(EnergyAsia, September 14 2010, Tuesday) — Responding to BP’s report on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster, Tzeporah Berman, head of Greenpeace International Energy Campaign, said: “BP’s self penned review is a sorry attempt to spread the blame for the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, but still reveals a devastating litany of human error, incompetence and technical...
(EnergyAsia, September 14 2010, Tuesday) — Investors face growing risks operating in the key oil producing areas of West Africa. Gulf of Guinea: With piracy on the rise, the nations in the Gulf of Guinea which collectively produce more than three million b/d of crude oil, face threats to the operational security of oil producing,...
(EnergyAsia, September 13 2010, Monday) — BP has sought to pin some of the blame on its two main contractors for the disaster that followed after an oil rig it had chartered to work on an exploratory well exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico on April 22. Eleven workers were killed and about...
(EnergyAsia, September 13 2010, Monday) — Environmentalists’ calls for tougher regulations and more stringent inspections on deepwater drilling has been strengthened by a second major oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico just as the BP-linked disaster appears to be headed for a conclusion. An oil slick of more than three km spread across the...
(EnergyAsia, September 13 2010, Monday) — Plant and terminal engineering specialist PEC Ltd said its net profit for the year ended June 30 2010 was up 96% to S$48.2 million compared with S$24.5 million the previous year. (US$1=S$1.34). The Singapore-based company also reported a 35% increase in gross profit from $91.4 million to S$123.2 million,...
(EnerygAsia, September 13 2010, Monday) — Australia’s MetroCoal Limited said it has signed an agreement to invest in Indonesian coal exploration project areas fully owned by an unidentified Australian entity. The company said it has invested A$130,000 to hold 20% of the expanded capital of this entity, and has an option to increase its holding...
(EnergyAsia, September 13 2010, Monday) —- Equatorial Guinea has begun supplying crude oil to help Ghana operate its loss-making refinery in Tema located 40 km northeast of its capital of Accra. The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) confirmed that it has lifted 1.05 million barrels of crude oil as part of an agreement that it...
(EnergyAsia, September 13 2010, Monday) — China-based coking coal producer Puda Coal posted a five-fold increase in its second quarter net profit to US$8.7 million on the back of higher commodity prices, increased sales volume and extraordinary gains. The company, which supplies high grade metallurgical coking coal to produce coke for steel manufacturing in China,...
(EnergyAsia, September 13 2010, Monday) — US conglomerate GE said its advanced technology is in use to successfully operate the gasification unit at one of the world’s largest coal-to-olefins projects in China’s Inner Mongolia province. China Shenhua Coal to Liquid and Chemical Co Ltd recently started up its project in Baotou city, using GE’s technology...
(EnergyAsia, September 9 2010, Thursday) — Wärtsilä, a Finland-based global supplier of decentralised power plant solutions, said it has received four separate orders to supply power plants to Bangladesh, adding more than 300 MW of generating capacity to the national grid. Worth more than 100 million euros, the four orders were signed in July and...
(EnergyAsia, September 9 2010, Thursday) — Banking on the country’s large oil reserves, the Nigerian government has announced plans to launch its first sovereign wealth fund (SWF) as well as issue US$500 million worth of global bonds next month. The US$1 billion fund will be used to help kickstart or finance the construction of critical...
(EnergyAsia, September 9 2010, Thursday) — Royal Dutch Shell PLC said it expects to soon complete the construction of an important 97-km pipeline to deliver crude oil from Nigeria’s restive southern delta to the Bonny export terminal on the Atlantic Coast. The US$1.1 billion Nembe Creek Trunkline will replace an ageing line to link up...
(EnergyAsia, September 9 2010, Thursday) — To meet rising domestic demand, China Coal Energy Co has set a target to nearly double production to 200 million tons in 2014 from 108.5 million metric tons last year. Speaking at a recent media, President Yang Lieke said his company plans to achieve this goal by developing or...
(EnergyAsia, September 9 2010, Thursday) — The Chinese government may consider reining in domestic coal production over a five-year period from 2011 to slowdown the country’s greenhouse gas emissions output, said the National Energy Administration (NEA). The government may impose an output ceiling of 3.6 billion to 3.8 billion metric tons of coal annually under...
(EnergyAsia, September 8 2010, Wednesday) — China’s booming coal trade has been blamed for causing the world’s longest traffic jam, which lasted nine long days on roads to Beijing connecting mines to ports in China last month. An increase in the number of trucks carrying coal from the province of Inner Mongolia amid ongoing road...
(EnergyAsia, September 9 2010, Thursday) – Thanks to higher coal prices and measures implemented to cope with the global financial crisis, China Coal Energy Co said it posted a 25.4% rise in first half 2010 net profits to RMB5.446 billion from RMB4.342 billion for the same period last year. (US$1=RMB6.8). Its basic earnings per share...
(EnergyAsia, September 9 2010, Thursday) — Dutch oil and chemical logistics giant Royal Vopak said its first half operating profit rose by 21% to 223 million euro, while revenue climbed 11% to 543.9 million euro. (US$1=0.7 euro). Thanks to a high utilisation rate of 93% of its tank capacity, the company grew its net profit...
(EnergyAsia, September 8 2010, Wednesday) — A city government in China’s far western Xinjiang region has announced plans to develop an 8.8-sq km area into a national model for environmental-friendly urban development. Following guidelines laid down by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Energy Administration (NEA), the government of Turpan city...
(EnergyAsia, September 8 2010, Wednesday) — Ghana’s government is believed to be pressing Texas, US-based Kosmos Energy to sell its stake in the country’s new Jubilee oil field to state-owned Ghana National Petroleum Co (GNPC) after successfully blocking a proposed buy-in by ExxonMobil. The potential purchase by GNPC of Kosmos Energy’s 23% stake in Jubilee...
(EnergyAsia, September 8 2010, Wednesday) — A leading Indian energy think tank, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), and its non-profit partners are introducing low-cost solar-powered lamps and lanterns to villages across the country which do not have access to electricity. Five types of light emitting diodes (LEDS) lamps for rural lighting are now...
(EnergyAsia, September 8 2010, Wednesday) — The Geneva-based International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently released revised editions of two of its standards for marine fuels in response to increasingly strict international requirements for air quality, ship safety, engine performance and crew health. The fourth edition of “ISO 8217:2010, Petroleum Products – Fuels (class F) –...
(EnergyAsia, September 8 2010, Wednesday) — Marine and offshore company ES Group Holdings Ltd was recently listed on the Catalist board under the ticker symbol “ES Group”, said Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX), Asia’s second largest listed exchange. With over 30 years of experience in the industry, Singapore-based ES Group builds, converts and repairs a wide...
(EnergyAsia, September 8 2010, Wednesday) — Australian mining and infrastructure services company AJ Lucas Group Limited said its final investment decisions on coal seam gas projects will enhance its earnings for the current financial year to June 30 2011. Thanks to renewed activity in the mining sector, the company expects to continue its recovery from...
(EnergyAsia, September 8 2010, Wednesday) — The UN is investigating claims by environmentalists that its global carbon trading and credit scheme intended to cut greenhouse gas emissions may have been manipulated for the financial benefit of narrow interest groups. The UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) enables industrialised countries that signed on to the 1997...
(EnergyAsia, September 7 2010, Tuesday) — US coal consumption for power consumption rose 4.8% in the first half of 2010, while production slipped 0.2% from year-ago levels, said the US Energy Information Agency (EIA). The agency said it coal consumption in the power sector to grow by 5.3% in 2010, implying accelerated...