(EnergyAsia, January 4 2011, Tuesday) — Record flooding and heavy rainfall have largely shut down coal exports from Australia’s main producing state of Queensland, causing prices to rise on the world markets. The floods have already inflicted billions of dollars in damages on Queensland’s US$40-billion-a-year mining operations and its extensive railway system that are the...

(EnergyAsia, January 3 2010, Monday) — Conergy AG, a leading German solar company supplying photovoltaic systems and components, last month began construction of a 2.37MW solar power park for Indorama Ventures in Lop Buri, 155 km north of Bangkok city in Thailand. The 44,500-sq m facility is expected to produce 3,500 MWh per year to...

(EnergyAsia, January 3 2011, Monday) — The Malaysian government has announced new tax incentives and waiver of export duty on equipment to boost private investment in its upstream oil and gas sector. As part of a long-term plan to become a high-income nation, Malaysia is also allowing private companies to explore and  produce oil from...

(EnergyAsia, January 3 2011, Monday) — A University of Oxford study has found that smart meters alone will not be enough to help reduce energy use in homes. Metering infrastructure will be useless unless it is accompanied by public education about energy use, the study said. Smart meters record energy or water consumption and send...

(EnergyAsia, January 3 2011, Monday) — Chinese power equipment makers are looking to expand abroad as domestic demand will likely be curbed by government measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollution in China. Shanghai Electric Group Co, the country’s biggest power equipment maker, recently secured a US$10 billion contract to supply coal-fired generators to...

(EnergyAsia, January 3 2011, Monday) — By using the more efficient vertical drilling technique, US companies incur less cost producing coal seam gas or coalbed methane (CBM) than their counterparts in China who favour the horizontal drilling method. As China’s coal beds are less permeable, producers use more expensive alternative drilling techniques for gas to...

(EnergyAsia, January 3 2011, Monday) — Shaw Stockbroking has set a target for Australia’s Altura Mining share to rise more than 60% to A$0.25 per share over the next 12 months. (US$1=A$0.98). The broker’s forecast factors in Altura’s near-term iron ore and coal production interests along with current exploration programs for lithium and uranium. Shaw...

(EnergyAsia, December 30 2010, Thursday) — Canadian mining firm Prophecy Resource Corporation said it has increased the size of its recent offering of common shares by C$12.053 million, or 14,180,000 common shares priced at C$0.85 per share. (US$1=C$1). Due to strong investor demand, the Vancouver, British Columbia-based company said the equity offering now totals 49.475...

(EnergyAsia, December 30 2010, Thursday) — Canada’s Prophecy Resource Corp said its recently completed updated prefeasibility study on the Ulaan Ovoo coal mine in northern Mongolia has recommended that it employs a mining contractor using open pit methods to raise production from 250,000 tonnes in 2010 to 1.1 million tonnes in 2011, and two million...

(EnergyAsia, December 30 2010, Thursday) — China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) said its Daqing terminal in the northeastern part of the country received its first crude oil cargo last week through a newly completed pipeline from Russia. The 1,000km-long pipeline will start full operation on January 1 with the capacity to deliver 15 million tonnes...

(EnergyAsia, December 30 2010, Thursday) — Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd, or Keppel O&M, has secured S$3.2 billion worth of projects for 2010 after two subsidiaries signed off on three conversion and specialised shipbuilding contracts worth S$240 million. (US$1=S$1.3). These comprise the upgrading of a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, the conversion of...

(EnergyAsia, December 30 2010, Thursday) — The Malaysian government is investing RM300 million in infrastructure works linked to the development of the Tanjong Agas Oil & Gas and Logistics Industrial Park (TAOGLIP) in Pahang state. (US$1=RMR3.09). The industrial park project, with an integrated supply base to be operated by the Tanjong Agas Oilfields Supply Centre...

(EnergyAsia, December 29 2010, Wednesday) — Environmentalists and local groups are organising to oppose the revival of coal mines on Canada’s Vancouver Island in response to growing demand in Asia. According to volunteer Maryjka Mychajlowycz, Compliance Coal Corp and its partners, Japan’s Itochu Corp and South Korea’s LG International, have met with shocked opposition from...

(EnergyAsia, December 29 2010, Wednesday) — Lloyd’s Register of the UK said its educational trust has awarded a consortium comprising a UK and two Chinese universities a sum of £1.24 million to jointly conduct research into deepwater engineering and hydrodynamics. (US$1=£0.65). The findings work will greatly benefit drilling contractors and oil companies who are venturing...

(EnergyAsia, December 29 2010, Wednesday) — Cash-rich, resource-hungry Asian companies have invested an estimated US$16 billion in Canada’s oilsands over the past 18 months, and are expected to pour in another US$2 billion in 2011. Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production became one of the two latest players in Canada’s oilsands after buying a 40% stake...

(EnergyAsia, December 29 2010, Wednesday) — The Shanghai Petroleum Exchange has launched trading in liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) paper contracts to enable traders to price the two commodities. International traders are sceptical and may not support the contracts as they are largely confined to meeting the needs of domestic players....

(EnergyAsia, December 29 2010, Wednesday) — Desperate to wean itself off the US market, Venezuela is finding out the high of cost of doing business with China. According to a confidential US document released by WikiLeaks, President Hugo Chavez has been selling the country’s crude to China for as low as $5 a barrel. The...

(EnergyAsia, December 29 2010, Wednesday) — Oil is expected to surge past the US$100 a barrel barrier sometime next year as analysts and traders worry about a rapid decline in the spare production capacity of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Most estimates place the cartel’s production capacity at around five to six million...

(EnergyAsia, December 28 2010, Tuesday) — China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has landed a US$6 billion deal to upgrade and expand the capacity of an ageing 65,000 b/d oil refinery in Cuba to 150,000 b/d. CNPC will be partly paid for by crude oil from Venezuela whose state firm PDVSA is a joint owner of...

(EnergyAsia, December 28 2010, Tuesday) — The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) is looking to build storage tanks in the UAE and Thailand as part of an ambitious programme to expand abroad, and to increase export to China. The Azerbaijan state firm expects to complete the 640,000-cubic metre SOCAR Aurora Fujairah Terminal with Swiss...

(EnergyAsia, December 28 2010, Tuesday) — China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) is building a 180,000-cubic metre oil storage terminal in Zhejiang province in eastern China to serve its refinery in Zhenhai port in Ningbo. To support the oil storage base, the company will be building a wharf in Taizhou city within the province. There...

(EnergyAsia, December 28 2010, Tuesday) — While failing to resolve a host of political and diplomatic issues, the leaders of China and India have agreed to increase bilateral trade to US$100 billion by 2015. At their meeting in New Delhi in mid-December, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed a pact...

(EnergyAsia, December 28 2010, Tuesday) — A planned oil refinery in Bathinda city in Punjab is expected to help attract new downstream investments into the Indian state when it starts up next year. Prabh Das, CEO of HPCL-Mittal Energy Limited (HMEL) which is developing the project, said he expects the nine-million-tonne-a-year oil refinery to help...

(EnergyAsia, December 28 2010, Tuesday) — After marathon discussions lasting over three years, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned Saudi Aramco has agreed to lease a terminal in Japan’s southernmost prefecture of Okinawa to store around 600,000 kiloliters or 3.8 million barrels of crude oil. The contract with Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp (JOGMEC) takes effect...