(EnergyAsia, December 16 2010, Thursday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it will support Mongolia in building a modern road and rail-linked logistics facility that will help expand and speed up trade, and increase the landlocked country’s global competitiveness. The ADB board approved loan and grant assistance of US$45 million equivalent for the Regional...

(EnergyAsia, December 16 2010, Thursday) — The National University of Singapore (NUS) will launch a study next year to identify the parts of Singapore’s coastline that are threatened by rising sea levels. The university’s Tropical Marine Science Institute is expected to conclude the costal risk map study by the end of 2013. The research will...

(EnergyAsia, December 16 2010, Thursday) — Malaysian state company Petronas will have to increase its domestic upstream investment to sustain its long-term oil and gas production and replenish the country’s energy reserves, said CEO Shamsul Azhar Abbas. According to the finance ministry, Malaysia’s crude oil reserves will last 24 years while its natural gas will...

(EnergyAsia, December 16 2010, Thursday) — Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) is looking to invest as much as 300 billion rupees in new refinery projects over the next decade. (US$1=44 rupees). This includes upgrading its facilities to produce higher-value products and expanding its base refining capacity to 40 million tons a year.} Most of the new...

(EnergyAsia, December 16 2010, Tuesday) — India’s Essar Oil Ltd is seeking to nearly double the capacity of its 10.5-million-tonne-per-year (mt/y) Vadinar refinery in Gujarat state to 20 mt/y to help meet the country’s growing domestic oil demand. Essar Oil, an integrated oil and gas company, is part of the Essar Group, said it expects...

(EnergyAsia, December 16 2010, Thursday) — A major liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Australia has been hit by a combination of unexpectedly high cost and start-up delay. Woodside Petroleum Ltd said the foundation of its proposed Pluto liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Western Australia will cost A$14 billion, up by at least A$900 million...

(EnergyAsia, December 16 2010, Thursday) — Coal of Africa is acquiring Rio Tinto’s South African assets for about US$75 million as it aims to become a key player in the country’s coal sector. Coal of Africa will be acquiring Rio’s assets in Chapudi, Voorburg and Jutland, which hold at least 90 million tonnes of commercially...

(EnergyAsia, December 15 2010, Wednesday) — South Korea has gained a foothold in Africa’s coal industry after the Korea Resources Corp. (Kores) bought Australia-based Continental Coal’s stake in a bituminous coal mine in South Africa. The Vlakplaats plant is located east of Johannesburg and forms part of Witbank, the country’s largest coalfield. The US$13.8 million...

(EnergyAsia, December 15 2010, Wednesday) — World coal prices will likely be supported by Indonesia’s decision to reduce exports in the next few years in favour of meeting the needs of its domestic consumers. Under pressure from state utility PLN, the Indonesian government has ordered coal miners to sell part of their production at below-market...

(EnergyAsia, December 15 2010, Wednesday) — Investors swamped the initial public offering of Bumi Resources Minerals (BRM), a unit of Indonesia’s coal mining giant Bumi Resources, which closed last week. The IPO, launched November 30, was oversubscribed by nearly 30 times as investors sought exposure to Indonesia’s booming economy and its non-coal mining sector. At...

(EnergyAsia, December 15 2010, Wednesday) — Mechel OAO, a leading Russian mining and steel company, said its US-based subsidiary, Mechel Bluestone, has started up a new plant for washing coal produced from a Keystone mine in West Virginia. The US$12 million K2 plant will process more than one million tonnes of coal a year in...

(EnergyAsia, December 15 2010, Wednesday) — New Zealand’s underground coal mining industry faces the possibility of closure after 29 miners were killed in one of the country’s most deadly industrial accidents last month. The fourth and latest explosion that hit the Pike River pit on November 28 could endanger an industry that has grown rapidly...

(EnergyAsia, December 15 2010, Wednesday) — China is looking to expand the coverage of the resource tax to include coal. The tax on coal is expected to be set at 3%-5% of sales value, replacing the 1% sales tax currently imposed on the commodity. In August, the government launched a pilot resources tax on crude...

(EnergyAsia, December 15 2010, Wednesday) — US Walter Energy Inc will acquire Western Coal Corp for US$3.24 billion as it positions to meet rising Asian demand for coal. The enlarged entity would have 385 million tons in coal reserves, with metallurgical coal comprising 75% of Western Coal’s production. Walter Energy plans to purchase 20% of...

(EnergyAsia, December 14 2010, Tuesday) — Canada’s SouthGobi Resources Ltd said it has signed separate agreements for 2011 to supply 450,000 tonnes of coal to North Asia Energy Group Limited (NAEG) and another for 500,000 tonnes to an unidentified “large international company”. NAEG is a joint venture between Hong Kong-listed North Asia Resources Holdings Limited...

(EnergyAsia, December 14 2010, Tuesday) — Mongolia Energy Corp Ltd said it aims to produce between two million and 2.5 million tons of raw coal in 2011 following the start-up of a colliery in western Mongolia in October. CEO James Schaeffer said the Khushuut coking coal mine will help boost the company’s monthly output by...

(EnergyAsia, December 14 2010, Tuesday) — Singapore rig builders are likely to see their order books for rigs and floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels double to S$4.5 billion to S$5 billion over the next two years, according to a research note from Citigroup. There has been a strong pickup in rig demand, reflecting...

(EnergyAsia, December 14 2010, Thursday) — Singapore power-generating companies YTL-owned PowerSeraya and China Huaneng-owned Tuas Power are exploring ways to reduce their dependence on piped natural gas from Indonesia and Malaysia. PowerSeraya will import Malaysian electricity while Tuas Power plans to produce electricity via coal gasification. The Singapore government earlier said that it’s open to...

(EnergyAsia, December 14 2010, Tuesday) — China’s coal import is set to rise to a new high next year on record demand from power, steel and cement producers, Citigroup said. The bank has forecast Chinese coal imports to increase 63% to more than 200 million tons to support a projected 7.3% rise in domestic demand...

      (EnergyAsia, December 14 2010, Tuesday) — Puda Coal Inc, a US-listed supplier of high grade metallurgical coking coal for steel manufacturing in China, said it has priced a public offering of 7.85 million shares of its common stock at US$12 per share. Puda, which is consolidating coal mines in China’s Shanxi Province, said...

(EnergyAsia, December 14 2010, Tuesday) — Australia’s Riversdale Mining, which is developing coal mines in Africa, said it is holding talks for a possible A$3.5 billion takeover by UK’s Rio Tinto. (US$1=A$1.02). Riversdale, which is 24.16% owned by India’s Tata, made the announcement last week after its talks with Rio Tinto was reported by the...

(EnergyAsia, December 13 2010, Monday) — New Zealand Oil and Gas said it will continue to provide short-term funding to its 30% subsidiary Pike River Coal, which has stopped operation after 29 workers died in two major explosions at its mine last month. NZOG said it would provide the remaining NZ$13 million from a NZ$25...

(EnergyAsia, December 13 2010, Monday) — Thiess India said it has won a “landmark” contract to develop and operate the Pakri Barwadih coal project in Jharkhand in northeastern India. The contract, with an unspecified value, was one of the largest awarded by NTPC Limited, India’s biggest power generating company with an installed generation capacity of...

(EnergyAsia, December 13 2010, Monday) — Singapore is hiring a consultant to advise on boosting the competitiveness of its marine and offshore industry amid a forecast long-term boom in the oil and gas industry. The sector last year accounted for around 10% of Singapore’s manufacturing output. The research, being commissioned by the Economic Development Board...