta province.  (US$1=C$0.99). The agreement includes production from a total of about 5,500 existing wells and potential future drilling locations (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 23 2012, Monday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to provide the Mongolian government US$434 million of loans and technical assistance as part of a new five-year development assistance strategy to help the country diversify its economic activities and narrow its inequality gap. ADB said its board of directors has endorsed (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 20 2012, Friday) — The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has established a Joint Industry Project (JIP) to investigate the operational feasibility of developing liquefied natural gas (LNG) into a shipping fuel in Singapore in collaboration with Det Norske Veritas (DNV) Clean Technology Centre and 21 industry partners. The JIP, co-funded (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 20 2012, Friday) — World oil prices are being kept high by fears of Middle East supply disruption which are offsetting reports of rising production in the US and other non-OPEC countries, according to consultants Ernst & Young LLP. As a result, Brent has remained well supported at around US$120 a barrel while (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 20 2012, Friday) — The Middle East is rapidly expanding its petrochemicals and plastics industries to reduce its economic dependence on the production and export of crude oil and natural gas. In a new report, industry intelligence company GlobalData traced the emergence of the region’s upstream petrochemicals industry over the last decade, which (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 20 2012, Friday) — Qatargas said it achieved a milestone last month when it loaded its 1,000th liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo for export from a loading base built less than three years ago. Bound for Elba Island in Georgia state in the US, the cargo was loaded from the Common Lean LNG (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 19 2012, Thursday) — VTTI said the ATB oil terminal in Pelepas Port in Malaysia’s southern Johor state has received its first oil cargo, marking the facility’s start as an oil storage and logistics hub serving the region. VTTI, an equal joint venture between Swiss trader Vitol and Malaysian energy shipping firm MISC Bhd, (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 19 2012, Thursday) — Norway’s DNV and state-owned Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly undertake research and development in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector. The companies will jointly organise conferences and cooperate on R&D projects focusing on the entire LNG value chain from gas reservoir (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 19 2012, Thursday) — The consortium developing Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas reserves has reached an important milestone with its decision to start work on the front-end engineering and design (FEED) of the project’s estimated US$25 billion stage 2 development, operator BP has announced. The UK major, which owns a 25.5% stake in the (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 19 2012, Thursday) — US major Chevron Corp said a consortium led by its Australian subsidiaries has secured an agreement for the annual supply of one million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Japan’s Chubu Electric Power Company Incorporated for up to 20 years. The Chevron-operated consortium will supply the LNG from (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 18 2012, Wednesday) — Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, an Abu Dhabi-based graduate-level university focused on advanced energy and sustainable technologies, and First Solar Inc, a producer of photovoltaic (PV) solar modules and solar systems, recently conducted a workshop to highlight the role of research and development (R & D) in the (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 18 2012, Wednesday)— Russia’s Rosneft and US major ExxonMobil have signed agreements to implement joint efforts to explore and develop oil and gas in both their countries as well as Canada. Signed in the presence of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, the agreements form joint ventures to (more…)