(EnergyAsia, February 8 2012, Wednesday) — Banpu Plc, Southeast Asia’s largest coal miner, said revenue could reach a record of as much as 120 billion baht this year, up 15-20% from last year, on rising sales volume and prices. Briefing the media, chief financial officer Somruedee Chaimongkol said the Thailand-listed company expects to sell a...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2012, Wednesday) — The Sri Lankan government has approved a set of tax exemptions and approval priority for the construction of a much-needed 500 MW coal-fired plant in the eastern city port of Trincomalee. In a statement, the Economic Development Ministry said the government has recognised the two-unit Sampur power plant as...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2012, Wednesday) — Hong Kong-lised Mongolian Mining Corporation (MMC) said Mongolia’s President Elbegdorj Tsakhia visited its Ukhaa Khudag coal mine last month as part of his visit to the Tavantolgoi coalfield and Oyutolgoi gold-copper mining project in the Southern Gobi area. While touring the extended facilities at Ukhaa Khudag including the country’s...
(EnergyAsia, February 7 2012, Tuesday) — China’s CNOOC Limited has unveiled a budget with a capital expenditure of US$9.3 to US$11 billion to implement its business strategy and development plan for 2012. The bulk, 68%, of that budget will be spent on development, while 17% will be invested in exploration and 14% on production. It is...
(EnergyAsia, February 6 2012, Monday) — Australia is bracing itself again for another year of serious weather damage as heavy rains and floods shut down normal life and economic activities in resource-rich areas of Queensland and New Wales states. Since last week, floods have cut off some 12,000 stranded residents in small towns, submerged road...
(EnergyAsia, February 6 2012, Monday) — A worker strike is affecting coal exports from the leading terminal of Port Kembla on Australia’s east coast, 72 km south of Sydney city. A union representing workers at the BHP Billiton-operated terminal began industrial action last Wednesday after the Port Kembla Port Corporation announced it planned to cut...
(EnergyAsia, February 6 2012, Monday) — Australia’s Altura Mining said it expects to start mining its fully-owned Tabalong coal deposit in Indonesia’s South Kalimantan sometime this year upon receiving full government approval. The company plans to start by producing 300,000 to 400,000 metric tons a year of premium grade steam coal at the open-pit mine,...
(EnergyAsia, February 3 2012, Friday) — China will continue to face power supply shortages this year as its generation capacity will expand at its slowest rate since 2006 while consumption is expected to surge by 8% to 9%. According to the China Electric Council, the country’s power consumption will reach 5,130 billion kilowatt hours in 2012...
(EnergyAsia, February 3 2012, Friday) — Worried about the country’s declining energy self-sufficiency, the Vietnamese government has released its long-term plan for the coal industry to raise domestic reserves and production. The plan, endorsed by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, calls for the coal industry to produce 45 to 47 million tonnes this year, 55...
(EnergyAsia, February 2 2012, Wednesday) — As US natural gas prices plunged below US$2.40 per million British Thermal Units (mmBTU) to their lowest levels in over a decade, liquefied natural gas (LNG) held firm near record levels in Asia, creating probably the greatest arbitrage trading opportunity in the history of any major commodities. But no...
(EnergyAsia, February 2 2012, Wednesday) — Traders are salivating at the record gap between US Henry Hub natural gas prices hovering below US$3 per million British Thermal Units (mmBTU), their lowest levels in over a decade, and Asian liquefied natural gas (LNG) spot prices holding firm between US$16 and US$20. The case for liquefying the...
(EnergyAsia, February 2 2012, Wednesday) — Australian rail operator QR National has taken a major step to expand and upgrade its nationwide rail infrastructure to support the next wave of growth in the resources sector in Queensland state. Its next phase of project development follows on from the recent commencement of the A$900 million Wiggins...
(EnergyAsia, February 1 2012, Wednesday) — The Singapore and Chinese governments have criticised the US for its decision to impose trade sanctions against two of their oil companies for trading with Iran. The Singapore Foreign Ministry said the actions are “unilateral” and “above and beyond” the curbs issued by the UN Security Council. China has...
(EnergyAsia, February 1 2012, Wednesday) — India’s Tata Power has started up the first 800MW unit of its 4,000MW super-critical power plant at Mundra in Gujarat state. When completed later this decade, the 170 billion-rupee coal-fired plant will supply electricity to the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan in northern India. (US$1=51 rupees)....
(EnergyAsia, January 31 2012, Tuesday) — Philippines oil company Petron said its board has approved its acquisition of a 65% stake in a Malaysian refinery owned by the local Exxon Mobil subsidiary. Petron, a San Miguel subsidiary which owns and operates the Philippines largest refinery, will pay US$610 million for Esso Malaysia’s downstream assets which...
(EnergyAsia, January 31 2012, Tuesday) — The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has kept its forecast for world oil demand to grow by 1.1 million b/d in 2012, unchanged from its previous forecast issued last month. OPEC expects world oil demand to reach 88.9 million b/d in 2012 after rising by 900,000 b/d in 2011...
(EnergyAsia, January 31 2012, Tuesday) — China’s four national bases for stockpiling its strategic oil reserve are now full operational, storing a combined 24.4 million metric tons of crude oil or nearly 180 million barrels, according to Chinese media reports. In the first phase of its strategic stockpiling programme, China stockpiled more than 14 million...
(EnergyAsia, January 30 2012, Monday) — World crude prices could rise by as much as 30% from current levels of US$100-$110 a barrel if Iran halted its oil exports and by a “much larger” rate if the cornered Islamic regime blocked the strategic Strait of Hormuz in response to further tightening of US and EU...
(EnergyAsia, January 30 2012, Monday) — Iran may have little difficulty disposing of the 600,000 b/d of crude oil that the European Union (EU) is proposing to stop buying from July 1 as part of a tightening trade sanctions by the West against the Islamic regime. Indonesia’s Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo hinted his government may...
(EnergyAsia, January 30 2012, Monday) — Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC) is interested to build a third oil refinery in a yet-to-be-identified location in Asia to add to its plans for projects in China and Vietnam. The company will partner Sinopec and possibly France’s Total to build a US$9-billion integrated refinery-petrochemical complex in China’s Guangdong...
(EnergyAsia, January 27 2012, Friday) — China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said it, Qatar Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell have agreed to advance their plans to jointly develop a 80-billion-yuan integrated oil refinery-petrochemical complex in eastern China. (US$1=6.3 yuan). The complex which includes a 400,000-b/d refinery and a 1.2-million-tonne/year ethylene plant will be built in...
(Energy Asia, January 27 2012, Friday) — China’s import of piped natural gas from Central Asia reached 20 billion cubic meters (bcm) in early January and is on course to exceed 30 bcm by the end of the year, said China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC). As operator of the Central Asia-China pipeline, CNPC announced that...
(EnergyAsia, January 26 2012, Thursday) — Following the meeting of the foreign ministers of its members in Brussels on Monday, the European Union has decided to launch new sanctions against Iran for continuing with its nuclear energy programme. In a statement, the 27-member EU said it has decided to broaden measures by targeting the sources of...
(EnergyAsia, January 26 2012, Thursday) — UK consultant Wood Mackenzie has made an initial assessment of potential implications for 2012 of the growing Iran-related tensions on the oil and gas markets following on further US and EU sanctions against Iran and its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic. With further US...
(EnergyAsia, January 25 2012, Wednesday) — Indonesia’s state oil and gas company Pertamina said it expects to raise its annual import of gasoline to more than 12 million kilolitres and diesel to over three million kilolitres from this year. With the nation’s fuel demand forecast to rise by more than four percent a year from...