(EnergyAsia, January 25 2012, Wednesday) — Indonesia’s state oil and gas firm Pertamina said its Pertamina Energy Services (PES) has started building a US$50 million fuel terminal on Sambu island in Riau with the capacity to store 300,000 kilolitres of fuel. Due for completion next year, the terminal will include three docks to each handle...
(EnergyAsia, January 25 2012, Wednesday) — Bangladesh has partially ended the state’s monopoly over fuel oil import by allowing independent power producers to procure supplies for their power plants. Faced with worsening power shortages, the government took this drastic decision after state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corp admitted that it would be unable to guarantee fuel supply...
(EnergyAsia, January 20 2012, Friday) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Tianjin State Farms Agribusiness Group Co will jointly develop and own a 200,000-cubic metre fuel storage terminal in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin. The newly set up Shell North China Oil Group Ltd will begin construction of the proposed 550-million-yuan terminal in mid-2012....
(EnergyAsia, January 20, 2012, Friday) — Malaysian state energy firm Petronas said it and its partners have signed a transition agreement with the government of South Sudan for their continued operations in the country’s upstream blocks previously awarded by the government of the Republic of the Sudan. South Sudan seceded from Sudan last year. The...
(EnergyAsia, January 19 2012, Thursday) — The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) produced 30.83 million b/d of crude oil in December, up 230,000 b/d from estimated November output of 30.6 million b/d, said energy media Platts. In its latest survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts, Platts said Libya accounted for...
(EnergyAsia, January 19 2012, Thursday) — Russia has promised to increase the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India from 2016, but price and sales terms are likely to be hurdles for any attempted major long-term deals between the two sides. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made the promise in welcoming Indian Prime Minister Manmohan...
(EnergyAsia, January 18 2012, Wednesday) — Thai state energy company PTT is aiming to complete the expansion of the country’s second LNG import terminal by 2014-2015 instead of the original target deadline of 2016. Citing faster-than-expected growth in the country’s natural gas demand, the company said the new five million mt/year unit at its Map...
(EnergyAsia, January 18 2012, Wednesday) — China’s CNOOC will have to pay at least 50% more for its liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply from the Tangguh export terminal in Papua province, said Indonesian upstream energy regulator BPMigas. In its meeting with CNOOC this month, BPMigas wants to raise the contract price from US$3.35 per million...
(EnergyAsia, January 18 2012, Wednesday) — Indonesia may have to pare down its plans to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) after Asian spot prices more than tripled to between US$16 and US$18 per million BTU in the wake of the earthquake-tsunami disaster in Japan on March 11. Without the approval of the Finance Ministry, state...
(EnergyAsia, January 18 2012, Wednesday) — The tripling of spot liquefied natural gas prices in Asia over the past year is threatening the viability of a proposed 40-billion-rupee import terminal project at Mundra Port on India’s west coast. State-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) has been unable to decide if it will participate in an...
(EnergyAsia, January 17 2012, Tuesday) — China’s demand and import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are expected to remain strong this year on continued growth in its electricity demand and growing preference for clean burning fuel. Natural gas use has huge growth potential in China as it is a relatively new fuel and currently generates...
(EnergyAsia, January 17 2012, Tuesday) — India’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) import capacity is expected to increase from 13.5 million tonnes a year (t/y) now to 47.5 million t/y by 2016 and 62.5 million t/y by 2020, said Petronet. India’s sole natural gas importer and LNG terminal operator is building a second receiving and regasification...
(EnergyAsia, January 17 2012, Tuesday) — As Indonesia faces the prospects of worsening energy shortages, its three main state energy companies, gas distributor PGN, power utility PLN, and oil and gas firm Pertamina, are preparing to start importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the first time to generate electricity. Pertamina and PGN have formed a...
(EnergyAsia, January 16 2012, Monday) — China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), the nation’s largest offshore oil and gas company, said its subsidiary CNOOC Ltd has started seismic operations to explore for shale gas on a 4,800-sq-km onshore block in eastern Anhui province. Following its recent acquisition of Chesapeake Energy assets in the US, the...
(EnergyAsia, January 16 2012, Monday) — Global trade in liquefied natural gas (LNG) will grow strongly for the rest of the decade, helped by the completion of 26 new liquefaction projects that will boost capacity by 60% by 2020, said the France-based international association CEDIGAZ. In its latest annual survey of the industry, CEDIGAZ said...
(EnergyAsia, January 16 2012, Monday) — Saudi Aramco expects its joint 400,000 b/d refinery with China’s Sinopec Group in the Saudi industrial city of Yanbu to begin full commercial operations in 2014. The Dhahran-based Saudi firm will own a majority 62.5% stake in the export-oriented Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Co (YASREF) refinery to be located...
(EnergyAsia, Jan 13 2012, Friday) — With its economy still growing at more than 8% a year, China’s apparent crude oil consumption could rise by 5.3% in 2012 compared with 3.5% last year, according to an industry association’s latest forecast. The China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation said the country’s apparent crude consumption could rise...
(EnergyAsia, January 13 2012, Friday) — The US-led campaign to stop the world buying Iranian crude oil is faltering as it has failed to win the full cooperation of its allies in Europe, South Korea and Japan while China, the largest importer of Iranian crude, has flatly rejected the request. The lack of progress to...
(EnergyAsia, January 13 2012, Friday) — Two vessels collided off Singapore last week, spilling five tonnes of marine fuel oil into the Strait of Singapore. There was no report of injury and traffic in the port was not affected in this first shipping collision on Singapore waters in 2012, said the Maritime and Port Authority...
(EnergyAsia, January 12 2012, Thursday) — PHI Group Inc, a US company focused on energy and natural resources, said it has signed a letter of intent to acquire more than 20 million metric tonnes of coal resources together with the operation and production licence in Indonesia’s Jambi province from Jakarta-based PT CSP. The two companies...
(EnergyAsia, January 12 2012, Thursday) — Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine said it has secured a US$809 million contract from Sete Brasil to build a DSS38E semi-submersible drilling rig. Keppel O&M said its subsidiary, Fernvale Pte Ltd, secured the contract from Urca Drilling BV, a subsidiary of Sete Brasil Participaç’es SA, to design and construct...
(EnergyAsia, January 11 2012, Wednesday) — A Goldman Sachs analyst has predicted that China will overtake the US as the world’s biggest oil importer by late next year. With no let-up in its consumption growth, Jeffrey Currie said China is also not expected to significantly reduce its intake of Iranian crude oil despite US pressure...
(EnergyAsia, January 11 2012, Wednesday) — China’s largest energy producer said its overseas oil and gas fields raised output by 15% to more than 100 million metric tons last year from 86.7 million tons in 2010. China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said it owned about 51.7 million tons of those oil and gas produced. The...
(EnergyAsia, January 11 2012, Wednesday) — Australian coal miners Aston Resources Ltd and Whitehaven Coal Ltd are on course to complete their merger by April as announced on December 12. Aston shareholders will receive 1.89 Whitehaven shares for each Aston share they hold. Separately, Whitehaven has agreed to acquire unlisted coal explorer Boardwalk Resources whose...
(EnergyAsia, January 10 2012, Tuesday) — China Petrochemical Corp, or Sinopec Group, said it is targeting to more than double its equity oil output from overseas projects to over one million b/d by 2015 from 2011 while another state firm, Sinochem, said it is buying a 10% stake in five deepwater blocks in Brazil. Sinopec...