(EnergyAsia, February 5 2014, Wednesday) — Singapore’s maritime and environment agencies said they are continuing work to contain two oil spills as well as clean-up of two offshore Islands affected by two separate vessel collisions last week. On January 29 at about 6.30 pm, the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) said it was informed that...

(EnergyAsia, February 4 Jan 2014, Tuesday) — UK-listed Altona Energy PLC said it would press on alone to develop a multi-billion-dollar project to convert coal to liquid fuels in Australia after state-owned China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) relinquished its operatorship and 51% shareholding in their joint venture undertaking. http://energycontents.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=301 Altona said it agreed to...

(EnergyAsia, February 3 2014, Monday) — Cities will have to be better designed and planned to alleviate growing tensions and competition for resources as urbanisation gathers pace in response to the human population rising to over eight billion by 2050, said Royal Dutch Shell. “By 2050, the number of people living in cities is likely...

(EnergyAsia, January 31 2014, Friday) — Having earlier hinted at exiting Canada’s increasingly troubled oil sands patch, Thai state-owned upstream company PTTEP and Norway’s Statoil have surprised with a deal to swap their respective interests in the Kai Kos Dehseh (KKD) oil sands project in Alberta province. Statoil will remain as operator and assume full...

(EnergyAsia, January 30 2014, Thursday) — A BP-led consortium has begun producing oil from Azerbaijan’s offshore West Chirag platform in the Caspian Sea to mark the completion of the US$6 billion Chirag oil project. According to the UK major, which is operating the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC), the platform is producing 6,000 b/d of...

(EnergyAsia, January 29 2014, Wednesday) — Pulled down by a decline the final quarter, China’s oil demand grew at the same 2.5% rate last year as it did in 2012, said US oil media Platts. http://energycontents.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=301 While Platts reported that China consumed a record 9.83 million b/d for the year, it was still lower than...

(EnergyAsia, January 28 2014, Tuesday) — At a time when the supermajors are struggling to raise production and replenish reserves, Chinese state-owned giant CNOOC Limited has declared that it plans to raise hydrocarbon production and more than replace reserves for 2014. http://energycontents.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=301 China’s largest offshore oil and gas producer said it plans to raise its...

(EnergyAsia, January 27 2014, Monday) — The world will consume 92.5 million b/d of oil this year, up 1.3 million b/d or 1.4% from 2013, said the International Energy Agency (IEA). The agency’s latest monthly forecast boosted its predicted consumption increase by 90,000 b/d from last December’s 1.21 million b/d, attributed largely to the renewed...

(EnergyAsia, January 24 2014, Friday) — Four months after it was announced, details of a proposed refinery to be built in Dubai by Hong Kong-based China Sonangol International remain unavailable. http://energycontents.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=301 Last September, the joint venture firm between Angola’s state-owned oil company, Sonangol, and Hong Kong’s New Bright International Development signed a memorandum of understanding...

(EnergyAsia, January 23 2014, Thursday) — Singapore’s bunker sales volume slipped slightly to an estimated 42.682 million tonnes last year for its second-consecutive year decline. At its peak in 2011, the port handled a record 43.154 million tonnes of bunker fuel sales to ships passing through Singapore. This fell to 42.685 million tonnes in 2012....

(EnergyAsia, January 22 2014, Wednesday) — Ending a long-running disagreement, Sinopec Group’s Addax Petroleum has signed a new agreement with the Gabonese government to drill for oil in the onshore Tsiengui, Obangue and Autour fields. http://energycontents.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=301 Gabonese Petroleum Minister Etienne Dieudonne Ngoubou said the contract’s signing on January 9 ended a long-running disagreement between his...

(EnergyAsia, January 22 2014, Wednesday) — Finland’s Wartsila said it has secured an order from a subsidiary of Indonesia’s state-owned PLN to help build a 200MW power plant that will be the country’s largest when it is fully operational by May 2015. Wartsila will lead PT Pembangunan Perumahan (Persero) Tbk (PT PP), one of Indonesia’s...

