(EnergyAsia, June 21 2013, Friday) — Despite a projected 5% p.a. rise in demand through 2018, the oil tanker market faces a struggle to recover as it “is still blighted by surplus capacity”, according to the latest findings by UK-based consultant Drewry Maritime Research. “Prompt excessive ordering” could overwhelm the projected healthy 5% growth rate (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 20 2013, Thursday) — Natural gas prices at Henry Hub will experience “significant” price volatility when the US starts exporting liquefied natural gas, said New York City-based consultant PIRA Energy Group. In a study, entitled “Liquefied Henry Hub: The Repercussions of North American LNG Exports at Home and Abroad,” PIRA predicts the volatility (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 20 2013, Thursday) — Tethys Petroleum Limited said it has completed an agreement with France’s Total Exploration and Production and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) for their subsidiaries to each acquire a one- third interest in its production sharing contract (PSC) in Tajikistan’s Bokhtar oil and gas field. Tethys, listed on the main (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 19 2013, Wednesday) — Hong Kong-listed Brightoil Petroleum Holdings Limited said it expects to complete the construction of a RMB1.32-billion yuan oil storage terminal on Waidiao Island in Zhoushan city in China’s Zhejiang province by the second half of 2015. (US$1=6.13 yuan). The company said wholly owned subsidiary Brightoil Petroleum Storage (Zhoushan) Co (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 18 2013, Tuesday) — UK gas giant BG Group said it has completed the sale of its 65.12% stake in India’s largest private natural gas distributor to a firm owned by the Gujarat state government for 24.6 billion rupees. (US$1=58 rupees). The deal is a follow through of an agreement that BG announced (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 18 2013, Tuesday) — Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL), a global cooperative funded by more than 160 energy companies to combat oil spills and pollution at sea, last week officially open an new expanded base in Singapore with enhanced response capabilities. Equipped with well capping and large specialised equipment, dispersant, a training centre (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 17 2013, Monday) — US major ExxonMobil and Russia’s Rosneft, the largest energy companies in the two countries, said they have agreed to jointly establish an Arctic Research Centre (ARC) and share technology to support their joint ventures in developing hydrocarbon reserves around the world. Rosneft will hold a two-third share in ARC (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 17 2013, Monday) — Angola has exported its first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) with the start-up of its long-delayed US$10 billion plant near the northern city of Soyo along the Congo River, said owner and operator Angola LNG Ltd. Sonangol, the West African nation’s state oil and gas company which owns (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 14 2013, Friday) — Coal made a big comeback last year as its share in the global energy mix reached 29.9%, its highest level since 1970, said BP. Reflecting the world’s declining concern with global warming, its consumption of coal, the leading source of greenhouse gases, grew by 2.5%, ahead of oil’s 0.9% (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 14 2013, Friday) — World production of oil, shale, oilsands and natural gas liquids (NGL) collectively rose 2.2% to a record 86.152 million b/d last year, with the US responsible for nearly half that increase, said BP. But average oil prices were also at an all-time high as demand continued to climb to (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 13 2013, Thursday) — Switzerland-based energy trader Gunvor Group and Germany’s Oiltanking GmbH have announced they will jointly build a new oil storage terminal on the Indonesian island of Karimun by mid-2015. Oiltanking Karimun, located more than 60 km west of Asia’s main oil trading hub in Singapore, will have an initial storage (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 13 2013, Thursday) — The boom in shale gas development and supply in North America has sparked a surge in gas use as a transportation fuel, gas-to-liquids production and lubricant base stock manufacturing, said New Jersey-based consultant Kline & Company. With shale gas production forecast to grow to nearly 13 trillion cubic fee (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 12 2013, Wednesday) — Australia-listed South East Asia Resources Ltd said its wholly-owned subsidiary, South East Asia Energy Resources (Australia) Pty Ltd (SEA), has exercised its option to acquire Tiger Coal Pty Ltd and Energy Investments Pty Ltd which owns three coal exploration licences on Tasmania island. SEA has established a wholly owned (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 11 2013, Tuesday) — Australia’s BHP Billiton said it has completed the sale of its shareholdings in two US$45 billion offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) ventures in Western Australia to a PetroChina subsidiary. (US$1=A$1.05). Australia’s largest mining firm owned a 8.33% interest in the East Browse project and 20% stake in the West (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 11 2013, Tuesday) — Germany’s BASF has unveiled its “smart growth” strategy for the Asia Pacific region with plans to invest 10-billion euro, create 9,000 new jobs, achieve 25-billion-euro in sales and realise one billion euro in efficiency measures over the next seven years. (US$1=0.75 euro). The global chemical giant said it is (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 10 2013, Monday) — India’s GVK Group has selected Australia’s Thiess as the main contractor to develop and operate its A$10 billion Alpha thermal coal project in the Galilee basin in Queensland state. (US$1=A$0.96). Subsidiary GVK Hancock Coal has set out a plan to develop the giant Alpha deposit over a 10-year period, (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 10 2013, Monday) — Energy trader Gunvor Group said wholly owned subsidiary Gunvor Singapore Pte Ltd has secured US$850 million in credit from a syndicate of 24 international financial institutions. The revolving credit facility will be used to refinance another facility obtained last year as well as pay for general corporate and working (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 7 2013, Friday) — Myanmar’s abundant energy resources will play a key role in the nation’s transformation and re-integration into the global economy, said the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In a just released report, “The New Energy Architecture: Myanmar”, the bank said Myanmar could emerge as the next Southeast Asian economic frontier and (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 7 2013, Friday) — Germany’s Lanxess has officially opened its 400-million-euro plant on Singapore’s Jurong Island to produce premium halobutyl rubber and regular butyl rubber for use in a wide range of products including tyres, pharmaceuticals, protective clothing, shoe soles, adhesives and chewing gum. (US$1=0.76 euro). The Leverkusen-based chemical giant, which has made (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 6 2013, Thursday) — Mechel OAO, a leading Russian mining and metals company, said the trading subsidiary of its mining division has signed a new agreement to supply coking coal to China’s Shasteel Group. Mechel Carbon (Singapore) will supply Shasteel Group with 40,000 to 80,000 tonnes of coking coal a month from ports (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 6 2013, Thursday) — China’s coal appetite will not let up, leading to demand to double to nearly seven billion tonnes per year by 2030, said consultant Wood Mackenzie. In its report titled “China: The Illusion of Peak Coal”, the consultant said that despite official efforts to limit coal consumption and increase the (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 5 2013, Wednesday) — Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M) said it has secured a contract from Caspian Drilling Company Ltd, a subsidiary of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), to build a US$800 million semisubmersible drilling rig that includes furnished equipment. Keppel O&M said it will deliver the (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 4 2013, Tuesday) — The Vietnamese government has approved and included a 1,200MW coal-fired power plant by Sembcorp Industries in the country’s power development master plan for 2011 to 2020, the company said. The Singapore firm said subsidiary Sembcorp Utilities has also been appointed by the Vietnamese government to own and develop the (more…)

(EnergyAsia, June 3 2013, Monday) — France’s Air Liquide said it has just signed a long-term contract with Fujian Shenyuan New Materials Co Ltd to supply industrial gases for a coal gasficiation project in Fujian province in southeastern China. Air Liquide said it will build an eight-unit industrial gases complex comprising an air separation unit (more…)