(EnergyAsia, May 14 2012, Monday) — Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) said it has signed an agreement with the Mongolian government to explore opportunities for jointly investing in projects to produce steel, iron ore and coking coal in the landlocked Central Asian country. State-owned SAIL, India’s leading steel making company, said it is awaiting...
(EnergyAsia, May 11 2012, Friday) — Australia’s Linc Energy said it and China’s GCL Projects Limited (GCL) will jointly build and operate a plant in China to produce and market fuel produced from underground coal gas (UCG). GCL will hold a two-third stake in the joint venture with Linc Energy the remaining third. GCL, a subsidiary...
(EnergyAsia, May 11 2012, Friday) — The Chinese government aims to shut down 625 coal mines with an annual production capacity of 23.47 million tons by the end of this year as part of its long-term plan to improve the industry’s safety record, efficiency and profitability. According to the National Energy Administration (NEA), some of...
(EnergyAsia, May 11 2012, Friday) — Russian steel and coal mining company Mechel OAO said its 2011 consolidated net income rose 10.8% to US$727.9 million while its revenue surged 28.7% to US$US$12.5 billion. Its mining income rose 37.9% to US$2 billion while revenue climbed by a third to US$4.1 billion, helped by the company’s competitive...
(EnergyAsia, May 10 2012, Thursday) — Yielding to relentless US pressure, India has agreed to reduce its dependence on Iranian crude oil by committing to import 14 million tonnes for the current financial year ending March 31 2013, compared with 17.5 million tonnes previously. If this target is achieved, Iranian oil will account for just...
(EnergyAsia, May 10 2012, Thursday) — India’s state Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) will likely extend the shutdown of a subsidiary’s fire-damaged refinery in the northern state of Assam for the rest of this month. Fire, believed to be deliberately set, damaged a 22,000 b/d hydrocracker unit at the 60,000 b/d refinery in Numaligarh town...
(EnergyAsia, May 9 2012, Wednesday) — Following a terror alert, Indian police have tightened security around the recently dedicated refinery in Bathinda city in the northern state of Punjab located just south of Pakistan. The nine-million-tonne/year refinery, owned by Hindustan Mittal Energy Limited (HMEL), was officially launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month. Last...
(EnergyAsia, May 9 2012, Wednesday) — A US ratings agency has predicted that China will face further face power shortages as it continues to rely on a tariff framework for its coal-fired plants that is “not sustainable in the long term”. “The problem centres on China’s thermal or coal-fired plants, which in 2011 represented 72.5%...
(EnergyAsia, May 8 2014, Tuesday) — Instead of continuing to export all its raw coal to neighbouring provinces, China’s largest coal-producing region has declared it is looking to process some of that into higher-value diesel and electricity that would enable the local economy to build up an industral base. The up-graded use of coal would...
(EnergyAsia, May 7 2012, Monday) — The Chinese government has offered South Sudan a two-year loan package of US$8 billion to develop the war-battered nation’s road, hydropower, energy and agriculture infrastructure. The offer was made after South Sudan President Salva Kiir made a groundbreaking visit to Beijing last month to seek help to end his...
(EnergyAsia, May 4 2012, Friday) — China wants to curb its coal addiction with a five-year plan to curb its use and production of the fuel to 2015. In an attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollution caused by fossil fuels use, the world’s biggest coal user and producer has set a target to...
(EnergyAsia, May 3 2012, Thursday) — Two energy media companies, Argus Media and IHS McCloskey, said they have added to their list of API coal indexes for the Asia-Pacific markets from tomorrow. They will launch a new joint API coking coal index as well as two API coal price indexes to the Argus/McCloskey’s Coal Price...
(EnergyAsia, May 3 2012, Thursday) — The joint-owner of India’s newest oil refinery, the Guru Gobind Singh plant in Punjab state, said he is already planning to double its capacity to 18-million-tonnes/year. Steel billionaire Lakshmi N. Mittal disclosed his intention to reporters at last week’s launch of the 215-billion-rupee plant in Bhatinda city, but did...
(EnergyAsia, May 2 2012, Wednesday) — Australia’s Xstrata Coal and Japan’s JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation said they have formed a joint venture to own and mine metallurgical coal deposits in the Peace River area in Canada’s British Columbia province. JX Nippon Oil & Energy (Australia) Pty Ltd, a JX subsidiary, paid US$435 million...
(EnergyAsia, May 2 2012, Wednesday) — For the first time, India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is supporting calls for the country to raise domestic fuel prices that are among the lowest in the world. With oil rising to account for 30% of last year’s record US$485 billion import bill, the Indian government is under pressure...
(EnergyAsia, May 2 2012, Wednesday) — Australia’s resources and energy commodity export earnings are expected to continue to grow over the next five years to reach a record A$225 billion by FY2016, which ends on June 30 2017. (US$1=A$0.96). According to the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE), LNG, iron ore and thermal coal...
(EnergyAsia, April 30 2012, Monday) — World oil markets are starting to ease on rising OPEC production and the implied build-up of global stockpile to 1.2 million b/d for the first quarter, said the International Energy Agency (IEA). Gains in Saudi Arabia-led OPEC production to 31.4 million b/d in March and lower consumption in the...
(EnergyAsia, April 30 2012, Monday) — China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and Venezuela’s state PDVSA have started work on building a 400,000 b/d oil refinery in Jieyang in China’s southern Guangdong province. The US$8.3-billion refinery, the first of three proposed between the two countries, will process heavy Venezuelan crude oil when it starts operating in...
(EnergyAsia, April 27 2012, Friday) — Singapore is looking to redevelop the general bulk handling Jurong Port into the more lucrative business of storing, handling and blending oil products and chemicals. Located just north of the oil and chemicals hub of Jurong Island, Jurong Port could be turned into a terminal to store up to...
(EnergyAsia, April 27 2012, Friday) — Following the example of China, the Indian government is looking to launch a US$10 billion strategic fund to secure long-term supplies of energy and raw materials to support the country’s economic growth. As a net importer of oil, gas and coal, and most raw materials, India often finds itself...
(EnergyAsia, April 27 2012, Friday) — India’s long-suffering oil refiners are seeking an additional cash compensation of 400 billion rupees from the government to continue producing and selling fuel to domestic customers at a loss. (US$1=51 rupees). The government has repeatedly rejected the refiners’ request to raise fuel prices to reduce their operating losses from...
(EnergyAsia, April 26 2012, Thursday) — Ignoring the drumbeat of geopolitical tensions and military conflict in the region, the Omani government is pressing ahead with plans to invest nearly US$8 billion to build a new refinery at Duqm and expand an existing plant at Sohar. State-owned Oman Oil Company (OOC) and the Abu Dhabi-based International...
(EnergyAsia, April 26 2012, Thursday) — Essar Oil Ltd and Hindustan Mittal Energy Ltd said they have begun operating their recently completed new refinery units in India. Essar Oil said it has started up a delayed coker unit as part of the US$1.8 billion expansion of its Vadinar refinery in Gujarat state while Hindustan Mittal...
(EnergyAsia, April 24 2012, Tuesday) — The oil importers of the Middle East need help as they have been additionally put “under strain” by high oil prices amid the new political and social pressures brought on by the Arab Spring, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). With crude oil price projected to average US$115 a...
(EnergyAsia, April 24 2012, Tuesday) — The Indian government is considering boosting the size of the country’s strategic crude oil stockpile to over 17.8 million tonnes from the current target of 5.33 million tonnes. With state Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) expected to complete building storage terminals at Vishkhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur in 2013...