Gujarat state at capacity, a few weeks ahead of its original start-up schedule. The Vadinar unit is one of only two private refineries in India. Like Reliance’s 660,000 b/d Jamnagar refinery, also in Gujarat, Essar exports most of its output. Essar plans to invest US$6 billion in the coming years to expand the 10.5-million-tonne per...

finance the build up of its strategic petroleum reserves (SPR). The government is setting up SPR terminals at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh state, and in Mangalore and Padur near Udipi in Karnataka to store a total of five million tonnes of oil for emergency use. In 2005, the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas had...

desperate move to secure a cut of the Islamic regime’s huge natural gas reserves. Already, Iran is China’s third largest oil supplier. Last month, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) signed a major US$16 billion agreement with Iran’s Pars Oil and Gas Company to help exploit and purchase gas from the Pars field in northern...

International Company Ltd and PetroChina Sichuan Petrochemical Company Limited (PSP), which are subsidiaries of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), for the use of Shell’s ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol (EO/EG) process in a new petrochemical plant near Chengdu, Sichuan province. Shell’s leading EO/EG process and CRI Catalyst Company‘s EO catalyst will be used in the plant that...

agreement to acquire Primex Energy Brokers Ltd for a total of $40 million. The sum comprises $3.7 million in cash and $22.3 million in 2,262,196 of Tullett Prebon plc ordinary shares payable on completion, with a further $14 million in another 1,420,212 Tullett Prebon ordinary shares payable in 2011 subject to earn-out targets being achieved....

western state of Perak looks to be in doubt now as its proponent has threatened to pull out after complaining about the lack of government support.  Gulf Petroleum Ltd said the consortium it is leading might consider setting up the proposed 150,000 b/d integrated refining and petrochemical complex in a neighbouring country if it faced...

(EnergyAsia, March 27, Thursday) — The ‘11th Annual Asia Power & Energy Congress’ will be held at the Grand Hyatt in Singapore from March 31 to April 4. The conference will help delegates understand Asia’s regulatory roadmap and its implications on power generation, transmission and distribution, assess the impact of a carbon economy on power...

(EnergyAsia, March 27, Thursday) — ‘Transmission & Distribution Asia 2008’ will be held at the Grand Hyatt from March 31 to April 3 in conjunction with the 11th Annual Asia Power and Energy Congress. The event will gather transmission and distribution companies, electricity retailers, power generators, regulators, financiers, investors, legal firms, consultants and technology experts...

end if the government stands firm on its decision to withdraw a seven-year tax holiday for new projects.   Several projects on the drawing board could be threatened, said their supporters.  This includes Indian Oil Corp’s  (IOC) 15-million-tonne-per-year Paradip project, Hindustan Petroleum’s nine-million-tonne-per-year Govind Sagar refinery in Punjab, and Bharat Petroleum’s six-million-tonne-per-year Bina refinery. IOC...

to demand that China set aside their 2006 contract agreement to pay more for liquefied natural gas supplies from the Tangguh field.   The chairman of Indonesia’s state regulator BPMIGAS Kardaya Warnika recently told local reporters the agency plans to press China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) to pay a higher price for LNG to...

liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Australia if offered the opportunity.   The company, which recently signed a 15-20 year deal to import between two and three million tonnes of LNG from Woodside, views Australia as a stable and reliable long-term energy supplier. The deal, valued at between A$35 and A$45 billion, is a world...

sector following its decision to invest in an oil refinery and a fuel storage project.   Kuwait Petroleum Co (KPC) will partner with the China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation and the Guangdong provincial government to build a 15-million-tonne oil refinery in the province, said local officials. The Kuwaiti government has promised to supply the crude...

oil storage and port businesses of Dutch company Greenoak Group for an undisclosed amount. Greenoak took over the Batumi oil terminal and sea port in 1999, investing more than $200 million to establish it as a viable business serving the surrounding markets in Georgia. The terminal has the capacity to store more than 15 million...

plans to exercise an option to take over Abu Dhabi-based IPIC’s 70% stake in refiner Hyundai Oilbank Corp. IPIC earlier said it wanted to sell its stake to other companies, which Hyundai claims violates a shareholder agreement with Hyundai group of companies. HHI which owns a 19.87% stake in Oilbank said it has first right...

reserve (SPR) base in its far western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The 6.5-billion-yuan terminal in Shanshan county will store emergency oil supplies from Xinjiang and neighbouring oil producing country Kazakhstan. (US$1=7.05 yuan). China now has two operating SPR bases in Zhejiang province and is building another two facilities in Shandong province and Liaoning provinces. China...

or Sinopec Corp have submitted joint technical and commercial feasibility study for the approval of the planned $900 million expansion of their joint chemical site in Nanjing to the Chinese government. The site is operated by the joint venture BASF-YPC Co Ltd (BYC).   The study calls for the: – expansion of the steam cracker...

million to acquire a minority interest in independent polysilicon producer Nitol Solar Ltd. In a joint statement, the two companies said Suntech will become a stakeholder by acquiring Nitol Solar Ltd’s newly issued ordinary shares. Nitol Solar said its contracts to supply several customers through 2015 are worth a total of $1.5 billion. Suntech is...

said it will invest a total of US$1.67 billion to set up three liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminals to meet the country’s rising energy demand. The terminals, to be located in western and eastern Java and North Sumatra, will be supplied by the Bontang LNG export project in East Kalimantan and West Papua’s Tangguh...

130% for their coal supplies from Australia this year. The price of Australian thermal coal is on track to reach US$130 per tonne in April, compared with just $56 per tonne last year. With world demand staying strong, analsyts said coking coal, used in steel production, is set to soar to US$225 per tonne, up...

increases in power tariffs and oil prices implemented by the recent caretaker government. The previous government has taken the bold step of raising the country’s power tariffs and oil prices. In February, power tariffs went up by 9% while the price of gasoline was raised by Rs5 per litre and that of diesel by Rs3.5...

continues to face pressure from the Philippines government to expand and upgrade its 110,000 b/d Batangas refinery. After years of delay, the company is reported to be ready to release a feasibility study favouring overdue new investments for the plant.   The company has been considering a major investment for several years, but it has...

could cut off natural gas supplies to Singapore if bilateral relations worsened. The country’s Antara news agency had quoted a top official at gas regulator BP Migas as saying gas supplies to Singapore could be cut off if the two countries were unable to resolve their differences. It was not the first time that Indonesian...

expected to grow by 2% to 87.5 million b/d for 2008. This is lower by about 80,000 b/d from its previous forecast, taking into account the negative impact of high oil prices, and an expected slowdown in world economic growth this year. The Paris-based watchdog for oil consuming countries said that downward pressures on demand...

spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) assessment to add to its extensive portfolio of energy pricing benchmarks. The weekly global publication, Heren LNG Markets, began carrying a spot LNG price for cargoes delivered to the Far East starting March 7. The price reflects the traded value delivered ex-ship (d.e.s.) into Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China....

shutdowns and lower margins caused its 2007 net profit to fall 17.3% to NZ$112.05 million. (US$1=NZ$1.26). Its revenue was down 16.2% to NZ$338.3 million.   NZ Refining said it will pay a dividend of NZ35 cents per share.  Operating the country’s only oil refinery at Marsden Point near Whangarei, the company is New Zealand’s leading...