(EnergyAsia, February 19 2013, Tuesday) — Chinese officials are pushing for the start-up of construction of a long-delayed joint-venture oil refinery between state CNPC and Russia’s Rosneft in Tianjin city later this year. Originally scheduled to start up last year, the proposed 260,000 b/d refinery was part of a wider agreement signed in 2009 in...

(EnergyAsia, February 18 2013, Monday) — Global oil and gas transactions surged 19% to reach a record US$402 billion last year, with gains in upstream deals more than offsetting the decline in downstream buy-outs, said consultant Ernst & Young. Calling this a “staggering” amount, Ernst & Young said the industry consummated an average of more...

(EnergyAsia, February 15 2013, Friday) — With a total of 230 fuel outlets, Singapore’s Puma Energy has laid claim to becoming Australia’s largest independent fuel retailer with its planned buy-out of Ausfuel from Archer Capital. The company made its first investment in Australia last month when it acquired Neumann Petroleum’s retail portfolio of more than...

(EnergyAsia, February 15 2013, Friday) — The floods and heavy rainfalls that hit Australia last month directly impacted coal mines and rail networks that account for 78 million tonnes of production for the export market this year, said consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. One week of lost production from these mines equals to about 1.5 million...

(EnergyAsia, February 14 2013, Thursday) — A modest rise in Newcastle prices has seen the Chinese thermal coal import arbitrage move into negative territory, said Goldman Sachs. This development points to a fall in Chinese import volumes in Q1 2013, albeit from a very high base. Against a backdrop of relatively low and stable Chinese...

(EnergyAsia, February 13 2013, Wednesday) — The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has bad news for residents of Beijing and other heavily polluted Chinese cities. Growing by more than 9% a year since 2001, China’s insatiable appetite for coal to generate power has shown no signs of slowing down, and could soon equal what the...

(EnergyAsia, February 13 2013, Wednesday) — China Petroleum & Chemical Corp or Sinopec said it plans to sell 2.845 billion shares in Hong Kong to raise HK$23.97 billion to expand production capacity. (US$1=HK$7.75). Asia’s biggest refiner, which trades on the stock exchanges of Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York and London, is beefing up its global...

(EnergyAsia, February 13 2013, Wednesday) — International coal suppliers should dampen their expectations if they are looking to China as the promised land to absorb additional production in coming years, said US energy consulting group IHS CERA. In a new study, the Cambridge, Massachusetts firm predicts Chinese coal imports will peak before the end of...

(EnergyAsia, February 8 2013, Friday) — Indonesian coal miner PT Adaro Energy said its fourth-quarter production rose 7% on year to reach a record 13.31 million tonnes. Despite unfavourable weather conditions caused by higher-than-average rainfall, the company achieved its second-highest annual production of 47.19 million tonnes last year. The all-time high of 47.67 million tonnes...

(EnergyAsia, February 8 2013, Friday) — India’s largest power company, NTPC, has started talks with Australia’s MetroCoal to acquire a stake in its Surat Basin project in Queensland state. The state-owned company consumes more than 160 million tonnes of coal to fuel its 33,000MW power generation capacity. The Indian government has been encouraging the country’s...

(EnergyAsia, February 7 2013, Thursday) — Despite growing worries over health and environmental issues, China is unlikely to achieve its goal of reducing coal consumption in the current 12th five-year plan to 2015, said analysts. Coal which accounts around 70% of the country’s primary energy is responsible for much of China’s greenhouse gas emissions and...

(EnergyAsia, February 7 2013, Thursday) — China’s coal production rose four percent to 3.66 billion tons last year despite the bearish pressures asserted by low prices and high inventories, said the China National Coal Association. The country’s coal stockpile was up 58% to 85 million tons, with more than 96% held by power plants to...

