(EnergyAsia, October 28 2010, Wednesday) — The Pakistan State Oil (PSO) said it is acquiring Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) as part of the government’s plan to consolidate fuel distribution operations in the country. The acquisition is expected to be completed by early 2011. The country’s largest oil marketing company with a market share of 71%...
(EnergyAsia, October 28 2010, Thursday) — Operating at full capacity, Vietnam’s only oil refinery is grappling with the challenge of limited space to store its growing stockpiles of gasoline and diesel. Managers at the 140,000 b/d Dung Quat refinery have failed to anticipate the increased import volumes ordered by end users, leading to a fuel...
(EnergyAsia, October 28 2010, Thursday) — Faced with declining domestic consumption, a rising currency and mounting financial losses, Japanese oil companies are racing to reduce their combined 4.8 million b/d refining capacity. The government has added to the industry’s burden with its recent regulation that refiners raise the rate of their heavy oil-cracking capacity to...
(EnergyAsia, October 28 2010, Thursday) — Unrest stemming from disagreements between various landowner groups and labour unrest may delay the development of the US$15 billion ExxonMobil-led liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Papua New Guinea. Police are investigating a surprise attack in late September on LNG contractors Clough Niugini and Queensland company Curtain Brothers near...
(EnergyAsia, October 28 2010, Thursday) — Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is preparing to import an additional three million tonnes of crude oil a year to feed its newly expanded refinery near Panipat in the northern Indian state of Haryana. IOC invested more than 10 billion rupees to expand the Panipat refinery to process 15 million...
(EnergyAsia, October 27 2010, Wednesday) — Without substantiated evidence, Iran’s and Iraq’s respective claims of having higher oil reserves are unreliable and cannot be accepted, according to analysts including a former Iraqi oil minister. Iraq raised its estimate of proven oil reserves to 143 billion barrels, briefly putting it in third place in terms of...
(EnergyAsia, October 27 2010, Wednesday) — Iran has substantially boosted its oil reserves data to 150.31 billion barrels on the heels of a similar revision by Iraq earlier this month. The revisions, unsubstantiated by independent surveyors, will likely spark similar moves by other members of the Organisation Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) seeking to increase their...
(EnergyAsia, October 27 2010, Wednesday) — Hong Kong-listed Brightoil Petroleum (Holding) Co Ltd has begun building an oil products storage and logistics base on the port in Zhoushan island in east China’s Zhejiang Province. The terminal is envisioned to be the largest oil products base in the Yangtze River Delta. The first phase of the...
(EnergyAsia, October 27 2010, Wednesday) — Uncertain energy policy has replaced access to reserves as the top risk facing the industry across the globe in 2010, said consultant Ernst & Young. According to its Oil and Gas Business Risk Report 2010, uncertainties in the direction of energy policy have been prolonged by the vague outcome...
(EnergyAsia, October 27 2010, Wednesday) — Industry insiders doubt Iraq’s ability to meet its ambitious goal of raising its crude exports to 12 million b/d within six years from 2.3 million at present. They said ongoing security concerns, weak finances and technical difficulties are likely to hinder Iraq from achieving its export goal. Some think...
(EnergyAsia, October 27 2010, Wednesday) — Falling domestic oil demand may prompt Japanese refiner Cosmo Oil Co to slash its 500,000 b/d refining capacity by as much as 20% by fiscal year 2013. The company is looking to close part of its operations at four refineries, a trend spreading among downstream oil companies in Japan....
(EnergyAsia, October 26 2010, Tuesday) – China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is planning to build another six liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminals and 15 compressed natural gas (CNG) service stations in China, according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). The company has already developed thee LNG terminals and is operating...
(EnergyAsia, October 26 2010, Tuesday) — Fresh from battling China’s largest oil spill in July and August, Dalian Port (PDA) said it is hoping to raise nearly 3.67 billion yuan in an offering of up to 1.2 billion shares through the Shanghai stock exchange. (US$1=6.6 yuan). The Hong Kong-listed company, which operates northern China’s largest...
(EnergyAsia, October 26 2010, Tuesday) — The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA) to foster maritime relations. MPA said it will explore opportunities to collaborate with DMCE in planning and regulating marinas and waterways, promoting maritime environment protection, and...
(EnergyAsia, October 26 2010, Tuesday) — China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) is looking to develop an oil storage terminal at its newly acquired Dongying port in Shandong province. The acquisition will strengthen the company’s operations in North China, and complement its holding of upstream oil and gas assets in Bohai Sea and East China...
(EnergyAsia, October 26 2010, Tuesday) — Unable to reach an agreement on technical details, Bahrain Petroleum Co (BAPCO) and its partners have canceled their plan to set up a US$150 million oil storage and export facilities on Bahrain’s Sitra island. BAPCO, Saudi Arabia’s Arab Petroleum Investments Corp, Bahrain’s Holding Company and Kuwait’s Independent Petroleum Group...
(EnergyAsia, October 26 2010, Tuesday) — Major buyers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) helped raise its imports by 28% in the first half of 2010 compared to the same period last year, according to Australia’s energy economics group, EnergyQuest. In a detailed analysis of official international trade statistics, EnergyQuest said it found that the North...
(EnergyAsia, October 25 2010, Monday) — JTC Corporation, Singapore’s state industrial infrastructure specialist, said it has awarded the tender for the construction of a major offshore marine centre (OMC) at Tuas View to Muhibbah Engineering (Singapore) Pte Ltd. To be built on a 13-hectare waterfront infrastructure, the S$54 million OMC will be completed by November...
(EnergyAsia, October 25 2010, Monday) — Singapore’s Sembcorp Marine said its Sembawang Shipyard has secured two floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) contracts worth S$75 million. (US$1=S$1.3). The first contract, awarded by leading FPSO contractor BW Offshore, is for the conversion of a 97,172 -dwt tanker BW Genie into a floating production unit (FPU). Major...
(EnergyAsia, October 25 2010, Monday) — Keppel FELS Limited, a subsidiary of Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd, said it has secured new contracts worth about US$101 million to complete and refurbish two semisubmersible drilling rigs respectively for Saipem S.p.A and Ensco plc. (US$1 = S$1.3). The first contract was awarded by Italy’s Saipem SpA...
(EnergyAsia, October 25 2010, Monday) — The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) expects world oil demand to continue growing strongly to reach new record highs this and next year. In its latest monthly forecast, the cartel sees world demand rising by 1.34% or 1.13 million b/d to 85.59 million b/d in 2010, and by...
(EnergyAsia, October 25 2010, Monday) — Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) may have to re-position its new Rs298 billion export-oriented refinery at Paradip to supply fuel to the domestic market instead. (US$1=Rs44). To be commissioned by next March, the refinery has the capacity to produce 3.41 million tonnes (mt) of gasoline, 1.45 mt of jet kerosene,...
(EnergyAsia, October 25 2010, Monday) — Four of Europe’s five largest oil companies have ended or are in the process of ending their trade deals with Iran, according to the US State Department. Under pressure of sanctions, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA, Eni SpA and Statoil ASA will stop making new deals with the...
(EnergyAsia, October 25 2010, Monday) — India’s state Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) is expected to start full commercial production of its greenfield refinery at Bina in Madhya Pradesh state next January, bringing the group’s total refining capacity to 30.5 million tons. The company had started up a crude distillation unit in June. The six-million...
(EnergyAsia, October 22 2010, Friday) — Singapore is targeting electronics, pharmaceutical firms and other industrial companies to use liquefied natural gas for their production facilities. BG Group, which in April 2008 won a 20-year contract to supply three million tons per year of LNG to Singapore, is promoting the fuel to prospective industrial customers after...