(EnergyAsia, November 21 2013, Thursday) — Qatar is expected to retain its leadership in the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets over the next few years, thanks largely to strong cash flows from established long-term sales contracts, stable relationships with important partners to leverage its vast holding of natural gas reserves, well-developed infrastructure, and continuous...
(EnergyAsia, November 20 2013, Wednesday) — Asia’s bullish liquefied natural gas (LNG) market will find further support from the delayed start-up of Indonesia’s fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) production plant at the same time that the country’s main Arun terminal will stop exporting the fuel next year. Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp is leading the Donggi-Senoro consortium...
(EnergyAsia, November 19 2013, Tuesday) — Russian energy giant Rosneft is leading the country’s pivot to Asia with plans to order a fleet of liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers from South Korea, help build a ship yard, and explore for oil and gas with state-owned PetroVietnam. Rosneft’s president and chairman, Igor Sechin, signed the agreements...
(EnergyAsia, November 19 2013, Tuesday) — The US looks set to raise liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports after the Department of Energy said it had conditionally approved an application for Freeport LNG in Texas state to sell the fuel to international buyers. The company becomes the fifth approved by the US government to export the...
(EnergyAsia, November 18 2013, Monday) — Boosted by strong public investment and expansion in its non-hydrocarbon sector, Turkmenistan’s economy is set to grow by 10.1% this year and 10.7% in 2014, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The nation’s growing demand for imported capital goods will push the current account into deficit over the next...
(EnergyAsia, November 15 2013, Friday) — The development of shale, onshore oil and coal projects is posing a growing threat to water supplies in different parts of the world, according to a joint study by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and UK consultant Wood Mackenzie. The study concluded that water supplies are subject to “medium-to-extremely...
(EnergyAsia, November 14 2013, Thursday) — Two Mongolia-focused miners have issued updates with SouthGobi Resources planning to restate its financial results between 2011 and 2013 while Guildford Coal said it has been approved to build a 98km road link to one of its mines. ASF Group, an Australia-listed investment firm, said it has beefed its...
(EnergyAsia, November 14 2013, Thursday) — China’s largest coal port operator is hoping to raise up to US$600 million after receiving approval to sell shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Qinhuangdao Port Co, which is controlled by the Hebei provincial government, is expected to offer more than 1.4 million shares to fund its expansion...
(EnergyAsia, November 13 2013, Wednesday) — As Asia continues to pay near record high liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices, its second and third largest consuming countries are stepping up their joint campaign to change the global pricing system for the fuel. But Japan and India are fighting the near five-decade-old pricing system from positions of...
(EnergyAsia, November 12 2013, Tuesday) — Canada’s Talisman Energy Inc said it has agreed to sell part of its Montney acreage in British Columbia province to Progress Energy Canada Ltd for a total cash consideration of C$1.5 billion. (US$1=C$1.05). The transaction includes 75% (about 127,000 net acres) of Talisman’s Montney position in the Farrell Creek...
(EnergyAsia, November 12 2013, Tuesday) — Asia’s demand for natural gas will grow by 3.9% per year through 2035, far ahead of oil’s 1.9% rate and coal’s 1.7%, predicts the Asian Development Bank (ADB). As the region shifts towards using cleaner burning fuel for power generation, the share of natural gas in its energy mix...
(EnergyAsia, November 11 2013) — China will start up the first of four proposed giant plants to convert coal into natural gas by the end of 2013, less than a decade after the government began planning for “cleaner” ways to use the nation’s vast coal reserves. Datang International Power Generation Company Ltd, which began work...
(EnergyAsia, November 11 2013, Monday) — Australia’s recently elected conservative government has kept its promise by scrapping a controversial carbon tax imposed on July 1 2012 by the former Labor Party-led regime. Tony Abbott led the Liberal-National coalition to victory in September, thanks in no small part to support from the powerful mining and oil...
(EnergyAsia, November 8 2013, Friday) — “Mongolia is open for business” again after a brief period of uncertainty, declares an Australian miner developing coal deposits in the landlocked Asian country. In a special note to shareholders, Aspire Mining Limited said Mongolia’s new investment legislation from November 1 has returned the country to being a “foreign...
(EnergyAsia, November 7 2013, Thursday) — Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) has issued a 68-million dinar tender to expand and upgrade the fuel depot at the port of Ahmadi. (US$1=0.28 Kuwaiti dinar). KNPC public relations director Mohammad Mansour Al-Ajmi said the investment will add 11 tanks equipped with automatic control systems by the end of...
(EnergyAsia, November 6 2013, Wednesday) — Australia’s Modun Resources said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mongolian government for the supply of coal briquettes from a project that it is developing in the Asian country. As part of the agreement, Modun will develop a coal mine and build a briquette plant at...
(EnergyAsia, November 5 2013, Tuesday) — India’s private companies are unlikely to take up the government’s invitation to help develop and mine the country’s large coal reserves to meet the huge demand of the domestic market. India’s coal imports reached a record 204.1 million tonnes last year as domestic demand surged beyond 772.8 million tonnes...
(EnergyAsia, November 4 2013, Monday) — Led by Japan, China and India, Asia’s growing demand for “cleaner and flexible” energy sources will boost the outlook for the liquefied natural gas markets in coming years, said the CEO of Qatargas in Singapore last week. In his keynote address at the Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW), Sheikh...
(EnergyAsia, November 4 2013, Monday) — Faced with corruption investigations and mounting criticism of incompetence, state-owned Coal India Limited looks to end the year on a miserable note as more than 500,000 of its unionised and contract workers threaten nationwide industrial action around mid-December. Five unions representing 350,000 unionised and 200,000 contract workers said they...
(EnergyAsia, November 1 2013, Friday) — Mechel OAO, a leading Russian mining and metals company, said its subsidiary, Mecheltrans OOO, has sold a 28% share in Vanino Sea Trade Port OAO’s equity capital for 5.04 billion rubles. The company said it retains a minor share after the sale to an unnamed “ outside investor”. (US$1=31.8...
(EnergyAsia, November 1 2013, Friday) — A consortium comprising companies from Myanmar, India and Singapore is planning to build a 500-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Kyauktan in Myanmar’s Yangon region. Myanmar’s Ministry of Electric Power, Diamond Palace Services Co Ltd, India’s Orange Powergen Pvt Ltd and Singapore’s Global Adviser Pte Ltd signed a memorandum of...
(EnergyAsia, October 31 2013, Thursday) — Russian energy giants Rosneft and Gazprom again experienced sharply diverging fortunes in their latest round of talks to sell oil and gas to Chinese state-owned companies. There was only joy for Rosneft as well as rising star Novatek, and further uncertainty for Gazprom at the end of last week’s...
(EnergyAsia, October 31 2013, Thursday) — The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has kept its latest October forecast for global oil consumption virtually unchanged over the next two years. For 2013, it has maintained that the world will consume 89.74 million b/d while raising its expectations for 2014 by just 1,000 b/d to 90.78...
(EnergyAsia, October 30 2013, Wednesday) — As evidence of the world’s economic recovery stacks up going into the final quarter, the US government has raised its forecast for global oil demand for 2013 to grow by one million b/d a new all-time high of 90.26 million b/d. The Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) forecast in its...
(EnergyAsia, October 29 2013, Tuesday) — The International Energy Agency (IEA) has again raised its global oil demand forecast for 2013 and 2014, citing in its October oil market report the improving economic outlook in North America, China and Europe, and continued strong growth in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. The Paris-based agency...