(EnergyAsia, April 24 2013, Wednesday) — The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has slightly reduced its latest forecast for 2013 world oil demand to 89.66 million b/d, compared with its previous forecast of 89.67 million b/d in March and 89.68 million b/d in February. In its April report, the cartel expects this year’s global...
(EnergyAsia, April 24 2013, Wednesday) — For the fourth consecutive month, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has slashed its global oil demand growth forecast for 2013. In its April oil market report, the IEA also predicts that 2013 will be the third consecutive year of weak growth with global demand rising “only 795,000 b/d” down...
(EnergyAsia, April 24 2013, Wednesday) — India has vowed to continue to importing oil from Iran in defiance of US threats to punish countries for not following Western trade sanctions against the Islamic regime. In denying reports that New Delhi was bowing to Western pressure to stop trade with Iran, India’s Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai...
(EnergyAsia, April 23 2013, Tuesday) — UK-based steel tycoon Lakshmi N. Mittal is finding out how tough it is to be an oil trader a year after venturing into the refining business through a jointly owned nine-million-ton per year plant in India’s Punjab state. Instead of thanking him for bringing prosperity, people living near the...
(EnergyAsia, April 23 2013, Tuesday) — Qatar will derive greater commercial and political value from its new liquefaction capacity in the US than from adding to domestic capacity, said consultant Wood Mackenzie. Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) and ExxonMobil, which jointly own the Golden Pass regasification terminal in the US Gulf Coast, are looking to re-develop...
(EnergyAsia, April 23 2013, Tuesday) — Cairn India plans to invest 50 billion rupees to boost production at the country’s second largest oilfields in Rajasthan state from 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) today to 300,000 boed by 2016. (US$1=55 rupees). If Cairn succeeds, production from the 16 onshore fields in the northern...
(EnergyAsia, April 22 2013, Monday) — India’s only state-owned gas importing company said it has signed a 20-year deal to secure 2.3 million tonnes of export capacity in the Cove Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project at Lusby in the US state of Maryland. GAIL (India) Ltd said subsidiary GAIL Global (USA) LNG secured...
(EnergyAsia, April 22 2013, Monday) — Saudi Arabia’s state oil company expects to raise production of Arab Heavy crude at its new giant Manifa oilfield to 500,000 b/d by July, rising to a peak of 900,000 b/d by end-2014. Saudi Aramco said the offshore field, located about 200 km northwest of Dhahran city, officially started...
(EnergyAsia, April 22 2013, Monday) — India expects to uncover more oil and gas reserves in waters off its coast as well as onshore in unconventional formations as it seeks to continue raising crude oil production from last year’s record volume of just under 900,000 b/d. India is probably the only major country to report...
(EnergyAsia, April 19 2013, Friday) — Petronet LNG Ltd, India’s main importer of liquefied natural gas, is planning to hep launch a new carrier that will initially own and operate a vessel to deliver the fuel to two import terminals currently under construction. Petronet is building the terminals at Kochi in Kerala state and at...
(EnergyAsia, April 19 2013, Friday) — So, who would want to buy a small past-its-shelf-life oil refinery in a highly competitive slow-growth market with a poor profit outlook that is subject to rising environmental regulations? That is the question facing Royal Dutch Shell now that it has decided to sell off its 55-year-old Geelong oil...
(EnergyAsia, April 18 2013, Thursday) — Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation’s largest downstream company, said its refinery throughput of 54.6 million tonnes or 1.1 million b/d in the recently ended financial year ending March 31 2013, slightly exceeding its target of 54.25 million tonnes. IOC said its 10 refineries operated at 100.7% of their...
(EnergyAsia, April 18 2013, Thursday) — Sinopec could begin construction of a long-awaited 12-million tonne/year refinery in northern China’s Hebei province later this year. The planned 28.6-billion-yuan Caofeidian Island refinery, which was approved in August 2011, could start up within two years upon environmental approval by the central government. According to Sinopec, the project will...
(EnergyAsia, April 18 2013, Thursday) — Woodside Petroleum has begun cooling off Australia’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) fever with its decision to call off the construction of an out-of-control US$45 billion onshore project in Western Australia state in favour of a cheaper floating terminal as well as the possibility of taking small stakes in new...
(EnergyAsia, April 17 2013, Wednesday) — The Sri Lankan government intends to seize a strategic oil storage depot in the northeastern port of Trincomalee from the Indian Oil Corp (IOC) after New Delhi voted in favour of a UN Human Rights Council resolution to investigate alleged war crimes committed by Colombo in the recently ended...
(EnergyAsia, April 17 2013, Wednesday) — Bangladesh is seeking funding to develop a proposed US$327 million offshore oil storage and handling terminal in the Bay of Bengal. The government has approached the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to support the project which has been hit by rising cost since the completion of a feasibility study in...
(EnergyAsia, April 16 2013, Tuesday) — State upstream firm Oil India Ltd (OIL) has announced plans to set up an international subsidiary to acquire and develop oil and gas assets abroad. India’s second largest state-owned explorer after ONGC said its board approved the proposal for the wholly owned subsidiary at a meeting on April 10...
(EnergyAsia, April 16 2013, Tuesday) — Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, is venturing into the fast-growing global liquefied natural gas (LNG) business with an initial investment of S$1 billion to launch new subsidiary Pavilion Energy Pte Ltd. (US$1=S$1.25). Seah Moon Ming, a former deputy CEO of another Temasek company ST Engineering, will...
(EnergyAsia, April 15 2013, Monday) — US domestic coal production is expected to rise 0.5% to 1,025.4 million short tons (mmst) this year and by a further 2% to 1,045.9 mmst in 2014, predicts the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). US coal consumption is seen rising from 889 mmst in 2012 to 948 mmst in...
(EnergyAsia, April 15 2013, Monday) — India’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports could surge by as much as 19% this year, thanks to new short-term contracts, added capacity and increased throughput at existing terminals, predicts US consultant Bentek Energy. In a new report, the company, a unit of energy media Platts, said the same factors...
(EnergyAsia, April 12 2013, Friday) — Heavily indebted Russian coal mining and steel company Mechel OAO said it has secured a 40-billion ruble loan from Moscow-based VTB Bank amid reports that it is in talks to sell off a sizeable stake to China’s Baosteel. (US$1=30 rubles). Mechel said it plans to use 25-billion rubles of...
(EnergyAsia, April 12 2013, Friday) — The continued weak outlook for Australia’s coal sector has led to the BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance prematurely terminating a top soil-removal contract at its Queensland mine, and Newcastle Port delaying expansion of a coal terminal. Having ended its contract with Australia’s Leighton Holdings to clear the Peak Downs metallurgical coal...
(EnergyAsia, April 11 2013, Thursday) — Rising water shortages are threatening China’s ability to expand its coal-fired electricity capacity to meet the economy’s growing energy demand, according to a study by Bloomberg’s New Energy Finance (NEF) unit. China’s coal industry, which consumes around 15% to 20% of the country’s water supplies, provides the fuel to...
(EnergyAsia, April 11 2013, Thursday) — The Australian economy is getting a lift from a resurgence in its mining sector which boosted the nation’s net exports in the October-December quarter by 3.3%. With the economy on course to expand by 3.1% for the year ending June 30, Treasurer Wayne Swan said the latest figures showed...
(EnergyAsia, April 11 2013, Thursday) — Countries around the world would realise major economic and environmental gains if they took the bold steps of reducing energy subsidies which amount to a “staggering” US$1.9 trillion a year, equal to about 2.5% of global GDP or 8% of government revenues, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In...