(EnergyAsia, February 17 2011, Thursday) — Some Western oil and gas companies like Apache Corp, BG Group, Statoil, Shell and Transocean have temporarily closed offices and curtailed drilling operations in response to the on-going unrest in Egypt. While the country is still reeling from three weeks of popular revolt that has led to the overthrow...
(EnergyAsia, February 17 2011, Thursday) — Liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices would surge if the political troubles in Egypt lead to a disruption in traffic through the Suez Canal, said industry participants. As the main passageway between Europe and Asia, the canal handles around 3.1 million tonnes per month of LNG or some 14% of...
(EnergyAsia, February 17 2011, Thursday) — After years of glut and price weakness, the world liquefied natural gas (LNG) market is set to turn to deficit this year, due largely to rising demand from Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, analysts said. According to Bernstein Research, the recent glut in global LNG capacity will...
(EnergyAsia, February 17 2011, Thursday) — With an eye to possible geopolitical upheavals in the Middle East, some traders are betting on US WTI crude oil futures contract reaching US$250 a barrel sometime this year. The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) has reported a surge in the number of call options placed on US$250 oil...
(EnergyAsia, February 17 2011, Thursday) — Iran said its newly commissioned oil refinery in Arak town will boost the country’s gasoline production by 100,000 b/d when it reaches full commercial operation. Oil minister Seyed Masoud Mirkzaemi has boasted that the Shazand refinery, located about 240 km south of Tehran, will meet his country’s entire gasoline...
(EnergyAsia, February 16 2011, Wednesday) — The Australian renewable energy (RE) markets, especially its wind and solar power sectors, has a “bright future” as it continues to grow at a rapid rate and receives strong support from the government in the form of incentives, achievable numerical targets, and launch of industry specific programmes. According to...
(EnergyAsia, February 16 2011, Wednesday) — After nearly two months of a standoff, India has decided to use a German bank to handle its euro payments for its crude oil imports from Iran. Indian companies will make payments through Europisch-Iranische Handelsbank AG (EIHBank) of Hamburg, instead of the State Bank of India. Last December, fearing...
(EnergyAsia, February 16 2011, Wednesday) — The International Monetary Fund has projected Qatar’s economy to grow 20% this year, noting that the country has weathered the global financial crisis exceptionally well. In its recent 2010 Article IV Consultation paper, the IMF noted that Qatar’s continuing public investment in infrastructure will keep growth high in the...
(EnergyAsia, February 16 2011, Wednesday) — Amongst all the renewable energy (RE) technologies, geothermal power and small hydropower attracted the most private sector investments in Indonesia last year, a trend that consultant Frost & Sullivan expects will continue through 2011. According to the company’s Asia Pacific Program Manager for the Energy & Power Systems Practice,...
(EnergyAsia, February 16 2011, Wednesday) — Energy consultant Wood Mackenzie said it expects global upstream mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to continue growing in 2011 after reaching US$183 billion in 2010. The Edinburgh, Scotland-based research firm identified four key themes: unconventional oil and gas, weak US gas prices, restructuring among the international oil companies (IOCs) and...
(EnergyAsia, February 16 2011, Wednesday) — With coal production set to rise further this year on rising global demand, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MHSA) wants US miners to immediately improve their safety practices after the industry reported a record number of 48 fatalities last year. In his speech to the West...
(EnergyAsia, February 15 2011, Tuesday) — Korea Resources is leading a consortium of nine South Korean firms, two Russian firms and four Japanese companies for the right to develop a giant coal block being auctioned by the Mongolian government. The consortium will be competing against 14 other bidders including steelmaker ArcelorMittal and iron ore miner...
(EnergyAsia, February 15 2011, Tuesday) — The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) is building an 80,000-tonne oil tank farm in Hambantota as part of its long-term plan to turn the southern port into a major ship fuelling base. Built with the help of Chinese loans and engineering expertise, the new port started operations last November....
(EnergyAsia, February 15 2011, Tuesday) — Vietnamese officials are working on expanding the country’s first oil refinery, a month after it was officially inaugurated in Dung Quat port in the central province of Quang Ngai. At last month’s ceremony, state-owned PetroVietnam revealed that it is looking to invest at least US$1 billion to expand and...
(EnergyAsia, February 15 2011, Tuesday) — Hong Kong-based oil and natural gas group China National Offshore Oil Corporation Ltd (CNOOC) said it is planning to invest US$8.77 billion to achieve net production of 355 to 365 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) in 2011. Assuming WTI crude at US$82 a barrel, the largely Chinese state-owned...
(EnergyAsia, February 15 2011, Tuesday) — India’s state-owned International Coal Ventures Ltd (ICVL) consortium has joined in the global bidding for a piece of Mongolia’s coal reserves after abandoning its plans to compete for Australian miner Riversdale. ICVL said it has submitted a bid to develop Mongolia’s Tavan Tolgoi coal mine, one of the world’s...
(EnergyAsia, February 15 2011, Tuesday) —Over the last few days, Mongolian government officials heard presentations from some 20 international investment banks bidding for a role to handle the planned equity sale and listing of state Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi which owns a vast untapped coal deposit in the Gobi Desert. The government is targeting to raise...
(EnergyAsia, February 14 2011, Monday) — Canada’s Prophecy Resource Corp said it has been granted full licence by the Mineral Resources Authority of Mongolia to mine the 141-million-tonne Chandgana Tal coal reserve. Prophecy said it previously only had mining rights to a small portion of the deposit which is located nine km north of its...
(EnergyAsia, February 14 2011, Monday) — Coal, natural gas and oil will each account for around 26% to 27% of world energy demand by 2030. Natural gas use will grow the fastest, followed by coal, said BP in its first 20-year Energy Outlook report. “Oil, excluding bio-fuels, will grow relatively slowly at 0.6% per year....
(EnergyAsia, January 31 2011, Monday) — US technology firm Honeywell said Petrovis LLC, Mongolia’s largest petroleum provider, is using its technology to improve operational efficiency and safety at a newly constructed fuel depot near the capital, Ulaanbaatar. Honeywell said the fully-automated depot will become Mongolia’s largest and will help meet growing demand for petroleum products,...
(EnergyAsia, February 14 2011, Monday) — Indonesia plans to pass new legislation on the country’s coal exports in an attempt to raise revenue. The new law will make it mandatory for the country’s miners to export better quality coal with a minimum heating value of 5,600 kilocalorie per kg, said the directorate general of coal...
(EnergyAsia, February 14, Monday) — Australia’s Coal Services Pty Limited has praised the New South Wales (NSW) state government for introducing Order Numbers 41 and 42 to the Coal Industry Act 2001 to improve work safety for the industry. The orders govern the health surveillance requirements of coal miners and the monitoring of airborne dust...
(EnergyAsia, February 11 2011, Friday) — Hong Kong-based Kaisun Energy Group Ltd said it has signed a three-year agreement with Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Coal Geology Bureau to explore and develop coal mining resources in China and central Asia. The partnership will leverage on Kaisun’s proven operating model and Xinjiang Coal Bureau’s expertise in exploration....
(EnergyAsia, February 11 2011, Friday) — The Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) said it is enrolling 15 scientists and engineers from the Xi’an Research Institute of the China Coal Technology & Engineering Group in a pilot programme on high-technology solutions to help China address its poor record on mine safety. China’s coal mining...
(EnergyAsia, February 11 2011, Friday) — Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) said is has received two orders for core components of a total of five 660 to 700-megawatt (MW) supercritical-pressure coal-fired boiler-and-steam-turbine sets to be installed in high-efficiency coal-fired power plants in the Indian states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. The first order is...