(EnergyAsia, December 2 2011, Friday) — Brazil’s state-owned Petrobras is likely to continue owning and operating an 80,000 b/d oil refinery in Japan’s Okinawa which it acquired separately from previous shareholders ExxonMobil in 2008 and Sumitomo Corp in 2010. While not excluding the possibility of selling the refinery, Petrobras may have a business case for holding...
(EnergyAsia, December 1 2011, Thursday) — Vietnam looks to be joining the growing Asian bandwagon to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Australia and Qatar. Traditionally an energy exporter, Vietnam is facing shortages of coal and fuel as its energy demand is growing at a faster rate than its domestic reserves. State PetroVietnam subsidiary PV...
(EnergyAsia, December 1 2011, Thursday) — Fed up with what it sees is persistent political interference, Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas is threatening to close down its 135,000 b/d oil refinery in Durban in South Africa. The company has complained that its majority-owned Engen subsidiary has been subject to “serious challenges” from local politicians and community groups...
(EnergyAsia, December 1 2011, Thursday) — Idemitsu Kosan Co, Japan’s third-largest oil company, could lose nearly a fifth of its 640,000 b/d refining capacity by March 2014 if it chooses not to comply with new government regulations to upgrade ageing plants. The company said it plans to shut down its 120,000 b/d Tokuyama refinery in...
(EnergyAsia, December 1 2011, Thursday) — Standard & Poor said it has placed the two main credit ratings of China-based Winsway Coking Coal Holdings Ltd, which recently announced plans to acquire a Canadian coal miner, on watch with negative implications. Winsway, which formed a joint venture with Japan’s Marubeni to acquire Grand Cache Coal, has...
(EnergyAsia, November 30 2011, Wednesday) — Japanese demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) could grow by more than 25% to over 100 million tonnes next year after surging by over 15% this year to a record of more than 80 million tonnes in 2011, said a senior executive from the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals...
(EnergyAsia, November 30 2011, Wednesday) — Oil, not the financial markets, is the key driver of current account fluctuations and global economic dislocations, and is leading the world down an unsustainable path of development, according to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Oil will likely account for 96% of the US trade deficit this year and...
(EnergyAsia, November 29 2011, Tuesday) — In response to growing environmental pressures, one of Australia’s main local oil and gas companies said it is pulling out of a controversial gas pipeline project while warning that any attempts to delay or halt coal seam developments would hurt the industry and the economy. Addressing a Parliamentary inquiry,...
(EnergyAsia, November 29 2011, Tuesday) — Global oil demand is expected to rise by 900,000 b/d to 87.8 million b/d this year, and by 1.2 million b/d to 89 million b/d next year, according to the latest monthly forecast issued by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). In keeping unchanged its forecast for global...
(EnergyAsia, November 29 2011, Tuesday) — The Australian government said it will apply increased research and scientific investigations into the hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, method of gas production amid growing complaints in the country and around the world that it is causing water contamination and earthquakes. Prime Minister Julia Gillard said her government will provide...
(EnergyAsia, November 28 2011, Monday) — State-owned natural gas company GAIL said its subsidiary, GAIL Global (Singapore) Pte Ltd, has started trading and procuring liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply for the Indian market. The company expects to import its first cargo in coming months with India’s domestic natural gas demand expected to rise to 189...
(EnergyAsia, November 28 2011, Monday) — India will boost its oil refining capacity by over 60% to more than 310 million tonnes over the course of the current five-year plan to March 31 2017, predicts Oil Minister S. Jaipal Reddy. The completion of new world-scale refineries in Orissa and Punjab states will substantially expand the...
(EnergyAsia, November 28 2011, Monday) — China’s apparent oil demand for October edged up by 1.4% year-over-year to 38.42 million metric tons (mt) or 9.08 million b/d, the highest in five months, according to Platts’ analysis of recently released government statistics. Last month’s demand was the strongest since May’s 9.31 million b/d, and was also...
(EnergyAsia, November 25 2011, Friday) — Two international energy companies separately have predicted that China’s demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) will rise by six times by the end of this decade. Europe’s GDF Suez SA expects China’s annual LNG consumption to surge to 44 million tonnes while Australia’s Woodside Petroleum believes demand from both...
(EnergyAsia, November 25 2011, Friday) — Two years after the launch of a major pipeline linking the two countries, Turkmenistan will soon meet more than half of China’s natural gas demand. On Wednesday, November 23, China signed a new agreement to raise its annual gas purchase volume from the Central Asian producer from 40 billion...
(EnergyAsia, November 24 2011, Thursday) — Singapore’s move to consider importing electricity from its Southeast Asian neighbours appears to be borne more out of weakness and desperation rather than planned strategy. Dependent on Indonesia and Malaysia for natural gas supplies to generate 80% of its electricity, Singapore has been working hard to diversify its energy...
(EnergyAsia, November 24 2011, Thursday) — The following is an edited version of an interview by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with Ana Lucia Coronel, its Mission Chief for Kazakhstan, and Narayanan Raman, an economist in the fund’s Strategy, Policy, and Review Department. With nearly 40 billion barrels in reserves and 2% of global production,...
(EnergyAsia, November 24 2011, Thursday) — As spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices surged from US$7 to US$18-19 per million British thermal unit (BTU) over the course of 2011, Singapore bolstered its position as Asia’s leading energy trading centre. With oil already in the bag, it has been quietly building up its leadership in coal...
(EnergyAsia, November 23 2011, Wednesday) — With at least 15 projects being planned, Australia’s natural gas production is expected to triple to over 6,000 petajoules or 5,700 billion cubic feet (bcf) over the next decade, said energy economics group EnergyQuest. Of the 15 projects, eight projects will be under construction by the end of 2011,...
(EnergyAsia, November 23 2011, Wednesday) — Indian Oil Corp, the country’s largest refiner, said it is targeting to boost its annual refining capacity by 87% to 123 million tonnes or 2.46 million b/d by March 2021. Indian Oil and its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corp, which now control 10 refineries with a total capacity of 65...
(EnergyAsia, November 23 2011, Wednesday) — The Indian government said it has paid out 150 billion rupees to three state-owned oil refiners for losses incurred for selling fuel below cost in the second quarter of the current financial year. According to the Oil Ministry’s secretary, G.C. Chaturvedi, half of that was paid out to Indian...
(EnergyAsia, November 22 2011, Tuesday) — China’s third West-to-East gas pipeline network will deliver up to 30 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas from Central Asia to as far away as southeastern Fujian province when it starts operating two years from now. By 2013, the three networks that make up China’s West-to-East pipelines measuring...
(EnergyAsia, November 22 2011, Tuesday) — The following are extracts from a new book, “Turkmenistan: Strategies of Power, Dilemmas of Development” (M.E. Sharpe, 2012) by Sebastien Peyrouse. The vast hydrocarbon riches that Turkmenistan enjoys are second in Central Asia only to Kazakhstan. But while there are many potential customers, Turkmenistan has not managed to...
(EnergyAsia, November 21 2011, Monday) — Having tied up sales to China the last two years, Turkmenistan is hoping to export as much as 30 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year to Europe through a new pipeline that would bypass Russia. The Turkmen plan, which involves tapping into the country’s second largest gas...
(EnergyAsia, November 21 2011, Monday) — Russian energy giant Gazprom and its subsidiaries are on course to claim a world record US$51 billion in oil and gas capital expenditures this year, according to local media reports. The amount includes Gazprom’s programme to invest US$41.4 billion, and nearly US$10 billion in total by its various subsidiaries...