(EnergyAsia, September 27 2011, Tuesday) — The Reserve Bank of Australia has forecast that the country’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales could rise by threefold over the next five years, placing it as the world’s second largest supplier after Qatar. With A$120 billion worth of confirmed investments, the central bank said in its report, “The...
(EnergyAsia, September 27 2011, Tuesday) — In response to rising domestic oil demand, state Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is looking to expand the capacity of its Koyali refinery in Gujarat by more than 30% to 18 million tonnes. The company’s board is discussing the idea and could appoint a consultant by December to prepare a...
(EnergyAsia, September 26 2011, Monday) — Zhejiang Haiyue, a private Chinese oil company, said it has signed an agreement to cooperate with PetroChina’s Zhejiang Sales Company on retailing and storing oil products in Zhejiang province. Haiyuan said it will lease out its five retail fuel stations for a minimum five-year period, with provision for a...
(EnergyAsia, September 26 2011, Monday) — Spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices in Asia have more than doubled over the last six months to a three-year high of over US$16 per million Btu since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. And they are headed higher as Asia’s major economies of China, Japan, India...
(EnergyAsia, September 23 2011, Friday) — Higher oil prices together with strong support from public spending have helped Saudi Arabia’s economy rebound strongly from the global economic crisis, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). With GDP projected to grow 6.5% in 2011, the fund expects Saudi Arabia to focus on economic diversification and sustained growth...
(EnergyAsia, September 23 2011, Friday) — The International Energy Agency has again slashed its forecast for world oil demand growth for 2011 and 2012 in response to the global economic crisis. It now expects 2011 world oil demand to rise by one million b/d to 89.3 million b/d, down from its previous forecast for a...
(EnergyAsia, September 23 2011, Friday) — Residents of the thriving north-eastern Chinese city port of Dalian are increasingly finding out — and pushing back — against the high cost of being a major shipping, oil, gas and petrochemicals centre. In addition to facing regular oil spills in the Bohai Bay, the city’s nearly six million...
(EnergyAsia, September 23 2011, Friday) — Stung by the recent surge in liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices, Thai state energy firm PTT said it has cancelled a million-tonne order from Qatar in favour of alternative suppliers. Asian spot LNG prices have more than doubled to over US$16 million BTU since the March 11 earthquake-tsunami tragedy...
(EnergyAsia, September 22 2011, Thursday) — Singapore’s industrial developer and owner JTC Corporation has appointed Jurong Port Pte Ltd to operate and manage the new Offshore Marine Centre (OMC) in Tuas for the next three years. The 13-hectare Tuas View facility is expected to start up next January once Muhibbah Engineering (Singapore) completes its construction...
(EnergyAsia, September 22 2011, Thursday) — Wikileaks has released US embassy notes on Island Power’s struggle to obtain natural gas supply from Indonesia through pipelines owned by Singapore companies. The US embassy reportedly said that for about six years, Temasek and its subsidiaries “deliberately and successfully blocked” efforts by Intergen and local subsidiary Island Power...
(EnergyAsia, September 22 2011, Thursday) — Hong Kong-listed Kunlun Energy said it expects to start up the first phase of its Dalian LNG terminal project in north-eastern China in the fourth quarter while its Rudong, Jiangsu province terminal recently received its first shipment. In its first half earnings report to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange,...
(EnergyAsia, September 22 2011, Thursday) — American Superconductor Corporation, a NASDAQ-listed global power technologies company, said it has filed criminal and civil complaints against one of its largest Chinese customers, Sinovel Wind Group Co Ltd, as part of a series of legal actions it is pursuing in China. AMSC said Sinovel and other parties had...
(EnergyAsia, September 21 2011, Wednesday) — Philippines oil importer Jetti Petroleum has slammed as baseless the charges filed by the Bureau of Customs that it has been using one of its two storage terminals to smuggle and distribute fuel into the country. The company is fighting charges filed by the bureau that it evaded a...
(EnergyAsia, September 21 2011, Wednesday) — Petron Corp, the Philippines’ biggest downstream oil company, said it is moving ahead of schedule in shifting its fuel storage operations out of Pandacan in Manila to smaller tanks away from the capital. Chairman and CEO Ramon S. Ang said that to date, it has spent more than five...
(EnergyAsia, September 21 2011, Wednesday) — Amid ample global oil supplies, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said there is no reason to ask its 28 nation members to release stockpile any time soon. Maria van der Hoeven, a former Dutch economics minister who took over as executive director of the Paris-based agency on September 1,...
(EnergyAsia, September 21 2011, Wednesday) — UAE’s oil trader Gulf Petrochem expects to soon start trading kerosene, gasoil, fuel oil and bunker fuel from its Singapore office to serve the fast-growing Asia Pacific markets. The company presently trades base oil from its six-person Singapore office which could be doubled as it expands its operations. The...
(EnergyAsia, September 20 2011, Tuesday) — The Indian-Malaysian joint venture firm, Indian Oil Petronas Pvt Ltd, expects to complete the construction of its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) import terminal at Ennore about 25 km north of the East Indian city port of Chennai by December. The company is investing 50-million rupees to build two 15,000-tonne...
(EnergyAsia, September 20 2011, Tuesday) — Boosted by production increases at TNK-BP and Gazprom, Russia’s oil output reached a recent high of 10.28 million b/d in August, eclipsing the previous month’s by 20,000 b/d and year-ago levels by 212,000 b/d, said the Energy Ministry. Russia kept the title of world’s leading oil producer, ahead of...
(EnergyAsia, September 20 2011, Tuesday) — Metso said it has established a joint venture with SAC Guodian Nanjing Automation Co Ltd (previously State Automation Company), to expand in the power automation control systems market in China. SAC will own a two-third stake in the new company which will develop the digital power plant concept focusing...
(EnergyAsia, September 20 2011, Tuesday) — Another study has concluded that the world’s supply of “cheap” oil is coming to an end soon. In its recently released “Technology Outlook 2020” report, Norway’s DNV group said demand is growing at a faster rate than supply, raising the cost of finding, producing, processing and marketing oil in...
(EnergyAsia, September 19 2011, Monday) — As a sign of Sri Lanka’s growing economy, Colombo port has started up a new 5,200-tonne oil storage tank and plans to build more to meet rising trade in bunker fuel and other products. The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) said the Colombo terminal is expanding its tank capacity...
(EnergyAsia, September 19 2011, Monday) — Helped by investment from China, Iranian officials believe their nation’s crude oil production could reverse recent declines and rise by 25% to exceed five million b/d by 2015. National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) chief Ahmad Qalebani told the state media IRNA that his country is on course to achieve...
(EnergyAsia, September 16 2011, Friday) — ExxonMobil said it and Russian oil and gas giant Rosneft have agreed to plan to jointly explore for and develop hydrocarbon resources in Russia, the US and other parts of the world, as well as share technology and expertise. Rosneft will have a two-third stake in the joint-venture covering...
(EnergyAsia, September 16 2011, Friday) — Caltex Australia said it will triple its bitumen storage capacity in New South Wales and secure long-term supply continuity for its customers across the state. Ken James, the company’s General Manager for Supply & Distribution, said the agreement with Terminals Pty Ltd for the use of its emerging bitumen...
(EnergyAsia, September 15 2011, Thursday) — CME Group’s NYMEX exchange has listed swap futures based on the API 6 index, an Australian coal export benchmark jointly published by UK’s Argus and US-based IHS McCloskey. According to Argus, the new swap futures became available for trading on the NYMEX trading floor on September 12, and has...