(EnergyAsia, August 23 2012, Thursday) — The International Energy Agency (IEA) has raised its forecast for world oil demand growth for 2012, but sharply reduced it for 2013. In its latest monthly report, the Paris-based agency said it now expects world oil demand to grow by 830,000 b/d in 2013, down from its previous forecast...

(EnergyAsia, August 23 2012, Thursday) — The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has maintained its forecasts for global oil demand to grow by 900,000 b/d to 88.7 million b/d in 2012 and by 800,000 b/d to 89.5 million b/d next year. OPEC’s latest forecasts contrast the International Energy Agency which raised its forecast for...

(EnergyAsia, August 22 2012, Wednesday) — Despite reports of slowing demand, Chinese coal imports have risen more than 55% to 164.1 million metric tons in the first seven months of this year. According to official customs data, China imported 105.5 million metric tons for the same period period last year. Undeniably, however, its coal purchases...

(EnergyAsia, August 22 2012 Wednesday) — China Coal Energy Co Ltd said it and 15 companies have formed a consortium to invest 154-billion-yuan in a new railway network to improve the transportation of coal from mines, ports and storage centres to power plants around the country. (US$1=6.36 yuan). China Coal Energy, the country’s second largest...

(EnergyAsia, August 21 2012, Tuesday) — China’s worsening water supply shortages will become “severe widespread crises” if it succeeds in building 16 new major coal-based centres in the country’s north-western region by 2015, said Greenpeace. According to a study that Greenpeace commissioned a Chinese Academy of Sciences agency to undertake, the new centres comprising coal...

(EnergyAsia, August 21 2012, Tuesday) — Chinese state commodities firm Sinochem Corp has started work on expanding an existing 31-million barrel oil storage terminal in eastern Zhejiang province. When completed in early 2014, the Aoshan Island terminal will become the country’s largest with the capacity store up to 50 million barrels of crude. The project...

(EnergyAsia, August 17 2012, Friday) — Under pressure from slowing domestic demand and rising imports, the world’s leading coal producing country will raise output by just 3.7% this year, down from 8.6% last year and 9% in 2010. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s main economic planning agency, has set a new coal...

(EnergyAsia, August 17 2012, Friday) — Thai state energy firm PTT said it is preparing to invest 100 billion baht to support the government’s plan to raise the country’s strategic oil stockpile from 43 days to 90 days of consumption. At a recent forum on oil risk management in Bangkok, a senior company official said...

(EnergyAsia, August 16 2012, Thursday) — The following is an edited version of a section of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on the state of the Philippines’ mining and petroleum industries, and the need for fiscal reforms. The report was published following an investigation undertaken in response to a request by Cesar V. Purisima,...

(EnergyAsia, August 15 2012, Wednesday) — Sri Lanka may continue to suffer daily power cuts for at least a few more weeks due to constant breakdowns at a 17-month-old coal-fired power plant which accounts for nearly 10% of the nation’s 3.1-gigawatt generating capacity. The Chinese-built plant at Norochcholai has broken down at least five times...

(EnergyAsia, August 14 2012, Tuesday) — Manila Electric Co (Meralco) and Thailand’s Electricity Generating Public Co Ltd (Egco) are in talks to jointly expand and upgrade a 460MW coal-fired power plant in the Philippines. Egco, the 98% owner of the Quezon Power Philippines Ltd plant in Mauban, Quezon, is looking to add a 500MW unit...

(EnergyAsia, August 14 2012, Tuesday) — Environmental and local resident groups have vowed to stop the proposed construction of two new coal-fired power plants on the Philippine island of Negros Occidental. Greenpeace Southeast Asia is leading the campaign to halt separate proposals by Philippine Power Corp, a Sino-Filipino venture, to build a 70MW plant and...

(EnergyAsia, August 14 2012, Tuesday) — Indonesia’s coal production may fall short of this year’s official target of 332 million metric tons, said the Energy and Mines Ministry. Production barely reached 150 million metric tons in the first half amid an increasingly bearish outlook on coal prices weighed down by the slowing global economy. According...

 (EnergyAsia, August 13 2012, Monday) — The world thermal coal seaborne trade is forecast to increase by around 4% to 871 million tonnes in 2012, and by 5% to 919 million tonnes in 2013, predicts Australia’s Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE). Asia will provide the bulk of import growth while Australia, Indonesia and...

(EnergyAsia, August 13 2012, Monday) — Chinese coal exports plunged by more than 35% to 6.28 million metric tonnes for the first seven months of the year, according to preliminary customs data. Weak market conditions in China and abroad have led to lower domestic production and sales. China’s coal prices at the main port of...

(EnergyAsia, August 10 2012, Friday) — China is taking advantage of low international coal prices to boost imports by more than 66% to 139.85 million metric tonnes in the first half of 2012. June’s imports alone were up 98% to 27.19 million metric tonnes compared with year-ago levels, according to the country’s Customs data. With...

(EnergyAsia, August 10 2012, Friday) — The Chinese government is targeting to raise the country’s railway capacity for transporting coal to three billion tonnes a year by 2015. The government is looking to improve the nation’s coal delivery system as part of its development programme and energy security system under the current 12th five-year plan...

(EnergyAsia, August 8 2012, Wednesday) — China’s coal mining provinces have been reducing production and slashing staff costs in an attempt to keep a growing supply glut and price decline from worsening. Weighed down by slowing demand growth and rising imports, Chinese benchmark coal prices at Qinhuangdao port have fallen more than 30% from a...

(EnergyAsia, August 6 2012, Monday) — China’s coal market could remain weak into early 2013 on slumping demand and continued oversupply from rising production and imports, forcing more mines to shut down, said the China National Coal Association (CNCA). Presenting this bleak assessment at a recent media briefing amid reports of mine closures in Inner...

(EnergyAsia, August 6 2012, Monday) — China’s coal mining and transportation groups have jointly launched a national pricing index to compete against the older Qinghuangdao Port index provided by consumer groups. The China Coal Industry Association and China Coal Transportation & Sale Society launched their index last month to counter what they claim is buyers’...

(EnergyAsia, Aug 3 2012, Friday) — India suffered a huge blow to its long-term economic prospects and international reputation with this week’s massive power blackouts shutting down electricity supply to more than half its 1.2-billion population for at least two days. The blackout enveloping almost the entire northern half of the country including the capital...

(EnergyAsia, Aug 3 2012, Friday) — India suffered a huge blow to its long-term economic prospects and international reputation with this week’s massive power blackouts shutting down electricity supply to more than half its 1.2-billion population for at least two days. The blackout enveloping almost the entire northern half of the country including the capital...

(EnergyAsia, August 2 2012, Wednesday) — Two of India’s largest private conglomerates have taken different decisions on their plans for separate power plant projects. Reliance Power will likely proceed with its proposed coal-fired power plant plant in the central state of Madhya Pradesh after securing more than US$1 billion in funding from three Chinese banks....

(EnergyAsia, August 1 2012, Wednesday) — The local municipal authorities have decided to move a coal processing plant in Vietnam’s Halong Bay city to a new location seven km away from the world heritage site. Describing it as an urgent decision, the municipal People’s Committee of Quang Ninh said the plant’s continued operations would endanger...

(EnergyAsia, July 31 2012, Tuesday) — Citing the weaker outlook for the world economy, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has slashed its forecast for global oil demand growth over the next two years. The agency expects 2012’s growth to come in at 675,000 b/d, down from more than 800,000 b/d in its previous forecast,...