(EnergyAsia, March 23, Monday) — The oil trade in Singapore remained “resilient” in January and February despite the financial crisis and lower global oil demand.In fact, firms are setting up trading desks in Singapore, said trade promotion agency International Enterprise (IE) Singapore.One recent entrant is bunker fuel supplier Brightoil which set up a trading desk...
(EnergyAsia, March 23, Monday) — Keppel Corp and SembMarine, the world’s two largest oil rig builders, could see a significant reduction in business and profit in the wake of the global financial crisis and lower oil demand.Analysts said that customers of the two Singapore-listed companies may delay payments, try to renegotiate contracts or even cancel...
(EnergyAsia, March 23, Monday) — Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) is shifting its investments towards developing renewable energy.The company is looking to build a 20-30 megawatt (MW) hydroelectric power plant on Luzon island, and undertaking feasibility studies for hydropower projects in Babuyan and Langogan in Palawan.It is also planning to invest in wind, geothermal, ocean...
(EnergyAsia, March 23, Monday) — GE Energy said it recently signed a contract for nearly US$1 billion to supply more than 30 Frame 7EA gas turbines for the Saudi Electricity Company’s (SEC) Riyadh Power Plant 10 (PP10).The project, the latest in a series of GE contracts for SEC power projects, will add 2,000 megawatts (MW)...
(EnergyAsia, March 23, Monday) — A prominent lobby group for electric vehicles, Plug In America, is celebrating one of its biggest victories with the stimulus bill that President Obama signed into law last month.The lobby said that intense congressional advocacy and more than 60,000 emails from our supporters helped shape the bill’s plug-positive legislation, which...
(EnergyAsia, March 23, Monday) — China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has applied to state regulators to double the capacity of its upcoming 10-million-tonne-per-year refinery in Qinzhou in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.CNPC has also submitted plans to build depots to store three million tonnes of crude and one million tonnes of refined products.China’s largest...
(EnergyAsia, March 20, Friday) — ExxonMobil has managed to fully replenish all the oil it produced in 2008, and then some. Additions to the company’s proven reserves were 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent, or 103% of 2008 production. Stripping out asset sales, reserve additions were even higher, at 110% of production. The US major...
(EnergyAsia, March 20, Friday) — South Korean firms are preparing to start work on developing the oil fields in Iraq’s oil-rich southern region of Basra. This followed last month’s non-binding agreement signed by the Presidents of the two countries in Iraq, allowing Korean companies to explore and produce oil in the war-torn Middle East country....
(EnergyAsia, March 20, Friday) — The rapid increase in coal-based power generation capacity in India and China is speeding up the rate of global warming, an expert with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned. In fact, the damage was much worse than previously expected, said Chris Field in a recent report which...
(EnergyAsia, March 20, Friday) — The oil industry will face a challenging future as signs point to an earlier than anticipated end to oil’s predominance in the global energy market, said management consultancy Arthur D.Little. In a report, Arthur D. Little questions the energy sector’s consensus view that demand for oil will rise ever higher,...
(EnergyAsia, March 20, Friday) — Origin Energy has started construction work on a 550-megawatt (MW), gas-fired power station in Mortlake Power Station in Australia’s Victoria state. (US$1=A$1.5). The power station will be supplied with natural gas via a pipeline to be constructed from Port Campbell to the site delivering gas. The pipeline will deliver gas...
(EnergyAsia, March 20, Friday) — US-based consultancy Energy Security Analysis Inc (ESAI) has predicted that oil refining margins in Asia will deteriorate on further contraction in the region’s oil product demand. Asia’s economies are decelerating under the weight of a looming world economic recession. Focusing on product supply in Asia six months out, ESAI’s recently...
(EnergyAsia, March 20, Friday) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that a slow global economy, declining commodity prices, and tighter credit markets are threatening to reverse the recent successes of Africa’s economies. “The gains of the past decade, during which many countries in sub-Saharan Africa saw sustained high rates of economic growth and...
(EnergyAsia, March 19, Thursday) — US major Chevron is preparing to sell off its 5% stake in India’s Reliance Petroleum Limited (RPL) to Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). While the companies declined to say what price RIL would be paying for the stake, Indian media reports suggest that RIL is prepare to pay close to Rs60 per...
(EnergyAsia, March 19, Thursday) — In a sign that China’s domestic market may swing into surplus, Sinopec is preparing eight of its refineries to begin exporting refined products in the coming weeks. Sinopec is Asia’s largest refiner.The refineries in Zhenhai, Maoming, Guangzhou, Jinling, Gaoqiao, Hainan, Dongxing and Qingdao have a combined processing capacity of two...
(EnergyAsia, March 19, Thursday) — Joining other countries, Russia said it is looking to set up a crude and oil products stockpile to take advantage of low oil prices.The Russian government is working on a plan to store up to 16 million tonnes of crude and products, said Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin.Unlike China and...
(EnergyAsia, March 19, Thursday) — China’s state-owned CNOOC Ltd said it plans to import two million tonnes of liquefied natural gas from Qatar in the third quarter, marking the start of LNG trade between the two countries.China last year signed a 25-year term deal to import around 78 million tonnes of LNG from Qatar, the...
(EnergyAsia, March 19, Thursday) — The 12 members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pumped an average 28.07 million barrels per day (b/d) in February, as the cartel continued its efforts to slash oversupply and prevent oil prices falling further, according to a Platts survey of OPEC, oil industry officials and analysts....
(EnergyAsia, March 19, Thursday) — Denmark’s Maersk Tankers said it is prepared to venture into the carbon dioxide transportation market to help promote carbon capture and storage (CCS), one of the technologies identified as key to mitigate the effects of climate change.“With this initiative we want to show industrial leadership by demonstrating we can act...
(EnergyAsia, March 19, Thursday) — Cambodia is being corrupted by its new oil and mining riches, and donor nations are aiding the process by not acting against the country’s political, business and military elite, said an anti-graft non-government organisation (NGO). In a hard-hitting report, Washington DC-based Global Witness warned that Cambodia’s future is being jeopardised by...
(EnergyAsia, March 19, Thursday) — The global financial crisis slashed the value of financial assets worldwide by a massive $50 trillion last year, with developing Asia suffering more than other emerging market regions, said the Asian Development Bank (ADB).A study commissioned by the bank found that losses on financial assets in developing Asia in 2008...
(EnergyAsia, March 18, Wednesday) — Europe could soon face an oversupply of carbon credits as the global recession worsens and weakens demand, traders said. Already, EU carbon prices are down almost 70% from last July when they traded at a two-year high. Traders said slower economic growth in Europe and around the world is undermining...
(EnergyAsia, March 18, Wednesday) — Singapore needs to step up plans to expand its capacity for storing oil and petrochemical products as it is running up against land constraint, said industry and government officials. Land supply on the Jurong Island oil and petrochemicals hub is near exhausted, forcing the country to push for offshore storage...
(EnergyAsia, March 18, Wednesday) — Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill, has launched LNG TraderNet, an online service designed to provide traders, analysts, and the other members of the LNG community with “one-stop” market intelligence and analytical tools. The new web-based service features a comprehensive range of resources, including price assessments, fundamental market data,...
(EnergyAsia, March 18, Wednesday) — Norway’s Flex LNG Management Ltd (Flex) and Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) have agreed to delay delivery dates for their planned four floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) units. Last December, Flex had put off finalising its deal with Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) for construction of the world’s first floating LNG...