(EnergyAsia, July 10 2013, Wednesday) — Could Singapore’s newly established Pavilion Gas be next to buy into Canada’s natural gas boom through an equity stake in Petronas’s Pacific NorthWest LNG? The subsidiary of Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings was established in May with an initial capital of S$1.25 million to focus on buying, marketing (more…)

(EnergyAsia, July 10 2013, Wednesday) — Australian metallurgical coal miner Cokal Limited said it will raise A$9,609,125.44 from selling shares to Singapore investment company Blumont Group over the next four months. (US$1=A$1.07). The Australia-listed miner said it will sell a total of 60,057,034 fully paid ordinary shares at A$0.16 each in five tranches between July (more…)

(EnergyAsia, July 9 2013, Tuesday) — The coal industry will contribute about A$43 billion to the Australian economy this year and provide 180,000 direct and indirect jobs, said the Australian Coal Association (ACA). (US$1=A$1.07). The association recently revealed these and other figures contained in a special study that it had commissioned to counter a growing (more…)

(EnergyAsia, July 8 2013, Monday) — The Canadian subsidiary of Malaysia’s state energy firm Petronas said it has applied for a licence for the annual export of 19.68 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its proposed terminal in western British Columbia province. Pacific NorthWest LNG has applied to the National Energy Board (NEB) (more…)

(EnergyAsia, July 8 2013, Monday) —- The Australian Coal Association (ACA) has welcomed the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) endorsement of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology as a key solution in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to fight climate change. In a landmark report, released last week, “Technology Roadmap: Carbon Capture and Storage”, the IEA predicts (more…)

(EnergyAsia, July 5 2013, Friday) — Australia “cannot afford” to develop 91 coal projects that will change the climate, warns Greenpeace, while the industry’s world association has criticised the country’s climate commission for being driven by “ideology”. In a special report, Greenpeace provides details of the 91 new coal projects planned for Australia, with a (more…)

(EnergyAsia, July 4 2013, Thursday) — About 100 metric tonnes of bunker fuel spilled into Singapore waters following a collision on Tuesday morning between two vessels about 6.6km southwest off the Tanah Merah ferry terminal. No one was injured in the collision between a South Korean-registered bulk carrier, Oriental Pioneer, and a Bahamas-registered bulk carrier, (more…)

(EnergyAsia, July 4 2013, Thursday) — The chairman and CEO of one of the world’s largest coal mining firms has endorsed the vision of China’s new government to improve the country’s air quality by accelerating the use of emissions control technology while continuing to use coal to fuel the economy. China’s State Council recently announced (more…)

(EnergyAsia, July 3 2013, Wednesday) — Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) and Amnesty International said Royal Dutch Shell is making exaggerated claims that sabotage is the main cause of Nigeria’s persistent oil spills to avoid taking responsibility and having to pay compensation for the environmental disasters. Citing National Contact Point (NCP) of the Netherlands (more…)

(EnergyAsia, July 2 2013, Tuesday) — The following is an edited version of a speech by Royal Vopak chairman and CEO, Eelco Hoekstra, on the occasion of its Singapore subsidiary’s 30th anniversary celebration last week. “In 1980, what started as an idea to predict future opportunities towards the next decade, materialised into the founding of (more…)

(EnergyAsia, July 2 2013, Tuesday) — Australia’s largest downstream company Caltex said an A$50 million loss at its refining business partly took the shine off its first-half net profit of between A$180 and A$200 million. (US$1=A$1.05). Investors sold the shares of the Australia-listed firm despite its improved profit level compared with A$167 million reported for (more…)

(EnergyAsia, July 1 2013, Monday) — Norwegian classification, inspection and survey firm DNV has started work building on its specialised S$15 million laboratory in Singapore to provide testing services for ships and companies involved in deepwater oil and gas activities. (US$1=S$1.28). When completed by the first quarter of 2014, the new facility will provide a (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 28 2013, Friday) — Singapore’s Sembcorp Industries said its joint venture firm, Thermal Powertech Corporation India (TPCIL), has secured a 20-year deal for coal supply to its 1,320MW power plant now under construction in Andhra Pradesh state. Mahanadi Coal Fields, a subsidiary of state-owned Coal India, has agreed to provide an annual supply (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 27 2013, Thursday) — China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said a fully owned subsidiary has agreed to pay US independent Marathon Oil Corp US$1.52 billion for its 10% stake in an offshore oil and gas field in Angola. Subject to government, regulatory and third party approvals, Sonangal Sinopec International Ltd will acquire the (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 27 2013, Thursday) — China’s largest oil and gas producing company has agreed to acquire a 20% stake in Russia’s US$20-billion Yamal liquefied natural gas (LNG) project for an undisclosed sum. China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) will join France’s Total as equal minority owners with operator Novatek, Russia’s second-biggest natural gas producer, still (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 26 2013, Wednesday) — HMS Bergbau AG, a Germany-based international coal producing and trading company, said it has sold its port operations in Indonesia as part of a plan announced in 2011 to focus on becoming “a pure-play trading and marketing company.” Without disclosing details, the Berlin-based company said the sale will result (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 25 2013, Tuesday) — US major ExxonMobil has launched a new major laboratory in the Chinese city of Shanghai to provide analysis for lubricants and oil used in industrial machinery across the Asia Pacific region. The company said its latest Signum laboratory, the fourth in the world, will offer the most modern oil (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 25 2013, Tuesday) — Russia fast-tracked its largest oil producer Rosneft towards global supermajor status by helping it secure a record number of landmark oil and gas agreements with international companies and two governments. At the conclusion of last week’s 17th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced and watched (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 24 2013, Monday) — Russian energy major Rosneft has become a liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplier by securing its first long-term contracts last Friday with Switzerland’s Vitol and Japan’s Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Co Ltd (Sodeco) and Marubeni. In breaking Gazprom’s monopoly over the country’s LNG trade, Russia’s largest crude oil producer (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 24 2013, Monday) — Ships sailing the congested narrow straits off Malaysia and Singapore are at risk of accidents from poor visibility caused by record-thick smog set off by forest fires on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. With more than 140 ships from oil tankers to container ships and passenger ferries sailing the (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 21 2013, Friday) — Brazil’s state energy firm Petrobras said it has signed a letter of intent with China Petroleum and Chemical Corp or Sinopec build a 300,000-b/d oil refinery in South America’s largest country. Petrobras, which is looking to build four similar-sized refineries to meet rising domestic fuel demand, said the two (more…)