(EnergyAsia, February 29 2016, Monday) — Australian upstream company Santos said it wrote off a further A$3.924 billion worth of assets after reporting a record loss of A$2.9 billion last year as oil and gas prices continued their rapid descent from mid-2014. (US$1=A$1.4). The tide of red ink flowed through from 2014 when the company…

(EnergyAsia, February 22 2016, Monday) — Despite being recently freed of most sanctions to trade with the world, Iran will be hard pressed to produce more than 500,000 b/d of crude oil this year owing to a combination of “technical and political hurdles”, said Moody’s Investor Service….

(EnergyAsia, February 18 2016, Thursday) — Five of China’s leading state-owned oil firms and some of their subsidiaries have been placed on review by Moody’s Investor Service for a possible downgrade of their current Aa3 credit ratings….

(EnergyAsia, February 13 2016, Saturday) — Led by Japan, Asia’s use of an established crude oil-based formula to price its liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports will likely continue into the next decade, according to one of the region’s leading energy economists….

(EnergyAsia, February 12 2016, Friday) — For all its illustrious history as Asia’s oil centre, Singapore is still missing a vital piece in its quest to become a full-fledged energy trading hub: a successful futures exchange to support price discovery and regional paper trades….

(EnergyAsia, February 1 2016, Monday) — Japan’s ailing energy-intensive economy continues to struggle for life despite the infusion of an unexpected windfall from prolonged weak oil and gas prices since mid-2014….

(EnergyAsia, January 25 2016, Monday) — The precarious fate of Japan’s nuclear power industry will cast an uncertain shadow over the country’s energy outlook for at least the next 15 years, suggests its state planning agency. The bulk of Japan’s nuclear power plants, which used to supply nearly 30% of its electricity, remains idled after…

(EnergyAsia, January 21 2016, Thursday) — Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and China’s President Xi Jinping have officially launched a 400,000 b/d oil refinery in Yanbu city jointly owned by their countries’ state energy firms that will help deepen China’s involvement in the Middle East….

(EnergyAsia, January 17 2016, Sunday) — Japan’s JERA Co Inc has set its sights on meeting at least half its 40 million tonnes/year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchases through spot trades to take advantage of expected low prices over the next few years….

(EnergyAsia, December 3 2015, Thursday) — The International Energy Agency (IEA) has delivered another piece of news to beat down any hopes for a near-term recovery in oil prices: global stockpile have just topped a record three billion barrels….

(EnergyAsia, December 2 2015, Wednesday) — Moody’s Investor Service said Asian downstream oil companies can expect modest growth and healthy margins in 2016 with crude prices staying low and the region’s refining capacity glut easing off….

(EnergyAsia, November 23 2015, Monday) — Down by over 65% since mid-2014, crude oil prices could fall another 50% to the US$20s a barrel next year, said analysts at Wall Street firms….

(EnergyAsia, November 20 2015, Friday) — Despite reports of a December start-up, the construction of possibly Asia’s most ambitious pipeline project to supply natural gas from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India remains shrouded in doubt as it faces a myriad of mounting financial, political and security problems….

(EnergyAsia, November 1 2015, Sunday) — Global oil demand growth will slow sharply to 1.2 million b/d next year after reaching what would be a five-year high of 1.77 million b/d in 2015, predicts the International Energy Agency (IEA)….

(EnergyAsia, October 31, 2015, Saturday) — Still reeling from the effects of the global financial crisis of 2008, the World Bank said Central Asia is facing “strong headwinds” from a set of new challenges brought on by the continuing weakness in oil and gas prices, Russia’s recession and worsening relations with the West, the slowdown…

(EnergyAsia, October 30 2015, Friday) — Two Canadian companies have made important progress in their respective projects to export gas products from British Columbia province to Asia….

  (EnergyAsia, October 30 2015, Friday) — In their darkest moment in over two decades, Central Asia’s beleaguered economies may have found another white knight in Japanese Prime Minister…

(EnergyAsia, October 29 2015, Thursday) — Singapore’s Pavilion Energy said it has signed a 10-year agreement to procure liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russian gas giant Gazprom to support its trading and supply activities in Asia….

(EnergyAsia, October 27 2015, Tuesday) — One of Australia’s leading oil and gas companies, Santos Limited, said it is continuing a strategic review of its business after rejecting a buy-out offer of A$6.88 per share that values the beaten-down company’s value at A$7.14 billion. (US$1=A$1.38)….

(EnergyAsia, October 25 2015, Sunday) — Any hopes for an oil price rally in the remaining months of 2015 are being dashed by the continuing build in global stockpiles as production is still growing at a faster rate than consumption, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA)….

(EnergyAsia, October 25 2015, Sunday) — Central Asia’s eight nations will continue to reel from the impact of weak oil prices, with little hope of their economies recovering to the levels before the collapse of the energy markets in mid-2014, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF)….

(EnergyAsia, October 21 2015, Wednesday) — US liquid fuels consumption will reach a seven-year high of 19.44 million b/d this year and rise further to 19.59 million b/d in 2016 on the back of the country’s continuing economic and employment growth, predicts the Energy Information Administration….

(EnergyAsia, October 1 2015, Wednesday) — Greenpeace celebrated a “huge victory” to protect the Arctic from hydrocarbon production and exploration when Royal Dutch Shell announced it would cease all work in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea that forms part of the region….

  (EnergyAsia, October 1 2015, Thursday) — The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects the world’s oil surplus to continue widening this and next year as it trimmed its forecasts for demand slightly while raising supply in its September monthly report….

(EnergyAsia, September 30 2015, Wednesday) — Amid the worst oil glut in over a decade, a Norwegian research firm wants the world to start worrying about possible oil price shocks….