refineries, up from a previous cap of 26% on foreign direct investment (FDI). At a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Indian government last month decided to raise the cap to encourage more foreign interest in the country’s oil refining sector. As an example, Kuwait Petroleum is interested to jointly invest...
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which is mainly used as a cooking fuel by much of the population. The government has told oil firms to step up production of LPG to help avert a full-fledged crisis. But the oil firms said the shortages are not a production issue, but have resuted from the growing use of...
monitor outages at the country’s refineries in a move to improve oil product supplies and contain price spikes. The US already operates a similar system for electricity outages. The system would help businesses and government agencies better prepare for product supply disruptions and distribution problems....
(EnergyAsia, February 20, Wednesday) — Chinese President Hu Jintao has called for the logistics and transport of coal supplies for power generation to be upgraded and also appealed to miners to boost output to alleviate the severe shortages that have hit the country in past months.China’s power plants have been running short of coal with...
(EnergyAsia, February 20, Wednesday) — US consulting group CERA said liquefied natural gas (LNG) will soon become a freely traded flexible worldwide commodity as a result of “momentous” investment decisions taken several years ago.Those decisions will reshape the global market’s traditional pricing and contracting practices, said CERA senior director for global gas Michael Stoppard in...
(EnergyAsia, February 20, Wednesday) — US-based Pacific Asia Petroleum Inc. said it has appointed Robert C. Stempel, the former chairman and CEO of General Motors and Energy Conversion Devices Inc (ECD) to its board of directors from February 11.“Bob will be an excellent addition to our Board. His extraordinary commercial and leadership experience at both...
(EnergyAsia, February 20, Wednesday) — The Chinese cities of Shanghai and Baoding have jumped aboard the World Wide Fund’s low-carbon city initiative to boost energy efficiencies and the use of renewable power sources.Many of China’s cities are faced with the challenges of high energy use and environmental pollution.The initiative aims to remedy this by researching...
(EnergyAsia, February 20, Monday) — China’s key ports of Qinhuangdao and Tianjin have stopped handling coal sales to foreign buyers after Beijing imposed an immediate two-month ban on coal exports to relieve a severe domestic power crunch.Chinese coal majors Shanxi Coal and China Coal have advised their international customers that there would be no exports...
(EnergyAsia, February 20, Wednesday) — Malaysia’s Shell Refining Company Berhad has reported an after-tax net profit of RM159 million for the fourth quarter of 2007, reversing the RM1 million loss for the same period of 2006. (US$1=Rm3.23).The company attributed the turnaround mainly to higher stockholding gains of RM163 million for Q4 2007 compared with a...
(EnergyAsia, February 20, Wednesday) — The Queensland state government of Australia has unveiled its policy and strategy to reduce the people’s dependence on fossil fuels as the price of oil increases and world supply diminishes.Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation, Andrew McNamara, said the future availability of fossil fuel and alternative energy supplies is...
the mothballed Port Stanvac refinery in Adelaide to boost oil product supplies and create more competition in the downstream fuels market. With oil prices touching record highs recently, Australia’s competition authorities are looking for ways to keep oil firms from overcharging motorists. Authorities are also pressing for more storage capacity for imported fuels to put...
coal exports to deal an acute domestic supply shortage. Supplies of coal, which provide three-quarters of China’s electricity, have come under increasing pressure in past months. Power supply disruptions have impacted manufacturing in many provinces, forcing Beijing to step in with an export ban. The ban takes about nine million tonnes out of already tight...
India’s economy, the country’s central bank has warned. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the economy also faces the threat of a prolonged slowdown in the US economy. India’s inflationary rate dropped to 3.8%, from 6.7% last year, largely due to monetary measures and government-mandated caps on retail gasoline and diesel prices which have...
committee on sustainable development (IMCSD) that is co-chaired by Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan and Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim. The committee, which includes Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Transport Minister Raymond Lim, and Minister of State for Trade & Industry Mr. S Iswaran, will aim to develop a “holistic...
engineering services, Fuel Tech, said it will giving a demonstration of the use of its FUEL CHEM system in India. The demonstration, due to start next quarter, will be conducted on a large coal-fired boiler operated by one of India’s largest industrial enterprises. The unit to be treated currently burns higher heating value coals imported...
Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine Limited, said it has secured over S$215 million worth of contracts to build or convert floating production storage offloading (FPSO) for Maersk Contractors and BW Offshore. (US$1=S$1.4). The latest contract from Maersk Contractors is for the conversion of the company’s second FPSO out of Singapore. The FPSO will have a...
could jump 60% in 2008 on the back of strong demand, according to analysts’ forecasts. JP Morgan, for example, has raised its forecast for the 2008 contract price to US$90/tonne, up almost 62% from last year’s price. It is forecasting that thermal coal contract prices will reac $80 a tonne and coking coal prices will...
(EnergyAsia, February 18, Monday) — The European Union’s (EU) strategy to boost the use of biofuels in the transportation sector to 10% by 2020 has come under fire by its own researchers.A report by the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission’s in-house scientific body, said there were much better ways to cut greenhouse case and...
(EnergyAsia, February 18, Monday) — France’s AREVA said its Transmission and Distribution (T&D) Division has signed three separate joint venture agreements to form companies in China, reinforcing its position as market leader in the area of disconnectors.The agreements were signed with Beijing Yuli Lian Ou High-Voltage Electric Equipment Co Ltd, Guangzhou LeeKeen Group Co Ltd...
(EnergyAsia, February 18, Monday) — Japan’s Mitsui & Co Ltd said it has approved the A$1.443 billion development of the Kestrel joint venture coal mine in Australia’s Queensland state. Australia’s Rio Tinto holds a 80% stake in the mine while Mitsui has the remaining 20%. (US$1=A$1.10). The project is expected to cost A$1,443 million. Mitsui...
(EnergyAsia, February 18, Monday) — NYSE-listed AES Corporation said it has agreed to sell its interests in the AES Ekibastuz power plant and Maikuben West coal mine in Kazakhstan to Kazakhmys PLC, the country’s largest producer of copper and one of the leading copper producers in the world.US-based AES will maintain its ownership and operation...
(EnergyAsia, February 18, Monday) — US major Chevron Corporation said its affiliate, Tengizchevroil LLP, will be increasing oil production capacity at the Tengiz field in Kazakhstan by 90,000 b/d to 400,000 b/d.Chevron holds a 50% stake in Tengizchevroil while KazMunaiGas holds 20 %, ExxonMobil Kazakhstan Ventures Inc 25 % and LUKArco 5%.A sour gas injection...
(EnergyAsia, February 18, Monday) — Australia’s second-largest power retailer, Origin Energy, has announced plans to construct an additional 126MW turbine generator at the Mt Stuart Power Station in Townsville as part of its commitment to expand power supply.Origin’s executive general manager for major development projects, Andrew Stock, said: “The A$92 million power station expansion will...
(EnergyAsia, February 18, Monday) — The global petroleum refining industry will face ‘significant’ new reconfiguration and investment challenges over the coming dozen years to avoid shortfalls in diesel, heating oil and jet fuel supplies, as well as to minimise the risk of a decline in refining capacity utilisation, said a leading energy consultant.Cambridge Energy Research...
(EnergyAsia, February 18, Monday) — Australian upstream company Woodside Petroleum said it has agreed to buy the North West Shelf oil interests of Shell Development Australia Pty Ltd for US$398.5 million, dating back to August 1, 2007. The assets include Shell’s share in the Cossack, Wanaea, Lambert and Hermes oil fields (including the Cossack Pioneer...