(EnergyAsia, November 15 2012, Thursday) — Coal will remain the world’s leading fuel for power generation before declining by three percentage points to under 25% by 2035, said the International Energy Agency (IEA). In its latest World Energy Outlook report, the Paris-based agency predicts coal’s share in the global energy mix will drop in favour...
(EnergyAsia, November 14 2012, Tuesday) — India’s power supply crisis will worsen, with the shortfall in generation capacity at peak electricity consumption reaching a record of nearly 15,000 MW or 10.6% this fiscal year, predicts the Central Electricity Authority (CEA). For the previous year ending March 31 2012, India’s peak power shortage was 9.6%, the...
(EnergyAsia, November 14 2012, Tuesday) — India’s power crisis culminating in the massive blackout of July 31-August 2 and increased irrigation activities by farmers sharply boosted the country’s diesel demand, said the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). In its September market report, OPEC said the world-record blackout left 600 million people without electricity, and...
(EnergyAsia, November 14 2012, Tuesday) — Coal India Limited, the country’s largest coal miner, said it could double production capacity in the central state of Chhattisgarh to 220 million tonnes (MT) by 2017 if it completes three railway lines to the region’s mines. “If rail connectivity is established, production capacity from our subsidiaries would double...
(EnergyAsia, November 12 2012, Monday) — Coal India Limited (CIL), the country’s largest coal producer, is continuing to resist calls for reforms despite being the target of mounting investigations into its role in India’s worsening power supply crisis. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is looking into corrupt practices while the Competition Commission of India...
(EnergyAsia, November 12 2012, Monday) — A joint venture comprising South Korea’s Samsung C&T Corporation and Australia’s Smithbridge Group Pty Ltd has secured a contract to build the T3 terminal port at Abbot Point to export coal from the Alpha project in Australia’s Queensland state. India’s GVK Group said its subsidiary, Hancock Coal Infrastructure Pty...
(EnergyAsia, November 9 2012, Friday) — Indonesia’s coal production will recover next year after suffering an unexpected decline in 2012 as a result of weak demand in Asia and rising operating costs, said the industry’s spokesman. According to Bob Kamandanu, chairman of the Indonesian Coal Mining Association, the country’s coal output will increase to between...
(EnergyAsia, November 9 2012, Friday) — Goldman Sachs expects the price of Australian thermal coal to average around US$105 per tonne over the next two years, and to fall slightly in 2015 and 2016 on weaker Chinese demand and competition from cheaper oil. But high operating costs will support the fuel at US$90 per tonne...
(EnergyAsia, November 8 2012, Thursday) — Despite the government’s orders and the possibility of further nationwide power blackouts, Coal India Limited (CIL), the world’s largest coal producer, remains deadlocked in negotiations with many of the country’s power companies over a new fuel supply agreement. CIL, which accounts for 80% of India’s domestic coal production, has...
(EnergyAsia, November 8 2012, Thursday) —- Mired in a worsening power crisis blamed largely on coal supply shortages, India may have further cause for worry if the proposed development of the massive Galilee Basin coal deposits in Australia’s Queensland state fails to take off. The barriers to development of the 247,000-sq km area, with an...
(EnergyAsia, November 7 2012, Wednesday) — India’s newly appointed power minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has promised to untangle the Gordian knot of coal supply and pricing issues that is strangling the nation’s once-booming economy through a largely self-made power supply crisis. Appointed to one of the most troubled portfolios in a Cabinet reshuffle last month, the...
(EnergyAsia, November 7 2012, Wednesday) — Despite its slowing economy, India’s coal imports surged 18% to nearly 64 million tonnes for the first half of the current financial year from April 1. Industry officials are not surprised by the apparent contradiction between fast-rising coal imports and slowing economic growth as India’s domestic coal supply system...
(EnergyAsia, November 7 2012, Wednesday) — The Singapore government has concluded the country isn’t yet ready to accept nuclear energy, setting the stage for further reliance on natural gas as its main energy source. After an extensive two-year pre-feasibility, the government has concluded the current state of nuclear technology may not be sufficiently safe or...
(EnergyAsia, November 6 2012, Tuesday) — India’s Power Ministry is continuing to press the coal industry to speed up the allocation and delivery of feedstock, warning there could be a repeat of the July 31 world record blackout that affected 650 million people across large parts of the country. Coal accounts for 65% of the...
(EnergyAsia, November 5 2012, Monday) — Having suffered the world’s largest power blackout affecting some 650 million people just over three months ago, India could yet be hit with further power supply disruptions as it is running low on coal feedstock. India relies on coal to generate around 60% of its electricity, and now 35...
(EnergyAsia, November 5 2012, Monday)— China’s surplus refining capacity will increase substantially by 2014 as it would have built up 1.4 million b/d of new CDU capacity while oil products demand may only grow by 300,000 b/d, said US consultant ESAI. Restrictions on exports will force refineries to cut utilisation rates, leaving China to become...
(EnergyAsia, November 2 2012, Friday) — Australia-listed coal miner Cougar Energy Limited has set its sights on becoming a diversified global energy company following a detailed strategic review of its business model. Describing it as a significant shift, the company’s recently appointed CEO and managing director, Rob Neill, said the new direction underpins its expansion...
(EnergyAsia, November 1 2012, Wednesday) — After decades of rumours, speculation and planning, Southeast Asia is finally taking off as a regional oil storage hub that could mirror the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub in Europe. Once confined to land-constrained Singapore, the action has begun spilling over to nearby islands and coastal towns in neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia...
(EnergyAsia, October 31 2012, Wednesday) — Russian gas giant Gazprom is looking to boost the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export to the lucrative Asian markets while reducing dependence on piped gas sales to Europe. The company will aim to boost LNG production and sales from the Russian Far East and Shtokman field...
(EnergyAsia, October 30 2012, Tuesday) — Weak demand and rising output will dampen the outlook on oil prices over the next five years, but geopolitical tensions and the risk of military conflict in the Middle East will keep the market from crashing, according to forecasts from two authoritative organisations. Both the International Energy Agency (IEA)...
(EnergyAsia, October 30 2012, Tuesday) — Asia is increasingly at risk of oil supply disruptions as the region does not have sufficient strategic stockpiles while its oil deficit is projected to rise to 30 million b/d in 2030 from 18 million b/d in 2010, said UK-based Chatham House. In a new report, the research institute...
(EnergyAsia, October 29 2012, Monday) — The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has marginally raised its forecasts for global oil demand to reach 88.81 million b/d in 2012 and 89.6 million b/d next year, but slashed the rate of growth for both years. Continuing its focus on the downside risks to the outlook for...
(EnergyAsia, October 29 2012, Monday) — Global oil demand will still breach the 90-million b/d ceiling next year, but the increase from this year will be smaller than earlier forecast, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its October short-term energy outlook. In its latest monthly forecast, the agency downgraded the world’s oil demand...
(EnergyAsia, October 25 2012, Thursday) — The Indian government wants private companies to build and operate strategic crude oil reserves to augment the stockpiling role played by state-owned companies. For now, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPR), a subsidiary of the Oil Industry Development Board, and the country’s leading state-owned companies have the responsibility to...
(EnergyAsia, October 25 2012, Thursday) — Afghanistan has become a crude oil producer for the first time following the recent start-up of operation in the Amu Darya basin in northern Afghanistan by China’s state-owned CNPC. Production is expected to rise to under 2,000 b/d by year end, and to more than 4,100 b/d from January,...