(EnergyAsia, December 24, Thursday) — China’s state-owned firms are willing to spend as much as US$50 billion to secure six billion barrels of crude oil reserves in Nigeria, Emmanuel Egbogah, the African nation’s presidential adviser on energy, said. Speaking to reporters, he said the government was in discussions with the Chinese firms including CNOOC Ltd...

(EnergyAsia, December 24, Thursday) — Fresh from helping China and some developing countries torpedo last week’s Copenhagen climate change summit, India will likely give short shrift to environmental concerns as it prepares to step up the use of coal in growing its economy in the coming decade. Like China, India is heavily dependent on coal...

(EnergyAsia, December 24, Thursday) —China’s apparent oil demand in November soared 18.7% from a year ago as the country’s economic recovery picked up momentum, said oil media Platts. This surge in oil demand marked the third straight month that the world’s second largest oil consumer posted double-digit yearly growth in oil demand. Chinese oil demand...

(EnergyAsia, December 23, Wednesday) — A Foster Wheeler AG- WorleyParsons Services Pty Ltd joint venture has been awarded a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract by Woodside for Trains 2 and 3 of the Pluto liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Australia. Foster Wheeler said the contract also includes an option for early engineering, procurement, construction...

(EnergyAsia, December 23, Wednesday) — The consortium developing Papua New Guinea’s 6.6-million-ton-per-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) project has secured financing worth US$14 billion from various lending agencies and financial institutions. Australia’s Oil Search Limited, a 29% participant in the consortium, said this amount exceeds the estimated US$13 billion of debt required for the project on...

(EnergyAsia, December 23, Wednesday) — Large-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects will be necessary to meet increasing global demand for natural gas, Tom Walters, president of ExxonMobil Gas and Power Marketing Company, told delegates at the recent International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC) in Doha. Presenting from ExxonMobil’s 2009 Energy Outlook, he noted that despite the...

(EnergyAsia, December 23, Wednesday) — World energy demand will increase by about 35% in 2030 compared to 2005, requiring trillions of dollars in investment and a commitment to innovation and technology, said Exxon Mobil Corporation in its new edition of Outlook for Energy: A View to 2030. Rex W. Tillerson, ExxonMobil chairman and CEO, said:...

(EnergyAsia, December 23, Wednesday) — A joint venture between Singapore’s marine fuel supplier and storage operator Chemoil and Indian port developer Adani has mapped out its expansion plans for next year. Chemoil-Adani said it will expand its Mundra Port onshore storage capacity by 25% to 120,000 cubic metres by the end of next year. It...

(EnergyAsia, December 23, Wednesday) — ExxonMobil may have found the perfect response to those who think the Western world’s largest oil company has reached its limit to growth, doesn’t care for the environment and is not helping the US reduce dependence on foreign oil. In offering to acquire XTO Energy Inc, the largest natural gas...

(EnergyAsia, December 23, Wednesday) — The “Copenhagen Accord” last week has failed to create a legally binding framework for nations to address climate change, and has not properly addressed the key issues of deforestation and adaptation, but it does provide hope for the future, said US-based Conservation International. It is a step forward – agreement...

(EnergyAsia, December 22, Tuesday) — Aegis Logistics, an Indian supply chain company serving the oil and chemicals industries, said it plans to invest up to Rs1 billion to develop inland depots to store chemicals and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the seven states it operates in. (US$1=Rs46). Anish Chandaria, the company’s CEO, said it will...

(EnergyAsia, December 22, Tuesday) — India’s power generating companies which rely heavily on imported coal are expected to take a financial hit from rising international coal prices. Spot prices of coal at Australia’s Newcastle port, a benchmark for Asia, have appreciated by nearly 10% in November, while prices at China’s benchmark Qinhuangdao port, have also...

(EnergyAsia, December 22, Tuesday) — The Indian government sees underground coal gasification as a potential long-term solution to meet the country’s fast growing energy demand while satisfying increasingly stringent environmental requirements. Sriprakash Jaiswal, the Minister of State for Coal, said the high cost of coal gasification and the inadequate technology remain major concerns, but he...

