(EnergyAsia, October 10 2011, Monday) — The state government of Western Australia has expressed concern that the state could lose ownership of a second major coal mine to a foreign company in less than year. Last week, Wesfarmers announced that it was selling its important Premier Coal business which owns the Collie mine, 200km south...
(EnergyAsia, October 7 2011, Friday) — GMR Energy, a subsidiary of Indian infrastructure firm GMR Infrastructure, is on course to complete its proposed takeover of a 30% stake in Indonesia’s coal miner PT Golden Energy Mines (GEMS) by year-end. GEMS, a subsidiary of Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas Group, is said to have coal reserves of...
(EnergyAsia, October 7 2011, Friday) — State Philippine National Oil Co- Exploration Corp (PNOC-EC) said it is planning to upgrade and expand its coal import terminal in anticipation of an increase in trading volume. PNOC-EC chairman and CEO Gemiliano C. Lopez Jr said the company is targeting to improve its coal terminals in Mabini in...
(EnergyAsia, October 6 2011, Thursday) — The downside of Singapore’s much vaunted industry integration concept has been exposed in the aftermath of the Shell refinery on September 28. With so many fuel buyers and downstream petrochemical and chemical plants connected to the 500,000 b/d plant on Bukom Island, its shutdown is disrupting the supply chain...
(EnergyAsia, October 5 2011, Wednesday) — India’s GVK Power & Infrastructure has agreed to pay US$1.26 billion for a majority stake in three Australian coal mines and a port and rail project owned by Hancock Group. The acquisition of large, high quality coal resource and a strategic infrastructure development project in Queensland state will enable...
(EnergyAsia, October 5 2011, Wednesday) — Canada’s Prophecy Coal Corp said its proposed Chandgana power plant project has been officially endorsed by the Mongolian Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy. The country’s Energy Regulatory Authority (ERA), in charge of licensing power plant operators, has received the endorsement and is expected to issue a final response...
(EnergyAsia, October 5 2011, Wednesday) — Two Singapore banks have agreed to lend a total of US$105 million to a consortium comprising PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PTSC) and Malaysia’s offshore services provider, Yinson Holding, to build a floating storage and off-loading (FSO) unit. According to PTSC, a subsidiary of state PetroVietnam, United Overseas Bank Ltd...
(EnergyAsia, October 4 2011, Tuesday) — Russian crude and condensate production rose 1.2% year-on-year to a post-Soviet record of 10.3 million in September. It beat the previous record high of 10.27 million b/d set in August. Production for the first nine months of the year rose by 1.23% to 10.27 million b/d while exports fell...
(EnergyAsia, October 4 2011, Tuesday) — As it approaches its 30th anniversary as Asia’s first independent oil and chemicals storage operator, Royal Vopak of the Netherlands is already well into its next phase of expansion. But the outlook wasn’t that rosy a few years ago when its core business appeared under threat as some of...
(EnergyAsia, October 4 2011, Tuesday) — L & L Energy Inc, a US-based company with coal mining and distribution businesses in China, said it has signed letters of intent to acquire 14 operating mines in Guizhou province with a combined approved capacity to produce three million tons of coking coal. Based on current market prices,...
(EnergyAsia, October 3 2011, Monday) — Claims by Libya’s new rebel-led government that the country could produce 500,000 to 600,000 b/d of crude oil within weeks is “optimistic”, said a Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research report. Libya was producing 1.6 million b/d before the NATO-backed rebels began attacking the Gaddafi government early this...
(EnergyAsia, October 3 2011, Monday) — Oil prices will likely rise another 15-20% over the next 12 months on the back of continued strong demand growth in the emerging economies, said Allison Nathan, managing director for commodities research at Goldman Sachs. Brent is seen rising to US$130 a barrel from recent levels of US$100-$110 while...
As it approaches its 30th anniversary as Asia’s first independent oil and chemicals storage operator, Royal Vopak of the Netherlands is already well into its next phase of expansion. But the outlook wasn’t that rosy a few years ago when its core business appeared under threat as some of its best customers, who are among...
