(EnergyAsia, March 27 2015, Friday) — China could open up its tightly-held oil and gas storage and pipelines sector to foreign investment as the next phase of the national plan to enhance domestic energy security….
(EnergyAsia, March 26 2015, Thursday) — Malaysia’s Johor state has started up Southeast Asia’s first commercial crude oil storage terminal with the receipt of one million barrels of Middle Eastern crude from a supertanker last week. MT Mesdar, a vessel chartered by France’s Total, docked at the Pengerang deepwater terminal jointly owned by Dutch oil...
(EnergyAsia, March 26 2015, Thursday) — Despite rising demand and an improving global economy, oil prices remain under pressure from continuing supply growth, a strong US dollar, insufficient storage and speculative bets for further declines, said the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)….
(EnergyAsia, March 25 2015, Wednesday) — Swimming against a new wave of bearish calls based on rising oil stockpiles, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has largely kept its latest forecast for Brent and WTI crude prices for this and next year. The agency expects the 2015 Brent crude price to average US$59 a barrel,…
(EnergyAsia, March 24 2015, Tuesday) — In response to the growing liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade, the world’s largest shipping association said it is working with the industry to develop a new contract to provide for better risk and cost-management of the fuel’s transportation under voyage charter terms. The Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO),...
(EnergyAsia, March 23 2015, Monday) — After four straight years of decline, Japan’s total energy consumption, buoyed by a mild economic recovery, could begin growing again in the coming financial year starting April 1, according to an analyst at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ)….
(EnergyAsia, March 19 2015, Thursday) — Asia’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices will enjoy a brief rally in the summer that will be quickly cut down by the start-up of new production capacity in Australia, predicts energy consultant Wood Mackenzie. The expected resumption of operations at some nuclear plants in Japan will also pressure Asian...
(EnergyAsia, March 18 2015, Wednesday) — CME Group, the world’s largest derivatives market operator, said it and two US firms expect to launch a physically delivered crude oil storage futures contract on March 29 upong receiving US regulatory approval. The Chicago-based firm said it jointly developed the pioneering contract with LOOP LLC, operator of the...
(EnergyAsia, March 17 2015, Tuesday) — Thanks to its increasingly diversified economy, Malaysia faces “favourable” prospects for 2015 despite sharply reduced earnings from oil and gas exports, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF)….
(EnergyAsia, March 16 2015, Monday) — In separate announcements today, Singapore-based Puma Energy said it has agreed to purchase BP’s bitumen business in Australia and Murco Petroleum’s fuels wholesale and distribution business in the UK. The proposed deals will be subject to local regulatory approvals. The integrated midstream and downstream energy company, which has been...
(EnergyAsia, March 12 2015, Thursday) — The Indian government’s attempt to solve the country’s decade-long energy crisis took an unexpected twist yesterday with the arrest of its powerful former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and some his allies to face charges of corruption and criminal conspiracy related to the alleged illegal sales and allocations of the country’s coal deposits during his time in power.
(EnergyAsia, March 11 2015, Wednesday) — Piracy, maritime accidents and potential terrorist acts are adding to the cost of moving and distributing oil and gas cargoes and general merchandise in Southeast Asia at a time of rising traffic through the increasingly congested Straits of Malacca and the Singapore Straits, said industry officials and analysts.
(EnergyAsia, March 10 2015, Tuesday) — India will emerge as the most important market for metallurgical coal from 2015 as its demand rises to surge ahead of Japan 10 years from now and China by 2035, said UK consulting firm Wood Mackenzie.
(EnergyAsia, March 9 2015, Monday) — Forget about oil prices overshooting to the upside and making a strong recovery even as the growth in global oil supply slows sharply from mid-year, predicts the IEA.
(EnergyAsia, March 6 2015, Friday) — Asia’s collective GDP could be boosted by between 0.25% and 0.5% for 2015 if crude oil prices remain at current levels, said global business services provider TMF Group. For China, the US$50 per barrel plunge in oil price is generating an immediate stimulus worth US$112 billion or the equivalent (more…)
(EnergyAsia, March 5 2015, Thursday) — As a result of the oil price collapse, remittances by Central Asian workers in Russia will fall by an estimated total US$1.7 billion this year, said the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). In a recent report, the UN unit said the near 60%...
(EnergyAsia, March 3 2015, Tuesday) — Faced with the growing threats of deflation and a weak global economy, Asia’s largely export-dependent countries will be hoping Wall Street analysts are spot on with their starkly bearish views on the global oil and gas markets….
(EnergyAsia, March 2 2015, Monday) — The International Energy Agency (IEA) is promoting its chief economist, Fatih Birol, to head the agency from September 1. The 56-year-old Turkish national will succeed Maria van der Hoeven at the end of her four-year term as executive director on August 31. Mr Birol, who previously worked for the...
(EnergyAsia, February 26 2015, Thursday) — Forget about oil prices overshooting to the upside and making a strong recovery even as the growth in global oil supply slows sharply from mid-year, predicts the International Energy Agency (IEA). With the drastically changed market conditions, the agency said it expects the crude oil price to average US$55...
(EnergyAsia, February 26 2015, Thursday) — Reflecting the bleak outlook on oil prices, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects a further narrowing of the global supply-demand gap on slowing production growth next year.
(EnergyAsia, February 25 2015, Wednesday) — Faced with the prospect of a prolonged oil price collapse, Malaysia’s state energy firm Petronas Berhad will demand its incoming chief executive and president to immediately cut costs and make nerve-wracking decisions on the fate of several multi-billion-dollar projects….
(EnergyAsia, February 24 2015, Tuesday) — UK’s Amec Foster Wheeler has started work on the front-end engineering design of the Ras Markaz crude oil storage tank farm in Oman following the contract’s award by state-owned Oman Tank Terminal Company (OTTCO) last month. The London-based firm declined to reveal the contract’s value for the project which...
(EnergyAsia, February 23 2014, Monday) — Will a combination of rising demand and lower supply growth be sufficient to reverse the slump in world oil prices?
(EnergyAsia, February 20 2015, Friday) — The global oil markets will remain under selling pressure possibly for the next few years as consumption is not growing as fast as production amid record level of stockpiles, say traders and analysts.
(EnergyAsia, February 19 2015, Thursday) — The spirit may be willing but weak market conditions and strong growing opposition from environmental, business and labour groups are combining to block India’s pent-up desire to heal its sickly coal industry.