(EnergyAsia, June 27 2012, Wednesday) — In a clear sign of a slowing economy, China’s apparent oil demand rose just 0.5% year-on-year in May to 39.72 million metric tons (mt), or 9.39 million b/d, said US energy media Platts. According to an analysis of Chinese government data, Platts said the country’s May oil demand was...
(EnergyAsia, June 27 2012, Wednesday) — CNOOC, China’s third-largest oil refiner, is building a 60,000-b/d plant in eastern Jiangsu province to process crude for its production of lubricants and petrochemicals. The 10.2-billion-yuan plant to be built alongside an existing refining unit in Taizhou city is expected to start up in 2015. CNOOC, parent of offshore...
(EnergyAsia, June 26 2012, Tuesday) — In its search for energy security, Indonesia is looking half way across the globe to another oil-producing country that shares its reputation for making unpredictable policies based on a mix of populism and resource nationalism. Last week, Pertamina, the Indonesian state oil and gas monopoly, announced that it has...
(EnergyAsia, June 25 2012, Monday) — After years of heated domestic debate over how best to combat its high output of greenhouse gases, Australia will impose a groundbreaking carbon tax on 294 of its biggest polluters from July 1. Companies and local governments that produce more than 25,000 metric tons (28,000 tons) of carbon dioxide...
(EnergyAsia, June 22 2012, Friday) — Australia’s coal industry is taking a well-deserved break after years of rapid expansion as it surveys a host of uncertainties brought on by the global economic outlook, rising construction and production costs, and environmental opposition. Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) recently issued a report citing weak...
(EnergyAsia, June 22 2012, Friday) — Saudi Arabia is expected to keep its crude oil production well below 10 million b/d after averaging around 9.8 million b/d in May. The world’s leading crude oil exporter has more than achieved its earlier threat to bring down oil prices when it raised production to a 30-year high...
(EnergyAsia, June 20 2012, Wednesday) — PetroChina Co Ltd, the country’s largest refiner and crude oil producer, is aiming to make this a “breakthrough” year in the Americas with new fuel storage and refining assets to advance its plan for a global trading network, said chairman Jiang Jiemin. The company is already active in Asia...
(EnergyAsia, June 20 2012, Wednesday) —Australia’s Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson has flatly rejected calls to restrict energy exports to shield domestic consumers from high oil, gas and coal prices. At a Committee for the Economic Development of Australia (Ceda) forum, he said government intervention would not only fail to ultimately protect domestic consumers...
(EnergyAsia, June 19 2012, Tuesday) — The world will likely obtain additional liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies from four regional sources after 2015 as well as experience a convergence of regional prices in 2020, predicts consulting group Eurasia. The sources of incremental LNG growth will include new projects in Australia, the US and Canada, East Africa...
(EnergyAsia, June 19 2012, Tuesday) — Crude oil production from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rose 40,000 b/d to 31.75 million b/d in May, according to a Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts. The May production marks a rise from April’s output level of 31.71 million b/d and...
(EnergyAsia, June 15 2012, Friday) — The Chinese government has committed to invest a total of 2.5 trillion yuan to reform and upgrade the coal industry over the course of the current 12th Five-Year Plan from 2011 to 2015. (US$1=6.35 yuan). According to the National Energy Administration, the investment is needed to provide China with...
(EnergyAsia, June 15 2012, Friday) — Despite announcing policies and targets to limit the growth of the coal sector, China can’t seem to shake off its addiction for the world’s most polluting fuel. According to the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing, the country boosted its coal production by 5.6% to 860 million tons in...
(EnergyAsia, June 15 2012, Friday) — Indonesia’s trade minister, Gita Wirjawan, has criticised the energy ministry for considering imposing a tax on coal exports. Describing it as an “irrational” idea, he said the tax would deter foreign investments, damage trust in the country’s business environment and would be difficult to implement. Many companies had invested billions...
(EnergyAsia, June 14 2012, Thursday) — Indonesia has written a Balinese wayang kulit plot for its coal industry, leaving both investors and domestic consumers in deep confusion over export plans and supply availability. After months of well-founded rumours that the government was planning to impose a punitive tax on coal exports, Energy and Mineral Resources...
(EnergyAsia, June 14 2012, Thursday) — Fitch Ratings said the recent weakness in thermal coal prices could persist into 2013, noting that the 5,500 kcal FOB Newcastle Australia benchmark grade fell to a two-year low of US$87 per metric ton last week, down from US$142 at the start of the year. It attributed the decline...
(EnergyAsia, June 13 2012, Wednesday) — Australia’s main mining state of Queensland is standing firm against the Federal government, the UN’s environmental agency and green groups over its plans to accelerate the development of coal and other natural resource projects despite warnings that they could inflict massive long-term damages on the environment especially the Great...
(EnergyAsia, June 12 2012, Tuesday) — Australia’s Queensland state government has scaled back plans laid out by the previous government for a massive A$9 billion expansion of the existing one-terminal Abbot Point coal port, calling it “unrealistic and undeliverable.” (US$1=A$1.02). Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney said the state government would develop only two of the eight...
(EnergyAsia, June 12 2012, Tuesday) — India’s GVK Group faces a potentially long wait to start work on developing its giant Alpha coal mine in Australia as the Federal government and opposition-ruled Queensland state battle over the environmental approval process. While the Liberal National Party (LNP) state government, which was elected to power against...
(EnergyAsia, June 11 2012, Monday) — China’s economic growth will slow down to 8% in 2012, down from last year’s 9.2% and well over 10% in 2010, but remains robust in the face of the global downturn and the Eurozone crisis, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Giving its annual health check of the world’s...
(EnergyAsia, June 11 2012, Monday) — There is a growing traffic of vessels with unsold coal cargoes berthed in the waters off southern China as traders report rising defaults on deals. Traders had taken on speculative positions in buying up coal from elsewhere to be re-sold into China, but have been caught out as they...
(EnergyAsia, June 6 2012, Wednesday) — China’s per capita energy consumption has reached 2.6 tons of coal a year, putting it nearly on par with the global average, said the former head of the country’s National Energy Administration. However, it remains far behind the average per capita energy use of developed countries, said Zhang Guobao...
(EnergyAsia, June 5 2012, Tuesday) — China Shenhua Energy Co Ltd, the country’s largest coal producer, said it is buying over certain assets from its controlling shareholder, Shenhua Group Corp Limited for an undisclosed sum. In a statement, the Hong Kong listed company will be acquiring equity interests as well as the assets of China...
(EnergyAsia, June 1 2012, Friday) — State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) is looking to re-start a subsidiary’s fire-damaged refinery in the northern state of Assam by early June. Fire, believed to have been deliberately started, damaged a 22,000 b/d hydrocracker unit at the 60,000 b/d refinery in Numaligarh town on April 7. BPCL owns...
(EnergyAsia, May 31 2012, Thursday) — The world’s leading liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter, Qatar, is using its rapidly accumulating wealth to acquire stakes in leading natural resource companies around the world including the Western majors. The Middle East powerhouse is making its investments through sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), which has more...
(EnergyAsia, May 31 2012, Thursday) — India will pay an average US$13 per million BTU its natural gas imported from Turkmenistan through the US-supported TAPI pipeline due to start up in 2017. The 1,700km line, named after the four countries that it links up, will tap the gas reserves of Turkmenistan for export to Afghanistan,...