(EnergyAsia, October 3 2011, Monday) — In the perfect world, there are no limits, accidents or conflicts; only logic and certainty as engineers and scientists quietly collaborate to take care of all human needs, defining future realities and extending boundaries. Four balmy days in Fremantle, a quiet coastal town off Western Australia facing the Indian...
(EnergyAsia, September 30 2011, Friday) — The Indonesian government is seeking to raise the liquefied natural gas (LNG) export price from its Tangguh plant in West Papua to China by five times to US$12 per million BTU. Indonesian state agency BPMigas and China National Offshore Oil Corporation had agreed to the original price of US$2.40...
(EnergyAsia, September 30 2011, Friday) — Royal Dutch Shell has partially shut down its 500,000 b/d oil refinery in Singapore, including a diesel hydrocracking unit, and evacuated most of its staff as it fought to contain a fire on the Pulau Bukom plant which broke out on Wednesday. No one was seriously hurt and the...
(EnergyAsia, September 29 2011, Thursday) — The Japanese government plans to upgrade its fuel stockpiling programme by expanding the storage infrastructure of refined oil products around the country to ensure stable and speedy supplies in the event of natural disasters and emergencies. While details are still being worked out, the government said it hopes to...
(EnergyAsia, September 29 2011, Thursday) — At 38.02 million metric tons (mt), or 8.98 million b/d, China’s apparent oil demand in August was their lowest in 10 months, said energy media Platts. While this represented a seven percent year-over-year increase, it was the first time in 10 months that apparent oil demand had dipped below...
(EnergyAsia, September 28 2011, Wednesday) — Singapore’s Rotary Engineering said it has secured S$110 million worth of contracts in the third quarter, including one to build a chemical plant on Jurong Island. The project, contracted with CCD (Singapore) Pte Ltd, will form part of Taiwan-based Chang Chun Group’s first-phase S$500 million investment on Jurong Island....
(EnergyAsia, September 28 2011, Wednesday) — Seaoil Philippines Inc, one of the country’s leading fuel retailers, has announced a three-year programme to expand its retail network and storage capacity at a total cost of three billion peso. (US$1=43 peso). The company president and CEO Glenn Yu said it plans to double its chain of retail...
(EnergyAsia, September 28 2011, Wednesday) — Esso Malaysia Berhad (EMB), a unit of ExxonMobil, briefly halted operations at its Port Dickson oil refinery last week after a three-hour fire damaged its marine pump area. No one was injured when a naphtha tank ignited, causing an explosion and sending out a large cloud of black smoke...
(EnergyAsia, September 28 2011, Wednesday) — Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has set a target to almost double its current 65-million-ton/year refining capacity to 125 million tons by 2022 to meet the country’s rising fuel demand. Together with its 51.89%-held subsidiary, Chennai Petroleum Corp, IOC controls half the country’s 20 refineries....
(EnergyAsia, September 28 2011, Wednesday) — State upstream company Oil India Limited (OIL) is looking to venture into the downstream sector by helping Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) expand its two refineries. HPCL owns and operates a 6.5-million-tonne/year refinery in Mumbai and a 7.5-million-tonne/year refinery in Vishakapatnam. Oil India Chairman N. M. Borah said the two companies...
(EnergyAsia, September 27 2011, Tuesday) — China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec) said it will soon start storing crude oil at a new 1.2-million cubic metre terminal in the eastern province of Shandong. Asia’s largest refiner said an engineering subsidiary has begun trial operations of the facility, two months ahead of its original schedule in November. Together...
(EnergyAsia, September 27 2011, Tuesday) — Companies have been warned against making “further speculative orders” in building new liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels as they could be hit by a declining freight market. In a recent report, ‘Shifting trade moves LNG shipping out of the doldrums’, energy research consultancy Wood Mackenzie said ships ordered in...