(EnergyAsia, November 25 2011, Friday) — Brazil has banned Chevron Corp from further offshore drilling despite the US oil major accepting full responsibility for an oil spill and pledging to counter the damage. State regulator Agencia Nacional do Petroleo (ANP) demanded that Chevron, which operates the US$3.6 billion Frade offshore field, improve its safety practices, while (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 25 2011, Friday) — US engineering firm Black & Veatch said it has hired Kaushik Mukherjee as its India regional general manager for sales to work with local clients on energy infrastructure. Based in Black & Veatch’s Mumbai office, Mr Mukherjee has 18 years of extensive planning and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 24 2011, Thursday) — CNOOC Limited, China’s largest offshore oil and gas producer, has appointed Li Fanrong as its new CEO with immediate effect, succeeding Yang Hua. Mr Li has served in a variety of operating, engineering and management positions in the Chinese offshore oil and gas industry for over 27 years, including (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 24 2011, Thursday) — Australia Pacific LNG Pty Limited said it has signed an agreement for the annual supply of one million tonnes of liquefied natural gas to Japan’s Kansai Electric Power Company for 20 years. The Australian firm will supply the LNG from its planned export terminal on Curtis Island in Queensland (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 23 2011, Wednesday) — Qatargas said it has delivered its first Q-Max liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo to China. The cargo was delivered by the Bu Samra carrier to PetroChina’s recently commissioned LNG receiving terminal at Rudong in Jiangsu province as part of a long-term supply contract between the two countries signed in (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 23 2011, Wednesday) — Kazakhstan’s hydrocarbon-fired economy is staging a strong recovery on account of high oil prices and rising agricultural output, but its banking system is a “cause for concern” amid “a rapidly deteriorating external environment”, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This was the pronouncement of an IMF mission led by (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 22 2011, Tuesday) — US major Chevron has accepted “full responsibility” for an ongoing oil spill off the Brazilian coast caused by its drilling operations 370 km off the northeastern coast of Rio de Janeiro. As a result of under-estimating the pressure in an underwater reservoir, Chevron said an appraisal well sprung a (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 22 2011, Tuesday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have agreed to increase cooperation on projects to build capacity and promote public private partnerships across the Caucasus and Central Asia. Last week, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda and EBRD President Thomas Mirow signed (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 22 2011, Tuesday) — Honeywell said it has secured the role of main electrical and instrumentation building contractor from the Hoang Long Joint Operating Company (HLJOC) for its H-04 wellhead platform in Vietnam’s Te Giac Trang (TGT) offshore field. The award follows Honeywell’s successful completion of work on the field’s first phase earlier (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 21 2011, Monday) — Ministers from 10 countries spanning the Caucuses, and Central, East and South Asia will gather in Baku in Azerbaijan this week to mark a decade of achievement. According to the Asian Development Bank, this will include US$17 billion of investments in energy, trade and transportation under the Central Asia (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 18 2011, Friday) — Singapore has moved forward with its plans for using smart grids and renewable energy sources to develop a robust and efficient future electricity system. The Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s (A*STAR) has launched the nation’s S$38-million Experimental Power Grid Centre (EPGC) to support the development of future smart (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 18 2011, Friday) — US engineering giant Bechtel said it has secured contracts involving two major liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in the US and Australia. Bechtel said it has been awarded a US$3.9 billion contract by Cheniere Energy Partners LP to provide engineering, procurement, and construction services for two new liquefaction trains (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 18 2011, Friday) — EIG Global Energy Partners (EIG) said it will be opening an office in Hong Kong, its fifth, in early 2012. EIG said the new office will position it to take advantage of opportunities for investments in energy, resources and related infrastructure fuelled by demand growth in Asia. It will (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 17 2011, Thursday) — Norway’s Stolt-Nielsen has started up the first phase of its S$350 million petrochemicals tank storage terminal on Singapore’s Jurong Island. (US$1=S$1.3). The Oslo Børs-listed company last week launched three gas spheres with the capacity to store 73,000 cubic metres (cbm) at its Tembusu site as part of a bigger (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 17 2011, Thursday) — Annual operating costs in the shipping industry rose by an average 2.2% in 2010, reversing the 2% decline the previous year, said international accountant and shipping consultant Moore Stephens. All cost categories showed an overall increase this time, with the exception of stores and insurance which fell by 4.7%. (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 17 2011, Thursday) — The Brent-WTI spread fell to US$9.29 a barrel, its lowest level since March 8, as the US crude surged 3.2% to a five-and-a-half-month high of $102.59 a barrel. Traders attributed WTI’s climb to an unwinding of long Brent positions, which had taken the spread to a high of US$28 (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 17 2011, Thursday) — Guy Carpenter & Company LLC, a leading global risk and reinsurance specialist and a member of Marsh & McLennan Companies, has announced the expansion of its risk management capabilities in the Asia Pacific region with a number of senior-level appointments. Christian Schirmer has been appointed head of GC Analytics® (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 16 2011, Wednesday) — Europe’s GDF SUEZ has signed an agreement to sell India’s Petronet LNG Limited nine cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) totalling 600,000 tons for 2012. The French-Belgian utilities company, which owns a 10% stake in Petronet, said it will source the LNG from its global portfolio and deliver the (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 15 2011, Tuesday) — The Asia Pacific market accounted for an unprecedented two-thirds of the insured catastrophe losses worldwide in the first three quarters of 2011, according to a new report released by Guy Carpenter & Company LLC, aleading global risk and reinsurance specialist and a member of Marsh & McLennan Companies. The (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 14 2011, Monday) — Australia’s Linc Energy said it plans to launch a trial underground coal gasification (UCG) project in Vietnam and has submitted an application to do the same in the US. Linc Energy said it has signed a cooperation contract with state-owned Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group, or Vinacomin,, (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 11 2011, Friday) — Reflecting the growing importance of the Asia Pacific markets, Peabody Energy said it is moving its global headquarters for its coal business from St Louis in Missouri state in the US to Brisbane in Australia. The NYSE-listed company announced the relocation of the office of the Executive Vice President (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 11 2011, Friday) — The governments of Japan, France and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are extending a combined US$400 million loan to support Indonesia’s drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen its resilience against climate change. Japan will be providing US$200 million while France and the ADB will each contribute US$100 (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 10 2011, Thursday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it is lending US$170 million for Thailand to build a new 1,600MW power plant to help meet its demand for clean, affordable electricity. Due to start up in 2014, the natural gas-fired plant will be built in Nong Saeng district north of Bangkok (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 10 2011, Thursday) — Ramba Energy Limited, an oil and gas exploration and production company with interests in Indonesia, said it has started gas production from the JRR-7 development well at its Jatirarangon block in West Java in Indonesia. With approximately four million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) flowing from the first (more…)

(EnergyAsia, November 10 2011, Thursday) — NYSE-listed Oiltanking Partners LP has announced that its board has approved expansion projects to construct two new crude oil pipelines in the Houston Ship Channel and approximately one million barrels of new crude oil storage capacity at the Oiltanking Houston terminal in the US. Due for completion in 2013, (more…)