(EnergyAsia, February 6 2013, Wednesday) — PHI Group, Inc, a US-listed energy and natural resources company, said it has signed an agreement to export coal from Indonesia to Vietnam. PHI said it signed the agreement with Hanoi-based My Son Import Export and Investment Joint Stock Company, a Hanoi-based company.   Established in 2005, My Son...

(EnergyAsia, February 6 2013, Wednesday) — Canada has made its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) sale to overseas customers, with Norwegian shipper Golar LNG Ltd and Houston, Texas-based LNG Partners agreeing to buy the entire annual 700,000-ton output from the smallest of several consortia racing to set up export terminals along the coast of British...

(EnergyAsia, February 5 2013, Tuesday) — Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) said its board of directors has approved the full sale of the company’s stake in the Abbot Point Coal Terminal in Queensland state to the Adani family. APSEZ, a unit of the Ahmedabad-based Adani Enterprises, had acquired Abbot Point terminal in 2011...

(EnergyAsia, February 4 2013, Monday) — Mongolia’s vital coal industry is facing a growing list of problems that threatens to slow down its once high-flying economy. The country’s largest coal miner, Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi (ETT), has stopped exports to its biggest customer in China, which is threatening to sue in retaliation. Last week, the company...

(EnergyAsia, February 4 2013, Monday) — China’s electricity consumption grew 5.5% to reach 4.9 trillion kilowatt hours last year, said the National Energy Administration (NEA). The growth rate was sharply down from 2011’s 11.7%, reflecting last year’s weaker economic performance. China’s economic growth slowed down to 7.6% last year after expanding by 9.3% in 2011....

(EnergyAsia, February 4 2013, Monday) — Australia-listed Riversdale Resources said it has agreed to acquire a portfolio of coal assets in Canada from Devon Energy and Consol Energy for a total of US$49.5 million. Located in the Crowsnest Pass area of southwest Alberta, the portfolio covers more than 35,000 acres near the towns of Blairmore...

(EnergyAsia, February 1 2013, Friday) — Coal India Ltd (CIL) will lead efforts to build a 180-km rail line to deliver coal from northern Chhattisgarh state as part of a wider investment in a rail system to speed up fuel delivery to power plants around the country. CIL is expected to set up and take...

(EnergyAsia, February 1 2013, Friday) — China’s coal import rose 57.9% to around 289 million metric tons last year. Thermal coal comprised more than 35% of the total, with lignite and coking coal each at around 18.5% and anthracite at nearly 12%. Australia and Indonesia supplied more than 70% of China’s coal imports last year,...

(EnergyAsia, January 31 2013, Thursday) — Japan’s trade deficit soared 170% to a record 6.9 trillion yen last year on the back of surging energy imports and lower export earnings. (US$1=90 yen). The world’s third largest economy reported a 3.8% rise in import expenditure and a 2.7% decline in export earnings for 2012. Energy accounted...

(EnergyAsia, January 30 2013, Wednesday) — Liquefied natural gas (LNG) consumers will have further reason to prepare for higher prices as the world’s third largest supplier said its production could decline by more than six percent this year to 297 cargoes. Each shipment of LNG cargo varies between 125,000 and 175,000 metric tons. Indonesia’s oil...

(EnergyAsia, January 30 2013, Wednesday) — Five people were killed and several others injured when an oil storage tank exploded in central China’s Hunan Province early this week. Most of the victims were in the vicinity of the tank in a residential building under construction in a village in Xiangtan City. The incident was believed...

(EnergyAsia, January 29 2013, Tuesday) — Citing rising consumption in China, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has raised its forecast for 2013 world oil demand growth for the second consecutive month. In its latest January monthly report, the Paris-based agency said world oil demand will grow by 930,000 b/d to 90.8 million b/d in 2013,...

(EnergyAsia, January 29 2013, Tuesday) — India’s consumers could face sharply higher energy costs this year as the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has agreed to let domestic natural gas prices rise to US$8.5 per million metric British thermal unit (mmBtu) from their current level of US$4.2. As natural gas is used mostly for...