(EnergyAsia, January 5 2012, Thursday) — China Petrochemical Corp, also known as Sinopec Group, the country’s second-largest oil company, has agreed to pay Devon Energy Corp up to US$2.2 billion to acquire a one-third stake in five of its exploratory shale oil projects in the US and to cover drilling expenses. Devon Energy said that (more…)

(EnergyAsia, January 4 2012, Wednesday) — Singapore Exchange’s (SGX) AsiaClear service has begun clearing more varieties of over-the-counter (OTC) coal and naphtha swaps over the past month. Since December 5, SGX said it has cleared contracts for OTC CFR South China coal swaps and CFR Japan naphtha swaps. The coal swap contracts are traded in (more…)

(EnergyAsia, January 4 2012, Wednesday) — Australian upstream company Santos said it has secured US$1.2 billion in corporate senior debt facilities from the country’s Export Credit Agency (ECA). Santos said the facilities provide it with additional liquidity with flexible drawdown dates during the construction period of the Gladstone LNG (GLNG) project in Queensland state. The (more…)

(EnergyAsia, January 4 2012, Wednesday) — As part of a capital reduction proposal by Australia’s Oakey Power Holdings Pty Ltd (OPH), Contact Energy will sell off its 25% stake in the company for A$31 million to the other two shareholders. (US$1=A$0.96). The proposal, linked to the refinance of Oakey Power Station’s project debt, has been (more…)

(EnergyAsia, January 4 2012, Wednesday) — Mr Westacott, a former ExxonMobil executive, is Aon Risk Solutions’ Asia Pacific director for energy services. Q: Your job scope. You have a wide area to cover in the oil and gas sector, from upstream to downstream. How do you assess risks on exploration and production, and on refineries (more…)

