(EnergyAsia, October 8 2012, Monday) — China’s coal miners are reducing operations as they face growing financial and environmental pressures, and worsening water shortages in the main coal belt in the northern and central regions. Inner Mongolia autonomous region, which holds the country’s largest coal reserves, has closed down nearly 900 coal mines since 2005...

(EnergyAsia, October 5 2012, Friday) — Vietnam’s electricity supply crisis could worsen after Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung accepted a controversial proposal by two ministries to reduce the export tax rate on coal from 20% to 10%. The ministries of finance, and industry and trade, appear to have won the protracted battle to reduce the...

(EnergyAsia, October 5 2012, Friday) — Mongolia has got it wanted: stop what it considers is China’s attempt to tighten a grip on its strategic coal mining sector, potentially one of the world’s largest. Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) appears to have given up on buying into Mongolia’s coal industry after ending an agreement to...

(EnergyAsia, October 5 2012, Friday) — Greenpeace said Australia’s rising coal production and exports are contributing to the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef, one of the world’s largest eco-systems, that will harm the world’s stock of fish and other marine life. Earlier this year, Greenpeace published a report on what it calls is the...

(EnergyAsia, October 4 2012, Thursday) — State-owned China Petroleum Corp (Sinopec Group) has established Sinopec Great Wall Energy Chemical Co as a fully-owned coal-to-chemical subsidiary. Sinopec senior vice president Dai Houliang has been named chairman of the new Beijing-headquartered company with responsibility for developing and operating the group’s coal-to-chemical businesses. Sinopec is in the midst...

(EnergyAsia, October 3 2012, Wednesday) — Canada is the world’s most attractive destination for mining investments, easily beating Australia which is increasingly burdened by fiscal, regulatory, tax and royalty uncertainties, according to an international survey conducted by law firm Baker & Mckenzie. The firm interviewed more than 300 senior industry leaders in Australia, Canada, Brazil,...

(EnergyAsia, October 2 2012, Tuesday) — Australia and Canada are providing an interesting case study in their contrasting responses to the influx of China’s massive investments in their oil and gas sectors. Similar in their profiles as mid-power First World countries blessed with large reserves of natural resources and relatively small populations, they both need...

(EnergyAsia, October 2 2012, Tuesday) — Indonesia will produce 340 to 350 million tonnes of coal this year instead of an earlier forecast for 360 million tonnes, said the country’s coal mining association as it acknowledged the impact of the global economic slowdown on the industry’s performance. Indonesian miners have begun reducing production in response...

(EnergyAsia, October 2 2012, Tuesday) —- The world’s three leading energy agencies have issued slightly different outlooks on global oil demand for this and next year. The International Energy Agency, which represents the world’s leading oil consuming nations, holds the most bullish outlook for global demand to reach 89.8 million b/d in 2012 and 90.6...

(EnergyAsia, October 1 2012, Monday) — Buoyed by demand in the emerging economies, global oil consumption will reach a record 90.1 million b/d next year, up by slightly over a million b/d from 2012, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its September short-term energy outlook. This latest forecast represents an upward revision from...

(EnergyAsia, September 28 2012, Friday) — US President Obama faces a shale gas dilemma that threatens to damage his bid to secure a second term in the White House, according to the latest report from natural resources experts GBI Research. The US is currently endowed with a wealth of natural gas following years of overproduction,...

(EnergyAsia, September 27 2012, Thursday) — Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) expects to start up a new 80,000-cubic metre fuel depot complex at its Hambantota Magampura harbour from next month. According to SLPA chairman Priyath Bandu Wickrema, construction of the US$76 million complex on a 60-hectare site is now near completion. Hambantota is undergoing a...

(EnergyAsia, September 27 2012, Thursday) — Malaysian state oil and gas company Petronas said it will invest RM10 billion to build a floating terminal with an annual capacity to produce 1.2 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG). (US$1=RM3.05). Known as the Train 9 project, the terminal will be located at the Petronas LNG Complex...

(EnergyAsia, September 26 2012, Wednesday) — ExxonMobil Corp said it has reached an agreement that will significantly increase its production acreage in the prolific Bakken oil shale region in the US states of North Dakota and Montana. ExxonMobil and its subsidiary, XTO Energy, signed an exchange agreement with Denbury Onshore LLC, a subsidiary of Denbury...

(EnergyAsia, September 25 2012, Tuesday) — Led by Japan, Asian natural gas importers have begun aggressively pushing producers to de-link the fuel from more expensively-priced oil to cheaper Henry Hub prices in the US. With US prices stuck at 10-year lows of between US$2 and US$3 per million Btu, Asia has been paying between five...

(EnergyAsia, September 25 2012, Tuesday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it has approved a facility to help kick-start the Indian infrastructure bond market and ultimately channel substantial amounts of domestic and international pension and insurance funds into critically needed energy, railways, roads, water, and other infrastructure and utilities. The guarantee facility, a first...

(EnergyAsia, September 25 2012, Tuesday) — The following is an edited version of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual economic survey of Saudi Arabia. The outlook for the Saudi economy, which grew by 7.1% last year, remains buoyant, said the IMF. The oil sector continues to dominate the economy, but strengthened budgetary institutions have reduced...

(EnergyAsia, September 24 2012, Monday) — National Iranian Offshore Oil Company (NIOOC) plans to raise its crude oil storage capacity to 8.1 million barrels by next September. The company’s managing director, Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh, told local reporters that it will complete the expansion in two phases, with six million barrels to be ready by next March,...

(EnergyAsia, September 24 2012, Monday) — Indian oil companies are holding on to their hard won battle to raise diesel prices by an unprecedented 12% on September 13. Strikes and street protests have erupted in cities across the country over the past week in a repeat of the angry mass protests against last May’s 10%...

(EnergyAsia, September 24 2012, Monday) — In sharp contrast to Canada’s uncertain attitude, Australia is eager for China to take on increased equity and role in developing the country’s natural gas reserves. Negotiations, supported by Australian officials and industry executives, are underway for Chinese companies to acquire a part of the Browse liquefied natural gas...

(EnergyAsia, September 21 2012, Friday) — Singapore’s lubricants trade is expected to reach a record of more than S$9 billion this year, double the value of three years ago. (US$1=S$1.2) According to official trade data, Singapore handled nearly 2.5 million tonnes of lubricant feedstock, oils and grease worth more than S$4.58 billion for the first...

(EnergyAsia, September 21 2012, Friday) — The International Energy Agency (IEA) has raised its forecasts for world oil demand to grow by 800,000 b/d for both 2012 and 2013. In its latest monthly oil report, the Paris-based agency said it now expects world oil demand to grow to 89.8 million b/d in 2012 and 90.6...

(EnergyAsia, September 20 2012, Thursday) — Thailand’s oil companies have been spared for now the burden of having to boost their stockpiles from 36 days of consumption to 43 days as set out by the Energy Ministry. The Thai government has set out a target for the industry to raise their mandatory crude and products...

(EnergyAsia, September 20 2012, Thursday) — Kitimat LNG Partners is claiming front-runner status in developing and marketing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from British Columbia province in Western Canada for export to Asia. Briefing reporters in Singapore last week, Doug Adams, the Perth, Australia-based vice president of Apache LNG Pty Ltd who is marketing Kitimat’s future...

(EnergyAsia, September 19 2012, Wednesday) — Australian miners are still in shock over last week’s announcement by the conservative Queensland state government to raise coal mining royalties from October 1. Just six months after sweeping to power on a wave of public anger against the previous Labor Party-led government, the Liberal National Party stunned its...