(EnergyAsia, August 11 2014, Monday) — Canada-listed Oando Energy Resources has completed the US$1.5 billion purchase of a collection of oil and gas assets in Nigeria from US upstream firm ConocoPhillips which is leaving the troubled African nation to focus on shale opportunities back home. After over a year of negotiations, Lagos-based Oando said it...
(EnergyAsia, August 8 2014, Friday) — BP said it has cleared a “significant milestone” to expand its Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) project after the Indonesian government issued an environmental permit in approving the environmental and social impact assessment for the US$12 billion investment. The permit, issued by the environment ministry, also outlines the role...
(EnergyAsia, August 6 2014, Wednesday) — Western trade sanctions against Russia in their dispute over Ukraine are unlikely to have a significant impact on world oil prices given the combined influence of other major geopolitical events already in play now, said UK based consulting firm GlobalData. Along with rising tensions between Russia and the West,...
(EnergyAsia, August 5 2014, Tuesday) — For the first time in recent years, the world’s demand for gasoline will grow faster than diesel in 2014 while at the same time, refiners will start up new capacity to produce more diesel and kerosene than gasoline, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). These two trends are...
(EnergyAsia, July 31 2014, Thursday) — Global oil demand will reach a new record high of 94.08 million b/d in 2015, rising more than 1.5% from this year’s projected 92.67 million b/d, said the International Energy Agency (IEA). In its first crystal ball gaze into next year’s markets, the agency said developing Asia led by...
(EnergyAsia, July 29 2013, Tuesday) — The export revenues of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), excluding Iran, will continue to fall in 2014 and 2015 to follow through on last year’s 15.9% plunge, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). As a result of lower production and weak oil prices, the 12-member...
(EnergyAsia, July 25 2014, Friday) — The election of Joko Widodo as Indonesia’s new president and Jusuf Kalla as vice president is potentially good news for Southeast Asia’s largest economy, particularly its energy and mining sectors, says UK consultant Wood Mackenzie. As a more progressive and pragmatic choice than his opponent, Prawbowo Subianto, Widodo’s victory...
(EnergyAsia, July 22 2014, Tuesday) — A group comprising an Alaska firm and four major companies have filed an application with the US Department of Energy to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from a proposed project from a greenfield site in Nikiski near the port of Achorage. The application seeks authorisation for the annual export...
(EnergyAsia, July 17 2014, Thursday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it has approved a US$300 million dual-tranche loan to help Sri Lanka scale up its use of clean energy and cut its reliance on costly fuel oil for electricity generation by 2020. The bank’s first US$150 million tranche will help pay for a...
(EnergyAsia, July 16 2014, Wednesday) — Singapore’s Ezra Holdings Limited said it is aiming to create one of Asia’s largest offshore services providers by merging an offshore division with an associated firm to own and operate a vessel fleet worth more than US$1 billion. The enlarged EOC Group will comprise EMAS Marine, Ezra’s offshore support...
(EnergyAsia, July 14 2014, Monday) — Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa officially started up two of the country’s most modern fuel storage facilities in the emerging trade hub of Hambantota city last month. Mattala International Airport’s US$40 million terminal stores up to three million litres of jet fuel to serve the growing air traffic through...
(EnergyAsia, July 11 2014, Friday) — Singapore’s Keppel Shipyard Ltd said it has secured a US$735 million contract from Golar Hilli Corp, a subsidiary of Golar LNG Ltd, to convert an existing Moss liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier, the Hilli, into a floating liquefaction vessel (FLNGV) by the first quarter of 2017. Keppel Shipyard, a...
(EnergyAsia, July 11 2014, Friday) — Mongolian Mining Corporation said its wholly‐owned subsidiary, Mongolian Coal Corporation Limited (MCCL), and Risun Mining Co Ltd, a subsidiary company of the Risun Group, have agreed to establish a joint venture company to transport, sell and distribute coal in China. With registered capital of RMB10 million and investments totalling...
