(EnergyAsia, May 30 2012, Wednesday) — ExxonMobil and Caltex said they are still looking to maintain their loss-making oil refining business in Australia, and would appreciate some support from the government. ExxonMobil will likely report a loss for 2011, but expects to turn in a profit this year on improving margins for producing fuels and...
(EnergyAsia, May 29 2012, Tuesday) — US and Japan will join the emerging economies in boosting global oil demand by 900,000 b/d to 88.67 million b/d this year, said the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). In its latest monthly report, the cartel said that world oil demand growth has stopped declining as the US...
(EnergyAsia, May 29 2012, Tuesday) — Kuwait will lift its oil refining capacity to 1.5 million b/d later this decade with the planned construction of a 615,000 plant. Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) said it will launch a tender in June to begin work on the delayed refinery at Al-Zour which could be ready by...
(EnergyAsia, May 28 2012 Monday) — Driven by the emerging economies, global oil demand will rise by 0.9% to 90 million b/d this year, said the International Energy Agency (IEA). “Global oil consumption is set to rise by 0.8 million b/d in 2012, to 90 mbd, with gains in the non-OECD more than offsetting declining OECD...
(EnergyAsia, May 28 2012, Monday) — Saudi Arabia has made a major policy shift with its decision to venture into oil trading including paper trading and derivatives as this could violate conservative Islamic rules that prohibits speculation and gambling. The world’s largest oil exporter and producer has long held out against trading, citing the potential...
(EnergyAsia, May 25 2012, Friday) —The US EIA said it expects the world’s oil markets to remain tight in 2012 with demand growing to 88.88 million b/d and 90.04 million in 2013, up from last year’s 87.92 million b/d. In the near term, it sees fundamentals easing slightly since mid-March, oil supply growth to exceed...
(EnergyAsia, May 25 2012, Friday) — PetroChina will raise its natural gas purchases from Central Asia from 15.9 billion cubic metres (bcm) to as much as 25 bcm this year to help speed up China’s adoption of the clean-burning fuel as a substitute for coal, said chairman Jiang Jiemin. Speaking to shareholders in Beijing earlier...
(EnergyAsia, May 25 2012, Friday) — The Venezuelan government has doubled the borrowing ceiling on its oil-for-loan deal with China to US$8 billion provided for under its 2008 deal with the China Development Bank. The oil-producing country’s Congress this week rubber-stamped the proposal that will see the government of President Hugo Chavez increase Venezuela’s dependence...
(EnergyAsia, May 24 2012, Thursday) — PetroChina and Sinopec, two of the country’s three main state hydrocarbon companies, have been boosting their natural gas reserves but not oil, according to a recent analysis of company data by US energy media Platts. PetroChina grew its natural gas reserves by an average 3% a year to 66.65...
(EnergyAsia, May 24 2012, Thursday) — China’s surging demand for clean burning fuel may boost its imports of liquefied natural gas by 80% from current contracted volumes of about 46 million metric tons, said energy consultant Wood Mackenzie Ltd. The world’s biggest energy user may need to purchase an additional 37 million metric tons of...
(EnergyAsia, May 23 2012, Wednesday) — China’s oil demand in April edged up just 0.3% year on year to 38.32 million metric tons (mt), or 9.36 million barrels per day (b/d), said US energy media Platts. Based on its analysis of recent Chinese government data, Platts said this was the lowest year-on-year monthly growth in oil...
(EnergyAsia, May 23 2012, Wednesday) — A joint venture between two leading energy companies of South Korea and Uzbekistan said it will build a gas-to-chemicals complex in the Central Asian country by 2016. Based in the capital city of Tashkent, Uz-Kor Gas Chemical Company, the JV firm owned by the Korea Gas Corporation (Kogas) and the...
(EnergyAsia, May 23 2012, Wednesday) — Ghana recently secured US$1 billion as part of a bigger US$3 billion loan from China Development Bank Corp to develop its oil and natural gas reserves. Of the initial sum, US$850 million will be invested in a gas project between the Ghana National Gas Co (GNGC) and China Petroleum...
(EnergyAsia, May 22 2012, Tuesday) —- Breaking from dependence on the Russian market, Uzbekistan is poised to soon join Turkmenistan in supplying natural gas to China through the Central Asian pipeline network. Launched in 2009, the pipeline starts from Turkmenistan and runs through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which also expects to tap the same infrastructure to export...
(EnergyAsia, May 22 2012, Tuesday) — As the noose of trade sanctions tighten, Iran has begun using the yuan as a settlement currency for part of its estimated 550,000 b/d oil trade with China, one of its few remaining allies strong enough to defy the West. Iran has also agreed to partly accept the rupee...
(EnergyAsia, May 21 2012, Monday) — The US government is pushing allies Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iraq to increase crude oil supplies to India which is under pressure to reduce imports from Iran. India imported more than 350,000 b/d of Iranian crude last year, making it one of the largest customers of the Islamic...
(EnergyAsia, May 21 2012, Monday) — A Sinopec joint venture has started up Asia’s largest crude oil storage terminal in the Chinese port of Ningbo in Zhejiang province. With 17 berths to serve tankers up to 450,000 tonnes in weight, the 450,000-tonne terminal of Ningbo Shihua Crude Oil Terminal Co Ltd in Daxie is designed to...
(EnergyAsia, May 21 2012, Monday) — The Indian government has appointed state gas firm GAIL India Ltd to begin importing 38 million cubic metres/day (mcm/d) of natural gas from Turkmenistan for 30 years. The plan is dependent on the 2018 completion of the proposed 1,680-km Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India line (TAPI) with the capacity to carry 90 million...
(EnergyAsia, May 18 2012, Friday) — Chevron New Zealand has decided to reopen as well as expand its Timaru fuel storage terminal facility, to the relief of customers and businesses operating in the South Canterbury region. Following a review of its terminal and storage facilities around the country, Chevron said it will invest NZ$4 million...
(EnergyAsia, May 17 2012, Thursday) — Worried about the rapid depletion of large mature fields while encountering difficulty accessing new reserves in certain regions, the oil industry is increasingly looking to natural gas for its salvation, said natural resources consultant GBI Research. In a new report, GBI Research said that natural gas has risen in...
(EnergyAsia, May 17 2012, Thursday) — China and Russia are targeting to raise their bilateral trade to US$200 billion by 2020 as they build on increasingly close political and economic ties. The momentum was affirmed early this month when the two sides concluded a raft of contracts worth a total of US$15 billion during a...
(EnergyAsia, May 15 2012, Tuesday) — Backed by China’s “impressive” coal reserves, Asia will continue to lead as the world’s leading coal-producing region that includes India, Australia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Vietnam and New Zealand, said natural resources intelligence group GBI Research. In a new report, the UK-based firm said China accounted for 68% of the...
(EnergyAsia, May 15 2012, Tuesday) — Despite complaining about rising financial losses, Indian oil refiners raised their output by 3.2% to more than 121 million tonnes or 3.42 million b/d for the last financial year ending March 31 2012. The value of their products output also rose by 3.2% to US$170.15 billion, according to data provided...
(EnergyAsia, May 14 2012, Monday) — The Indian government has told US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton who was in New Delhi last week that it intends to maintain its annual US$15-billion trade ties with Iran despite the latest efforts by the West to isolate the Islamic regime. As if to underline this point, Iran...
(EnergyAsia, May 14 2012, Monday) — The Indonesian government is still working out details for a proposed tax on coal exports after announcing that it had begun imposing a 20% tax on the shipment of metal ores and other raw minerals from May 6. The resource-rich Southeast Asian nation said it hopes the new tax...