(EnergyAsia, May 27 2011, Friday) — Dutch oil and chemical logistics firm Royal Vopak said it and State Development Investment Corporation (SDIC) of China have decided to jointly invest, build and operate a crude and oil products storage terminal in Yangpu on China’s Hainan Island. The 58-hectare terminal, which has been approved by the National...
(EnergyAsia, May 27 2011, Friday) — Saudi Arabia’s petrochemical giant Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic) said it and China’s Sinopec have signed a deal to build a 260,000-ton-a-year polycarbonate plant in Tianjin city for start-up in 2015. The new plant will be an extension to the three-million-ton-a-year petrochemical complex that the two companies jointly started (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 26 2011, Thursday) — Noble Group, a Singapore-listed global supply chain manager of agricultural and energy products, metals and minerals, said the sovereign wealth fund, Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), has acquired a “significant and strategic” stake in the company. KIC purchased 59,283,851 shares equal to about 0.9% of Noble’s outstanding shares from Noble...
(EnergyAsia, May 26 2011, Thursday) — Leo Moggie, chairman of Malaysian power utility Tenaga Nasional, gave an overview of the electricity industry and its role in supporting economic development in Southeast Asia when he spoke at last month’s inaugural Distinguished Speaker Programme presented by Singapore’s Energy Market Authority (EMA). A former energy minister in his...
(EnergyAsia, May 26 2011, Thursday) — New Zealand Refining Company (NZRC) is seeking board approval to invest NZ$500 million in upgrades to meet the country’s rising jet fuel and diesel demand, said chief executive Ken Rivers. (US$1=NZ$1.25). Having expanded its Marsden Point plant by 15% to 135,000 b/d last year, the company is eyeing another...
(EnergyAsia, May 26 2011, Thursday) — Thanks to rising prices and demand, and concerns with Middle East oil supply, global spot and short-term trades in liquefied natural gas (LNG) surged 40% to 727 cargoes in 2010 from a year earlier, according to the global association of LNG buyers GIIGNL. South Korea and Japan led the...
(EnergyAsia, May 26 2011, Thursday) — The Malaysian government has announced plans to build a US$20 billion integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex in Johor state located just north of Singapore by 2016. In announcing the ambitious project early this month, Prime Minister Najib Razak said state-owned oil and gas firm Petronas will lead an international...
(EnergyAsia, May 26 2011, Thursday) — Importers around the world are scrambling for liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes as a result of rising demand from Japan which lost a significant part of its nuclear power capacity following the March 11 earthquake-tsunami disaster. Traders say global LNG supply has tightened as more shipments head to Japan....
(EnergyAsia, May 26 2011, Thursday) — Dutch oil and chemical storage and logistics firm Royal Vopak said its most recent former chairman John Paul Broeders has died of cancer at the age of 47. In a statement, Vopak described Mr Broeders, who died on May 15, as a sportsman and businessman in heart and soul (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 25 2011, Wednesday) — Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd (BORL) said it plans to boost the capacity of its newly-commissioned six-million-tonnes-a-year Bina refinery to nine million tonnes a year by 2015 in the first-phase expansion. A joint venture between India’s Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Oman Oil Co, BORL has invested nearly 114 billion...
(EnergyAsia, May 25 2011, Wednesday) — Oman Oil Company (OOC) and India’s Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd last week officially inaugurated BharatOman Refinery Ltd (BORL) under the patronage of India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The event was also attended by Humaid al-Maani, Oman’s Ambassador to India, board members of the two companies, and other business and...
(EnergyAsia, May 25 2011, Wednesday) — China’s apparent oil demand in April rose 8.3% to 38.36 million metric ton (mt) or 9.37 million b/d, from year-ago levels due to increased consumption during the spring sowing season, said US energy media Platts. In an analysis of recent figures published by the Chinese government, Platts found that...
(EnergyAsia, May 25 2011, Wednesday) — UK’s BG Group said it faces delay meeting its deadline to expand its A$18 billion Queensland Curtis LNG plant at Gladstone as a result of the record rainfall and bad weather to hit Australia’s Queensland state between late 2010 and early this year. (US$1=A$1.05). The company said it has...
EnergyAsia, May 25 2011, Wednesday) — Dutch oil and chemical logistics firm Royal Vopak said it and equal joint-venture partner Tianjin Bohai Chemical Industry Group will develop the 240,000-cubic metre second phase of their terminal in China’s Tianjin city to store liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The project includes three low-temperature tanks of 80,000 cbm each (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 25 2011, Wednesday) — Keppel FELS Limited, a subsidiary of Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine Limited, said it has secured orders to build oil rigs worth a total of US$1.345 billion from various international clients in May, boosting the value of its year-to-date contracts to more than S$6.5 billion. (US$1=S$1.25). Its biggest order (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 25 2011, Wednesday) — Switzerland-based Foster Wheeler AG said a subsidiary in its Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded a contract to provide front-end engineering design (FEED) for a refinery in Thailand. The Star Petroleum Refining Company Limited (SPRC) awarded the contract for work on its residue fluidised catalytic cracking unit (RFCCU) (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 24 2011, Tuesday) — China’s investments in Iran are expected to soon exceed US$1 billion, roughly double last year’s US$570 million, according to the Iran-China Joint Chamber of Commerce. Chairman Assadollah Asgaroladi said China is expected to invest another US$320 million in his country in the current financial year to March 2012. Iran,...
(EnergyAsia, May 24 2011, Tuesday) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made a startling prediction that China is likely to overtake the US to become the world’s largest economy by 2016. The agency said the Chinese economy will expand to US$19 trillion to eclipse the US, which is projected to grow to US$18.8 trillion...
(EnergyAsia, May 24 2011, Tuesday) — The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states have set a goal to expand trade with China by 10 times to US$1 trillion by 2021, according to a United Arab Emirates foreign minister. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan said trade between China and the GCC states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman,...
(EnergyAsia, May 24 2011, Tuesday) — In response to rising domestic energy demand, Thai state oil and gas company PTT Plc said it is investing 33 billion baht to expand the capacity of its liquefied petroleum gas terminal. (US$1=30 baht). Executive vice president Nattachart Jaruchinda said PTT will expand an existing terminal in the eastern...
(EnergyAsia, May 24 2011, Tuesday) — At the same time that it has expressed alarm at declining OPEC production, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has reduced its global oil demand growth forecast for 2011 by 100,000 b/d to 1.3 million b/d. Citing persistent high oil prices and poor prospects for the developed economies, the Paris-based...
(EnergyAsia, May 24 2011, Tuesday) — High oil prices brought on by a combination of political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, and increased demand from post-March 11 quake Japan could threaten global economic growth, said Ernst & Young in a briefing last week. Releasing its latest quarterly global oil and gas forecast, (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 24 2011, Tuesday) — OPEC expects world oil demand to grow by 1.4 million b/d in 2011, broadly unchanged from the previous report, following an increase of 2.1 million b/d last year. It said post-quake Japan and “economic uncertainty” in the US will offset continued demand growth in China, balancing the outlook for (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 23 2011, Monday) — The Philippines is expanding and upgrading the fuel depots at Subic Freeport to store and handle nearly four million barrels in response to rising demand. The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) is working to promote Subic as a one-stop logistics centre for all types of vessels and maritime cargo....
(EnergyAsia, May 23 2011, Monday) — Qatar is developing a second 150,000 b/d condensate refinery at Ras Laffan to meet rising demand for transportation fuels. The new plant will double Qatar’s refining capacity to 300,000 b/d when completed by 2015, said Minister of Energy and Industry Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada. The project will also...