(EnergyAsia, April 19 2012, Thursday) — Norway’s DNV and state-owned Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly undertake research and development in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector. The companies will jointly organise conferences and cooperate on R&D projects focusing on the entire LNG value chain from gas reservoir (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 19 2012, Thursday) — The consortium developing Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas reserves has reached an important milestone with its decision to start work on the front-end engineering and design (FEED) of the project’s estimated US$25 billion stage 2 development, operator BP has announced. The UK major, which owns a 25.5% stake in the (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 19 2012, Thursday) — US major Chevron Corp said a consortium led by its Australian subsidiaries has secured an agreement for the annual supply of one million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Japan’s Chubu Electric Power Company Incorporated for up to 20 years. The Chevron-operated consortium will supply the LNG from (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 18 2012, Wednesday) — Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, an Abu Dhabi-based graduate-level university focused on advanced energy and sustainable technologies, and First Solar Inc, a producer of photovoltaic (PV) solar modules and solar systems, recently conducted a workshop to highlight the role of research and development (R & D) in the (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 18 2012, Wednesday)— Russia’s Rosneft and US major ExxonMobil have signed agreements to implement joint efforts to explore and develop oil and gas in both their countries as well as Canada. Signed in the presence of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, the agreements form joint ventures to (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 17 2012, Tuesday) — Australia’s Origin Energy Limited said it has agreed to develop low-carbon, cost efficient trigeneration precincts to supply cleaner energy to central Sydney, the country’s largest city. Origin said its wholly owned subsidiary, Cogent Energy, will invest A$100 million over a 10-year period to build trigeneration precincts in four zones (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 17 2012, Tuesday) — Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) has announced that it will be investing US$100 million to develop new technology centre in Kangqiao, east of Shanghai, China. When completed in 2013, the 60,000 sq m facility will house some 200 commercial and corporate function staff as well as a team of (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 17 2012, Tuesday) — Malaysian state energy firm Petronas said it is making progress in developing an integrated oil refinery-petrochemical project in Pengerang town in the southern Malaysian state of Johor. The proposed RM60-billion Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) complex will include a 300,000 b/d refinery to supply feedstock to an adjoining (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 17 2012, Tuesday) — Southeast Asia will be an attractive area for gas activity amid growing demand for energy in the region, according to the International Gas Union (IGU). Globalenergy demand is expected to increase in tandem with growing population, economic expansion, individual’s prosperity and urbanisation. It is projected that the world will (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 17 2012, Tuesday) — Swiss energy trader Vitol SA said it has signed a long-term agreement to supply Korea Midland Power (KOMIPO), a South Korean power company 400,000 tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) a year for 10 years starting 2015. The contracted volume is equal to about 17% of KOMIPO’s annual consumption (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 16 2012, Monday) — Trafigura Pte Ltd has announced its entry into the oil refining and storage business with plans to invest up to US$250 million for a minority stake in a refinery and storage facility under construction in India’s east coast Tamil Nadu state. The Dutch commodities trader said it will pay (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 16 2012, Monday) — The Australian government should clarify the country’s business taxation system for the upstream oil and gas industry as it is being threatened by speculation and fears over imminent changes. In making this call, the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) said the speculation is “creating investor uncertainty” that (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 13 2012, Friday) — IHC Merwede, the Netherlands-based global supplier of efficient dredging and mining vessels and equipment, and custom-built ships, has opened an Asia Pacific office in Singapore. The company said the PSA Building office will be the corporate headquarters for IHC Offshore & Marine’s Southeast Asia businesses to add to the (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 13 2012, Friday) — Australia’s MetroCoal Limited has released an update on its attempt to form a joint venture to develop and market its fully-owned Surat Basin thermal coal Bundi project in Queensland state said to hold 1.56 billion tonnes of thermal coal reserves. Since it began seeking a joint venture partner last (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 12 2012, Thursday) — Jaya Holdings, a Singapore-based leading offshore energy services group, has named Max Hartvigsen as President of its offshore division. Reporting directly to the CEO, he will be responsible for the division’s business development, profit and loss for the fleet of owned and chartered vessels and operational excellence of the (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 12 2012, Thursday) — Australia’s 
Aquila Resources Limited said its wholly owned subsidiary, IP Coal Pty Ltd, has agreed to sell its 50% joint venture interest in the Isaac Plains coal mine to Ocean Coal Mining Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan’s Sumitomo Corp for A$430 million. (US$1=A$0.96). Aquila said Sumitomo (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 12 2012, Thursday) — The Australian Coal Association (ACA) has included a long-term national carbon capture and storage (CCS) strategy among 12 recommendations submitted to the federal government’s draft Energy White Paper. ACA chief executive Nikki Williams said the use of CCS technology is key to economically achieving emissions reductions targets. She said: (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 12 2012, Thursday) — S&P held a media roundtable in Singapore last month featuring three experts to discuss the commodities markets and the economies of China, Japan and India. Jodie Gunzberg, S&P Indices’ Director of Commodity Indices, Mike Davis, ICE Futures Europe’s Director of Market Development, and Nicholas Kennedy, NYSE Liffe’s Head of (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 11, 2012, Wednesday) — Singapore’s Keppel Shipyard Ltd said it has secured two floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) upgrading projects from its repeat customers SBM Offshore NV and Bumi Armada Berhad. The combined contract value of the two projects is S$170 million. (US$1=S$1.26). Keppel said it will target to complete the refurbishment (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 11 2012, Wednesday) — Australia’s Universal Coal Plc said it has secured A$12 million from Susquehanna Pacific Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of financier Susquehanna International Group LLP, to fund its general working capital and core programmes in South Africa. (US$1=A$0.96). The company said it will begin drawing down A$7 million from next month (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 10 2012, Tuesday) — Saudi Arabia’s petrochemical giant SABIC has reiterated its commitment to sustainable development to guide its growth and operations in Asia. The company’s top leadership team made this pledge at the recent Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference in China themed “Asia in the Changing World: Moving towards Sound (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 9 2012, Monday) — Australia’s 
Aquila Resources Limited said its wholly owned subsidiaries, Argos (QLD) Pty Ltd and Aquila Coal Pty Ltd, have agreed with Sumisho Coal Australia Pty Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation, to form a joint venture to explore Aquila’s significant portfolio of coal exploration permits in (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 9 2012, Monday) — Seattle, US-based L&L Energy said it has signed a long-term agreement to supply coal to a thermal coal-fired power plant in Guizhou province owned by Datang International Power Generation (Datang Utility). L&L said its DaXing subsidiary will provide 20,000 tons of thermal coal per month over 12 months to (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 9 2012, Monday) ––Indonesian coal miner PT Adaro Energy Tbk said its net income surged 124% to US$552 million for the financial year ended December 31 2011, boosting its basic earnings per share by 123% to US$0.01721. The Jakarta-listed company attributed the strong perfomance to a combination of  production growth, high coal price and (more…)

(EnergyAsia, April 5 2012, Thursday) — Honeywell said it has been selected for a US$5 million project to provide technology and expertise to ensure the timely, safe and efficient start-up of one of China’s largest methanol-to-olefins (MTO) and methanol-to-propylene (MTP) projects. Phase one of Pucheng Clean Energy Chemical Company Ltd (PCEC)’s coal-to-chemical project has an (more…)