(EnergyAsia, July 10 2014, Thursday) — European major Shell could finally be held accountable for “massive compensation” for its role in devastating oil pollution in the Niger Delta following a landmark UK court ruling last month, said Amnesty International. In a judgment delivered by Justice Sir Robert Akenhead, the London Technological and Construction Court found...
(EnergyAsia, July 9 2014, Wednesday) — Oil prices have fallen an average five percent since peaking in late June in response to the recent upsurge in violence in Iraq and Syria. At the end of the New York trading day on June 8, North Sea Brent was trading below US$109, down from a peak of...
(EnergyAsia, July 8 2014, Tuesday) — Saudi Aramco said its subsidiary, Aramco Overseas Company BV (AOC), will become the new majority owner of South Korea’s S-OIL Corporation when it completes its proposed buy-out of the Hanjin Energy Company’s entire 28.4% stake for nearly 1.983 trillion won. (US$1=1,010 won). The Saudi state-owned firm will raise its...
(EnergyAsia, July 3 2014, Thursday) — US-based Afton Chemical Corporation has started construction of a new chemical additives manufacturing facility on Singapore’s Jurong Island. The plant is expected to start up in January 2016 to add to the Richmond, Virginia company’s global supply network of additives to meet growing demand in the Asia-Pacific and Middle...
(EnergyAsia, July 1 2014, Tuesday) — Puma Energy, one of the world’s largest independent midstream and downstream companies, has acquired InterOil Corp’s oil refining and fuels marketing businesses in Papua New Guinea for US$525.6 million, the two companies have announced. With the takeover of InterOil’s 28,000 b/d refinery in Port Moresby, a network of 52...
(EnergyAsia, June 30 2014, Monday) — Two months after its start-up, Southeast Asia’s newest oil storage terminal built partly on reclaimed land on the eastern coast of Malaysia’s Johor state was officially launched last Thursday by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak. In April, Pengerang Independent Terminals Sdn Bhd (PITSB) started up the RM5-billion project’s first...
(EnergyAsia, June 27 2014, Friday) —- With the impending closure of one of its two refineries, Australia’s largest downstream oil company expects its first-half after-tax profit to fall to between A$150 million and $170 million compared with A$195 million for the same period last year. (US$1=A$1.05). Caltex said it is winding down production at its...
(EnergyAsia, June 20 2014, Friday) — US-based FTS International (FTSI) said it has signed a 15-year joint venture agreement with state-owned Sinopec Group to supply its oilfield services and hydraulic stimulation expertise to China, initially focusing on shale-rich Sichuan province. The China-incorporated SinoFTS Petroleum Services Ltd, 55% owned by Sinopec and 45% by FTSI, will...
(EnergyAsia, June 19 2014, Thursday) — BP said it has signed an agreement for the annual supply of up to 1.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) over 20 years starting 2019. In London this week, BP’s executive vice president, Dev Sanyal, and CNOOC chairman, Wang Yilin,...
(EnergyAsia, June 13 2014, Friday) — Russia’s Minister for Development of the Far East, Alexander Galushka, recently visited the facilities of mining firm Mechel in the region as part of his work tour to monitor the country’s ports and infrastructure projects serving the Pacific markets. The company said its chairman, Igor Zyuzin, accompanied Mr Galushka,...
(EnergyAsia, June 11 2014, Wednesday) — Finland’s Wartsila said its dual-fuel engines will power the world’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fired icebreaker now being built by the Arctech Helsinki Shipyard for the Finnish Transport Agency. Wartsila said it will fit the vessel with a 8-cylinder 20DF, two 9-cylinder 34DF and two 12-cylinder 34DF engines, enabling...
(EnergyAsia, June 9 2014, Monday) — Aggreko, a UK-based leading provider of temporary power and temperature control services, has expanded its Southeast Asian operations by opening a new depot in Songkhla in Thailand and adding to the electricity generation capacity on Indonesia’s Bali Island. Aggreko said the Songkhla depot will help raise service standards for...