(EnergyAsia, December 19 2012, Wednesday) — Royal Dutch Shell has announced plans to expand an already substantial Singapore presence in its global weighting underlining the major’s continuing shift of focus to Asia. In recognition of Asia’s huge and still fast-growing energy market, the European major said it will relocate the global headquarters of its integrated...
(EnergyAsia, December 19 2012, Wednesday) — Iran plans to hold more military drills in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s leading oil and gas shipping route, over the course of the first quarter of next year, said a naval commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Speaking to Iranian media, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi...
(EnergyAsia, December 18 2012, Tuesday) — Gulf Petrochem Group, a UAE-based oil company, said it has started building an oil storage terminal in the city port of Pipavav in India’s Gujarat state. Gulf did not disclose the size of the proposed investment or the capacity of the terminal which it said is located near vital...
(EnergyAsia, December 18 2012, Tuesday) — Vitol Tank Terminals International (VTTI) is on course to start work in 2014 to add one million barrels of capacity to its 1.18-million barrel terminal at the port of Fujairah located outside the Strait of Hormuz. Jointly owned by European oil trader Vitol and Malaysia’s state-owned shipping company MISC...
(EnergyAsia, December 18 2012, Tuesday) — Indian Oil Corporation Ltd said it is planning to build a 15-million-tonne greenfield refinery at Paradip on the country’s west coast as part of a long-term programme to expand its refining business. India’s largest state-owned downstream company said it is aiming to raise its current 66-million tonne refining capacity...
(EnergyAsia, December 17 2012, Monday) — After several years of decline, US coal consumption for power generation is expected to recover next year to grow by 5%, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). In its latest short-term energy forecast, the EIA said it expects US coal consumption for electricity generation to reach 873.6 million...
(EnergyAsia, December 17 2012, Monday) — The world generated three percent more heat-trapping pollution last year, with China leading the charge while the US and Germany were the only major economies to report reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Global Carbon Project study, the world emitted a record of nearly 38.2 billion...
(EnergyAsia, December 14 2012, Friday) — Indonesia has raised its benchmark coal price for December to US$81.75 per tonne, making this the first increase in three months to coincide with a recovery in winter demand. The benchmark price was US$81.44 in November, according to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry. But the market is still...
(EnergyAsia, December 14 2012, Friday) — Australia’s largest independent coal miner is confident of obtaining Federal government clearance to develop its largest project located in New South Wales state to produce more than 10 million metric tons of high quality coking coal for steel making from 2016. It also produces thermal coal for power generation....
(EnergyAsia, December 13 2012, Thursday) — Seaborne coal prices will continue to recover from this year’s plunge, but will run into strong resistance next year on account of rising supplies from China and elsewhere, said Goldman Sachs. In its latest forecast, Goldman Sachs said coal prices will rise about 15% from this year to trade...
(EnergyAsia, December 12 2012, Wednesday) — Australia’s coal and gas exports are set to surge but will face serious constraints from labour shortages and infrastructure bottlenecks, said the International Energy Agency (IEA). In a review of the country’s energy policy, the Paris-based agency praised the government’s carbon price mechanism launched last July as a right...
(EnergyAsia, December 12 2012, Wednesday) — India’s proven coal reserves of 118 billion tonnes are sufficient to meet over a century of the country’s domestic demand, said Minister of State for Coal Pratik Prakashbapu Patil. He provided this information in a written reply to questions raised in Parliament about the India’s declining coal self-sufficiency. He...
US electric power projections. Source: EIA (EnergyAsia, December 11 2012, Tuesday) — At least 49 GW of coal-fired power capacity in the US is at risk of being retired by 2020 if the current switch from coal to gas generation continues unabated, said the Energy Information Administration (EIA). In its recent Annual Energy Outlook 2012,...
(EnergyAsia, December 11 2012, Tuesday) — South Korean conglomerate Daewoo International has secured a contract with Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) to build a US$1.3 billion coal-fired power plant in the African country. Comprising two 300MW units, the plant will be one of the largest in East Africa and will be part of the Kenyan...
(EnergyAsia, December 10 2012, Monday) — US coal consumption for power generation will break its four-year losing streak to rise by six percent in 2013, said the Energy Information Administration (EIA). For 2012, it will fall to 825 million short tons (mmst), thus staying below one billion short tons for a fourth consecutive year as...
(EnergyAsia, December 10 2012, Monday) — Essar Power Ltd, a subsidiary of LSE-listed Essar Energy plc, said it has commissioned the second of the two-unit coal-fired power plant in Vadinar in India’s Gujarat state. With the start-up, the 510MW Vadinar P2 plant is now in full operation to provide power and process steam to Essar...
(EnergyAsia, December 7 2012, Friday) — China views Central Asia and Russia as best suited to meet its growing energy demand and to cooperate on joint projects. This view has crystallised over the course of the year as China is encountering a mix of growing resistance and difficult operating conditions in trying to expand its...
(EnergyAsia, December 7 2012, Friday) — China may have the world’s largest shale gas and one of its largest coal reserves, but it may not yet be able to develop them into sufficiently vast amount of usable energy sources to meet its fast-rising demand. Recent analyses by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and HSBC have...
(EnergyAsia, December 7 2012, Friday) — The Chinese government has set its sight on doubling the country’s 2010 GDP of 39.8 trillion yuan to 80 trillion yuan by 2020. (US$1=6.22 yuan). The newly installed government of President Xi Jinping has accepted the goal announced in his predecessor’s final official speech at last month’s 18th National...
(EnergyAsia, December 6 2012, Thursday) — Traditional shipyards in Singapore are benefitting from the continuing boom in the offshore oil and gas business, with work orders flowing in for building floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels and converting old tankers into floating storage and offloading (FSO), said research firm GBI Research. In a new...
(EnergyAsia, December 5 2012, Wednesday) — L & L Energy Inc, a Seattle US-based company producing coal in China, said it has completed the acquisitions of another two mines located near its existing Weishe mine in Guizhou Province. Having completed due diligence processes, L&L said it has completed the US$37.1 million acquisition of the LuoZhou...
(EnergyAsia, December 4 2012, Tuesday) — Centennial Coal, a fully owned subsidiary of Thailand’s largest coal company Banpu, said it would lose about one million metric tonnes of coal a year from a “temporary” closure of two of its coal mines in Australia’s New South Wales state next month for maintenance. The company, which was...
(EnergyAsia, December 3 2012, Monday) — The company at the centre of India’s worsening coal and power supply crises has sought to lay off some of the blame onto the country’s poor rail infrastructure. With coal generating some 65% of India’s electricity, its timely delivery to power plants around the country is crucial to keeping...
(EnergyAsia, December 3 2012, Monday) — Directed by an inter-ministerial group, India’s coal ministry has continued to cancel the allocations of companies for failing to start work or develop deposits within deadline. Last month, the ministry issued letters to at least eight companies rescinding their rights to develop several coal blocks around the country. The...
(EnergyAsia, December 3 2012, Monday) — In a rare moment of agreement, the world’s three leading energy agencies have all slashed their forecasts for global oil demand growth for 2012 and 2013. In their latest monthly forecasts, the International Energy Agency (IEA) representing the world’s leading 28 industrialised consumer countries, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting...