(EnergyAsia, February 5 2014, Wednesday) — South Korea’s largest utility, Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco), is making progress in its plans in the Philippines by adding to the four power plants that it owns and operates in the country. It is planning to build two 100MW coal-fired power plants in Negros Occidental province, with the...
(EnergyAsia, February 4 2014, Tuesday) — Still unable to operate its nuclear reactors, Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has started 2014 with the addition of two ultra super critical coal-fired plants with a combined 1.6GW of capacity to the estimated 67GW capacity it had at the end of December. The company started up the...
(EnergyAsia, February 3 2014, Monday) — A port owner has won approval to dispose nearly three million cubic metres of dredged mud into waters located just 25km from the world’s largest marine park as part of a multi-billion-dollar project to develop a major port for the export of coal from Australia’s Queensland state. State-owned North...
(EnergyAsia, January 29 2014, Wednesday) — The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has begun 2014 where it left off last year with its latest forecast calling for stronger growth in global oil demand over the next two years. For 2014, it expects global oil demand to grow by 1.3% to reach 91.59 million b/d, and by...
(EnergyAsia, January 28 2014, Tuesday) — South Korea’s state-owned KNOC is leading a consortium to build a 9.9-million-barrel oil products storage terminal at Ulsan port located about 380 km south of Seoul, said the country’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. KNOC will own a 51% stake with partners Dutch oil and chemical logistics firm...
(EnergyAsia, January 27 2014, Monday) — The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has raised its forecast for this year’s global oil demand to reach 90.91 million b/d, up from 90.84 million b/d in its previous forecast in December. The cartel also raised its estimate for last year’s oil demand to 89.86 million b/d, up...
(EnergyAsia, January 24 2014, Friday) — Chinese state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank (ICBC) will provide 70% of the financing for the estimated US$10 to $12 billion cost to build Ecuador’s delayed refinery in the western coastal province of Manabi. With the financing agreement in place, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa said China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC)...
(EnergyAsia, January 23 2014, Thursday) — Under pressure to cut spending and improve profitability, Royal Dutch Shell has sold off its stakes in two advanced natural gas projects in Australia and is looking to reduce proposed and existing investments in Canada and elsewhere. After shocking the market with a rare profit warning last week, the...
(EnergyAsia, January 21 214, Tuesday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is lending as well as approving funds that it administers to support energy access and develop major power projects across the Asia Pacific region. In Indonesia, the bank has approved a US$224 million loan for a US$410 million transmission project to connect rural households...
(EnergyAsia, January 20 2014, Monday) — Tougher Chinese policies aimed at reducing dependency on coal will help restrain global coal demand growth over the next five years, said the International Energy Agency (IEA). Despite the slightly slower pace of growth, however, coal will meet more of the increase in global primary energy than oil or...
(EnergyAsia, January 17 2014, Friday) — After decades of rapid growth, China’s domestic oil and gas industry may be forced to slow down in the face of growing public pressure to raise safety, environmental and health standards and practices. Unlike in the past where the factory floor and China’s sloppy work practices dominated the safety...
(EnergyAsia, January 17 2014, Friday) — Russia’s leading oil producer Rosneft said it has received the first multi-dollar-billion pre-payment from China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) for a 25-year crude supply contract signed last June. Rosneft said it has begun supplying 290,000 b/d over the 25-year period, up from just 800,000 tonnes or 16,000 b/d last...
(EnergyAsia, January 16 2014, Thursday) — State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has pushed back the start-up of its oft-delayed 300,000-b/d oil Paradip refinery in the northeastern state of Odisha to the middle of the year. Previously scheduled to start up in 2009, 2012 and 2013, the 300-billion rupee refinery will not meet its new launch...
(EnergyAsia, January 15 2014, Wednesday) — China’s largest oil refiner is expected to pay heavy fines and large compensations to victims and their families as well as property owners affected by last November’s deadly explosion at one of its pipelines in a busy section of the coastal city of Qingdao. Despite readily accepting responsibility and...
(EnergyAsia, January 14 2014, Tuesday) — Thanks to a tax change, Russian production of diesel and jet fuel will increase 500,000 b/d by 2020, said US consultant ESAI Energy. In a new study, ESAI said amended duties on oil exports from January 2014 will trigger this “explosive growth” in output by altering refining profitability in...
(EnergyAsia, January 13 2014, Monday) — Amid growing predictions of a world glutted with shale and other hydrocarbons, Asia’s growing anxiety over its oil and gas supplies is emerging as a major paradox of the global energy markets. Instead of being soothed by the record amount of hydrocarbons being discovered and produced worldwide, Asian countries...
(EnergyAsia, January 10 2014, Friday) — A Chinese firm is among a group of investors looking to explore for oil and gas as well as build an oil refinery in Nigeria, said the mining and mineral commissioner of the West African country. Speaking to the media this week, Abubakar Baba Jibril declined to name the...
(EnergyAsia, January 9 2014, Thursday) — China’s Shenhua Energy Co Ltd, one of the world’s biggest coal miners, is planning to venture into the booming shale gas industry in the US through a tie-up with Energy Corp of America (ECA). The company said it will invest US$90 million to set up a subsidiary to work...
(EnergyAsia, January 8 2014, Wednesday) — The US and Canada are the only major producers of commercially viable natural gas from shale formations in the world, even though about a dozen other countries have conducted exploratory test wells, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). http://energycontents.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=301 In a recent study it jointly conducted with the...
(EnergyAsia, January 7 2013, Tuesday) — India will have a new Prime Minister this year after the badly tarnished Manmohan Singh, 81, announced he would not be seeking a third term with a general election due by May. He will likely be succeeded as head of the ruling Congress Party by Rahul Gandhi, 43, an...
(EnergyAsia, January 6 2014, Monday) — Asian companies will continue to acquire upstream oil and gas assets, but they will be more selective in the face of rising costs, shareholder pressure to grow profits and resource nationalism in host countries, said analysts. The growing caution, most noted among Chinese state-owned firms, was reflected in the...
(EnergyAsia, January 3 2014, Friday) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc and India’s state-owned upstream ONGC are now the joint owners of Brazil’s offshore Parque das Conchas (BC-10) oil block after acquiring the remaining 35% held by former partner Petrobras for a comined total US$1.56 billion. According to separate announcements by the three companies, Shell will...
(EnergyAsia, January 2 2014, Thursday) — In its last monthly report for 2013, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is forecasting global oil demand to grow by 1.27% from 90.25 million b/d to a record high of 91.43 million b/d in 2014. The EIA has consistently been more bullish in its outlook on global oil demand...
(EnergyAsia, December 31 2013, Tuesday) — In its final month report for 2013, the International Energy Agency (IEA) raised its forecast for global oil demand to 91.17 million b/d for this year, and to 92.37 million b/d for 2014. Both represent new all-time highs, beating the agency’s previous record forecasts last month for 2013 demand...
(EnergyAsia, December 30 2013, Monday) — Not for the first time, Indonesia’s oil and gas industry will likely miss the government’s annual production targets amid charges of corruption, mismanagement and failure to attract foreign investments to make up for the decline of old fields. Southeast Asia’s largest oil and gas producer has seen both decline...