(EnergyAsia, July 7 2011, Thursday) — Chevron Neftegaz Inc, an affiliate of Chevron Corporation, said it and members of a consortium have officially begun construction of a US$5.4 billion expansion of the Caspian pipeline to deliver crude oil from western Kazakhstan to a dedicated terminal in the Black Sea. When completed in 2015, the pipeline (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 7 2011, Thursday) — State-owned Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) has been criticised for contributing to the country’s worsening electricity shortfall and hurting its fragile economic outlook. Controlling more than 70% of Vietnam’s electricity market, EVN has a key role in planning for the country’s long-term supply-demand balances for power and feedstock. It also...
(EnergyAsia, July 7 2011, Thursday) — Japan’s coal imports are expected to continue their recovery into 2012 after the initial pull-back in the wake of the March 11 tsunami-earthquake disaster which took down a significant part of the country’s coal-fired and nuclear power generating capacity, said the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and...
(EnergyAsia, July 7 2011, Thursday) — NYSE-listed Peabody Energy said it has agreed to pay A$35 million for Thiess Investments Pty Ltd’s 5% joint-venture interest in the Burton Mine in Australia’s Queensland state. (US$1=A$0.94). Peabody said the transaction, expected to complete this quarter, will give it full ownership of the hard coking coal operation and...
(EnergyAsia, July 6 2011, Wednesday) — Five years after starting up the controversial Three Gorges dam, the Chinese government has finally acknowledged that the massive 18,200MW hydroelectric project may be the source of social and environmental problems as much as it has helped reduce flooding in some areas and provide electricity to large parts of...
(EnergyAsia, July 6 2011, Wednesday) — Controversial Australian businessman Clive Palmer is stepping up his pursuit of Chinese support to finance his massive Queensland coal project after his fourth failed attempt at listing his Resourcehouse company in Hong Kong to raise nearly HK$7.3 billion. Mr Palmer, who has accused his government of racist behaviour in...
(EnergyAsia, July 6 2011, Wednesday) — Mongolia has exported its first coal cargo to Russia’s Buryatia province, said Canada’s Prophecy Coal Corp which handled the rail delivery of 650 tonnes of thermal coal from its Ulaan Ovoo mine. The coal was exported from the Sukhbartaar rail station in Mongolia to Energy LLC, a company registered...
(EnergyAsia, July 6 2011, Wednesday) — Oiltanking Odfjell Terminals & Co LLC is expanding its oil and chemical storage investments in Oman to serve the fast-growing markets in the Middle East. Last week, the company announced that it has started up 15 new tanks to store 450,000 cubic meters (cbm) of gasoline and middle distillate...
(EnergyAsia, July 6 2011, Wednesday) — Australia’s Arrow Energy said it has begun operating the 450MW Braemar 2 power station in Queensland state, following its acquisition last week of the remaining 25% stake to underline its commitment to provide gas to the domestic market. Commissioned in 2009, the A$550 million Braemar 2 plant is fuelled (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 6 2011, Wednesday) — Singapore’s SembCorp Industries said it has begun construction of its S$40 million integrated wastewater treatment plant on the Jurong Island oil-petrochemical downstream. (US$1=S$1.25). Expected to start up in the second half of 2012, the plant will have the capacity to treat 9,600 cubic metres per day of industrial wastewater, (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 5 2011, Tuesday) — Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) said it has selected McKinsey & Company, engineering specialist Black & Veatch, and law firm Allen & Overy as consultants to produce a technical and economic study for its proposed clean coal-fired power plant. Due for completion in September, the study will be...
(EnergyAsia, July 5 2011, Tuesday) — Mechel OAO, an NYSE-listed Russian mining and metals group, said it sharply boosted net income and revenue for the first quarter of 2011 over the same period last year. Its Q1 income surged more than 3.74 times to US$309.1 million while its revenue climbed 54.4% to US$2.93 billion. Mining...