(EnergyAsia, January 3 2011, Tuesday) — US-based Peabody Energy said it is increasing seaborne coal volumes for both the domestic and export markets at its expanded Wilpinjong and Millennium mines in Australia. Following a combined investment of up to A$370 million by 2014, Peabody said it expects to raise annual production at the two mines (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 30 2011, Friday) — The chief economist of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has endorsed Singapore’s goal to become a trading hub and pricing centre for the rapidly growing global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market. Fatih Birol, who recently presented the findings of its “World Energy Outlook (WEO) 2011” report in Singapore, said (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 30 2011, Friday) — Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd secured a record of S$10 billion worth of orders from the offshore oil and gas sector. (US$1=S$1.3). Yesterday, the company signed off on its last orders for the year totalling S$150 million through its subsidiaries, Keppel Singmarine Pte Ltd and Keppel Verolme BV, (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 30 2011, Friday) — Fatih Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency (IEA), recently presented the findings of its “World Energy Outlook (WEO) 2011” report in Singapore. Amid uncertain energy future demands, he said the world would need a bold change in policy direction or risks locking itself into an insecure, inefficient (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 30 2011, Friday) — Australian coal haulage firm QR National said it has signed a 10-year contract with Rio Tinto to haul three million tonnes of coal a year starting next month. It will provide the services from Rio Tinto’s Blair Athol/ Clermont mines to the Abbot Point Coal Terminal (APCT), both located (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 29 2011, Thursday) — Dyna-Mac Holdings Ltd, a Singapore-based multi-disciplinary specialist provider of detailed engineering, procurement and construction services to the offshore marine, oil and gas industries, said it has secured orders worth a total sum of S$115 million, boosting its order book to a provisional value of S$190 million to date. (US$1=S$1.3). (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 29 2011, Thursday) — Mechel OAO, an NYSE-listed Russian mining and metals company, said a subsidiary has confirmed the “high quality” of coal deposit from its Elga mine in southwestern Siberia. Southern Kuzbass Coal Company’s washing plant recently produced its first coking coal concentrate out of mine. “A sample lot of some 4,000 (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 29 2011, Thursday) — Amnesty International has reported that a Dutch court has upheld a guilty verdict against European commodities trader Trafigura for illegally exporting and dumping toxic waste that affected the health of thousands of people in the West African country of Côte d’Ivoire. Hailing the decision as “an important step towards (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 29 2011, Thursday) — The following is an edited press release issued by Hong Kong-based commodities trader Noble Group, the majority owner of Australia’s Gloucester Coal, which is targeted for merger by Yancoal Australia Limited. China’s Yanzhou Coal Mining Company Limited announced that it has entered into an agreement in relation to a (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 29 2011, Thursday) — The Australian Coal Association (ACA) has called on the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to take a “technology-neutral approach” to investment, adopt a stage-gated approach to financing high risk projects and be subject to reviews by the Productivity Commission. In a submission to the Federal government, the association also (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 28 2011, Wednesday) — The following is an edited commentary by law firm Herbert Smith. Disagreement between Iraq’s Federal Government and the Kurdish Regional Government over control of oil and gas reserves in the semi-autonomous region is yet to be finally resolved but that has not stopped an increasing number of major international (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 28 2011, Wednesday) — Dutch bank ABN AMRO said it is expanding the Asian operations of its global energy, commodities & transportation (ECT), private banking and clearing businesses. Under Maaike Steinebach, CEO for ECT Asia and Country Executive for Hong Kong, the bank said it has rebuilt its regional ECT capabilities over the (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 27 2011, Tuesday) — Brazil, the world’s 11th largest oil producer, provided the climax to a year of strong performance for Singapore’s two leading upstream oil and gas contractors, Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd and SembCorp Marine. According to the Economist magazine, state-owned oil company, Petrobras, has laid out a capital expenditure programme (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 27 2011, Tuesday) — US engineering firm Black & Veatch said it will provide engineering services and procure balance-of-plant equipment systems for a 1,000MW supercritical clean coal-fired power plant to be built in Malaysia’s Perak state by 2015. The company will provide technical advisory services to contractor China National Machinery Import & Export (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 27 2011, Tuesday) — Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will deliver the keynote speech at the 5th annual World Future Energy Summit (WFES) at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre in the UAE from January 16 to 19. Premier Wen is expected to touch on the topics of innovation, sustainable development and renewable energy (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 23 2011, Friday) — Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) said it has received a full-turnkey order for the construction of a 1,600MW gas turbine combined-cycle (GTCC) power generation plant in Thailand. The order came from Gulf JP NS Company Limited (GNS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Gulf JP Company Limited, a 90/10 (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 23 2011, Friday) — Dubai’s Supreme Council of Energy discussed the state of clean coal technology and its application in the emirate at its 14th meeting held last week. Chairman Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, presided over the meeting attended by vice chairman Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Secretary General and CEO Nejib (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 22 2011, Thursday) — Singapore-listed IEV Holdings Limited said its 30%-owned associate, IEV (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, has been awarded a year-long RM262-million contract by an unnamed oil and gas operator in Southeast Asia to provide supply and installation services. (US$1=RM3.15). Starting this month, IEVM will provide the engineering, fabrication, delivery, hook-up and commissioning (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 22 2011, Thursday) — US-based Louis Dreyfus Highbridge Energy (LDH) LLC said it has established a joint venture with China’s Zhejiang Zhong Ao Energy Co Ltd, to construct an oil and petrochemical import-export terminal near  Shanghai city in China. Louis Dreyfus Zhong Ao Energy Co Ltd will develop the facility in Zhoushan City (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 21 2011, Wednesday) — PwC has just issued a press release (http://www.pwc.com/us/en/press-releases/2011/abundance-of-shale-gas.jhtml) for a study predicting enormous economic benefits from developing America’s abundant shale gas reserves. Predictably, and unfortunately, it does not go into detail about fracking’s equally enormous negative and troubling impact on water rights and supply. The fracking method for extracting (more…)