(EnergyAsia, December 22, Tuesday) — Swiss commodities trader Glencore International could soon be a listed company in Singapore if its US$233.28 million cash offer for the founding Chandran family’s 50.81% stake in Chemoil Energy is accepted. When its US35.52 cents per share offer is cleared, Glencore subsidiary, Singfuel Investment, will have to follow through with...

(EnergyAsia, December 22, Tuesday) — “China is the centre today of the new LNG compass,” said Qatar’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Industry Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah. He made these comments when Qatar, the world’s largest LNG exporter, recently signed massive new deals to supply PetroChina and China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNPC)....

(EnergyAsia, December 22, Tuesday) — India’s Essar Oil Ltd is hoping to complete talks with Shell for the purchase of three of the Anglo Dutch major’s oil refineries in Europe within weeks. Privately held Essar said the two sides were making progress in talks over the two refineries in Hamburg and Heide in Germany, and...

(EnergyAsia, December 22, Tuesday) — CNOOC Limited, China’s largest offshore oil exploration company, is hoping to double crude oil and natural gas production in the western part of the South China Sea in the next six years. CNOOC is aiming to increase its output from that prospective area to 20 million cubic meters by 2015...

(EnergyAsia, December 21, Monday) — Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings has sold off its fledgling upstream oil and gas company Orchard Energy Pte Ltd to RH Petrogas Limited, a Singapore-listed exploration and production company. Temasek Holdings, which admitted losing tens of billions of dollars in ill-advised investments in Wall Street banks in 2007 and...

(EnergyAsia, December 21, Monday) — BDP Project Logistics, a leading privately held project logistics and transportation management services company, has established a new Singapore-based subsidiary, BDP Oil and Gas Logistics Pte Ltd Incorporated to target the growing opportunities in the global oil and gas supply chain. BDP Project Logistics and its parent company, BDP International...

(EnergyAsia, December 21, Monday) — Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) is expected to deliver its first cargo of crude oil to the Kagoshima storage terminal in Japan today under a special bilateral agreement on strategic oil stockpiling between the two governments. As part of an oil security agreement, Abu Dhabi, as a member of...

(EnergyAsia, December 21, Monday) — Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has started work on its long delayed refinery in Paradip in northeastern India while expanding the capacity of a 120,000-b/d refinery in West Bengal state. The state-owned downstream company has begun constructing the 15-million-tonne-per-year (t/y) refinery, targeting completion in 2012. Approved 10 years ago, the Rs300...

(EnergyAsia, December 21, Monday) — Coal prices at China’s benchmark Qinhuangdao port have risen to a one-year high on the back of temporary supply bottlenecks caused by snowstorms in the country’s northern region and speculation that mine accidents will prompt closures. The price of coal with an energy value of 5,500 kilocalories increased to between...

(EnergyAsia, December 21, Monday) — Exxon Mobil Corp has made a substantial and hugely significant decision in moving to acquire America’s largest natural gas producer, XTO Energy Inc, for a total of US$41 billion including XTO’s US$10 billion worth of debt. The agreement, subject to XTO stockholder approval and regulatory clearance, will enhance ExxonMobil’s position...

(EnergyAsia, December 21, Monday) — CNPC (Hong Kong) Ltd said its 97.26%-owned natural gas subsidiary Xinjiang Xinjie Co will sell oil storage and pipelines to its parent, PetroChina Co Ltd, for a total of 584.8 million yuan. (US$1=6.83 yuan). CNPC said Xinjiang Xinjie will sell its refined oil product storage tanks for 83.9 million yuan,...

(EnergyAsia, December 18, Friday) — Indonesia’s coal output is forecast to rise by as much as 12% in 2010 on strong demand from China and India as well as domestic consumers, said Bob Kamandanu, chairman of the Indonesian Coal Producers Association (ICPA). The association is projecting Indonesian coal output to rise to between 270 million...