(EnergyAsia, January 21 2014, Tuesday) — Singapore’s shipping traffic and cargo throughput grew last year while bunker sales fell, said Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew, citing data from the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA). http://www.amazon.com/Singapore-Energy-Economy-1960-2010-Routledge/dp/041568675X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348455717&sr=1-1&keywords=ng+weng+hoong+singapore Vessel arrivals totalled 2.33 billion gross tons (GT) for a 3.2% increase over 2012’s 2.25 billion GT, with container ships...

(EnergyAsia, January 20 2014, Monday) — A consortium led by Dutch oil and chemicals logistics firm Royal Vopak Terminals has secured a contract to operate Singapore’s first underground oil storage caverns on Jurong Island when it starts up in the second half of this year. State-owned industrial landlord JTC Corp said it has awarded the...

(EnergyAsia, January 16 2014, Thursday) — Asia and the Middle East will account for the bulk of a projected addition of 9.5 million b/d to the world’s refining capacity between 2013 and 2018, said the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). This includes 8.6 million b/d of new builds and 900,000 b/d of additions to...

(EnergyAsia, January 15 2014, Wednesday) — Vopak Horizon Fujairah Limited, a subsidiary of Dutch oil and chemical logistics giant Royal Vopak, recently launched five oil tanker berth pipelines connecting its terminals to Fujairah Port in the UAE. The new pipelines will significantly increase the speed and efficiency of operations for customers of Vopak Horizon Fujairah...

(EnergyAsia, January 14 2014, Tuesday) — Malaysia’s state energy firm Petronas said the construction of its floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessel has moved into a key stage with the laying of its keel at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME)’s Okpo shipyard in South Korea. The first block of the keel, the basic structure...

(EnergyAsia, January 13 2014, Monday) — Oil product prices will fall sharply over the next two years on account of rising supplies and growing competition among refiners, predicts US consultant ESAI. In its recently published “Global Fuels Outlook”, the Boston, Massachusetts firm said refined product spreads will narrow, key product trade flows will disappear and...

(EnergyAsia, January 10 2013, Friday) — Rising crude oil production in the US and additional pipeline and railroad infrastructure helped keep global crude oil prices stable between 2010 and 2013, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Last year, the US benchmark crude, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), reached their highest average price of US$98 per...

(EnergyAsia, January 9 2014, Thursday) — ExxonMobil has officially started up what is claimed to be the world’s first plant to convert crude oil directly into petrochemicals, bypassing the intermediary oil products stage, that will enable the Singapore plant to compete against Middle Eastern rivals who have the advantage of cheap feedstock. The Singapore plant...

(EnergyAsia, January 8 2014, Wednesday) — Faced with rising cost and fierce competition for oil and gas reserves, Thailand’s leading upstream company, PTT Exploration and Production Pcl (PTTEP), said it has lowered its production target for 2020 from 900,000 b/d to a “more realistic” figure of 600,000 b/d. For its latest five-year plan, PTTEP expects...

(EnergyAsia, January 7 2014, Tuesday) — Several international oil and gas companies have left or are leaving India after years of battling bureaucratic and regulatory hurdles blocking their attempts to undertake oil and gas exploration in the country. Australia’s BHP and Santos along with UK’s BP and Cairn Energy have either abandoned or sold out...

(EnergyAsia, January 6 2014, Monday) — Kyrgyzstan has formally approved a set of agreements with China worth US$3 billion that includes the construction of a vital 225-km pipeline through the landlocked country for the export of natural gas from Turkmenistan. President Almazbek Atambaev signed the agreements into law last week after they were approved by...

(EnergyAsia, January 3 2014, Friday) — The oil and gas industry in emerging markets is an increasingly attractive target for private equity investments, said consultant Ernst & Young (EY) in a recent joint research report with Mergermarket. http://energycontents.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=301 In its survey of 100 senior executives in the global equity business, 55% said they are drawn...

(EnergyAsia, January 2 2014, Thursday) — With global oil demand growth on a tear, it’s little wonder crude prices have rebounded: US WTI is finishing the year above US$100 while Brent is holding firm north of US$110 a barrel. Affirming this growth theme of the last six months, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)...