(EnergyAsia, July 5 2011, Tuesday) — Vietnam could face further energy supply shortages as coal miners and power companies are struggling to complete projects in the face of financing difficulties and rising interest rates at around 20%. Banks are unable or unwilling to provide loans to the country’s domestic coal and electricity companies, said the...
(EnergyAsia, July 5 2011, Tuesday) — Australia’s Cougar Energy Limited has issued the following statement with regard to the Queensland state’s on-going investigation to alleged environmental violations at its Kingaroy underground coal gasification site since last July 15. The ASX-listed company said it has “co-operated at all times” with the state government’s Department of Environment (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 4 2011, Monday) — Malaysia’s largest offshore oil and gas services provider, Bumi Armada Berhad, is aiming to raise around RM1.9 billion from through an initial public offering (IPO) of 30% of its enlarged share capital of 2.25 billion shares to retail and institutional investors. (US$1=RM3). The IPO will comprise the offering of (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 4 2011, Monday) — Iran has achieved an “early success” in implementing its ambitious subsidy reform programme and reducing the inflation rate while continuing to grow the economy after last year’s 3.5% expansion, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “Real GDP growth recovered to an estimated 3.5% in 2009/10 despite the drop in...
(EnergyAsia, July 4 2011, Monday) — Rising energy demand out of Asia could put the US back to being the world’s leading coal exporter this year, analysts say. As more US coal producers establish operations in Asia and increase their marketing efforts, US coal exports could breach the 100-million-ton mark this year, up sharply from...
(EnergyAsia, July 4 2011, Monday) — Singapore is building two extensive high-voltage underground cable tunnels by 2017, effecting the next stage of its underground power transmission project. These include a 16.5-km east-west tunnel to connect power stations in the west to consumers in the east by 2016, and a 18.5km north-south tunnel by 2017, each...
(EnergyAsia, July 1 2011, Friday) — Chinese state-owned Guangdong Rising Assets Management (GRAM) has offered to acquire Australian coking coal mine operator Caledon Resources for £313 million in a friendly deal. (US$1=£0.622). The ASX and UK-listed Caledon company has recommended that shareholders accept the all-cash bid from GRAM’s subsidiary, Guangdong Rising (Australia) Pty Ltd, or...
(EnergyAsia, July 1 2011, Friday) — The Chinese government has moved to address the grievances of ethnic residents of its largest coal producing province as life slowly returns to normal after violent riots tore through areas near Xilinhot city for weeks. Chinese authorities had placed parts of the northern region of Inner Mongolia under tight...
(EnergyAsia, July 1 2011, Friday) — Coal India Ltd expects to soon conclude a long-term contract to import coal of at least 10 years to help meet the country’s rising energy, said chairman N.C. Jha. He said, Coal India which is in talks with 14 potential suppliers, is targeting to produce 452 million tonnes in...
(EnergyAsia, July 1 2011, Friday) — Coal India has raised its investment budget by 40% to 35 billion rupees, mostly to expand its coal washing capacity. (US$1=45 rupees). Under its original plan, the company had planned to establish 20 washeries, with a few large plants of capacity above 2.5 million tons dedicated to major clients....
(EnergyAsia, July 1 2011, Friday) — Australia’s export earnings from the energy and mineral commodities for the January to March quarter fell 10% to A$40.3 billion from the December quarter of 2010, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES). (US$1=A$0.95). ABARES chief commodity analyst Jammie Penm said the decrease...
(EnergyAsia, June 30 2011, Thursday) — Vietnam is planning to expand the capacity of its first oil refinery at Dung Quat by more than 50% to around 200,000 b/d by 2017, according to operator Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co. The company said it will the government will need to invest up to US$2 billion...
(EnergyAsia, June 30 2011, Thursday) — Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Co has been renamed Orpic. The company said the new name and a rebranding campaign are aimed at reflecting the sultanate’s increasingly modern and inter-linked oil refining and petrochemicals industry which recently was recently restructured to improve efficiency and competitveness. Orpic, formed out...