(EnergyAsia, October 12 2010, Monday) — Australia’s MetroCoal Limited said its joint venture with China Coal Import & Export Company (CCIEC), a wholly owned subsidiary of China National Coal Group Corp (China Coal), has begun operations. MetroCoal and CCIEC’s Australian subsidiary, Sinocoal Resources Pty Ltd, held their first joint venture committee meeting in Brisbane last...

(EnergyAsia, October 11 2010, Monday) — US-based research group ODS-Petrodata has released an update on the market implications of the Deepwater Horizon rig tragedy and the resulting Macondo well leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Although the Macondo well has been capped and the damage to the ecosystem was mitigated as much as possible, ODS-Petrodata...

(EnergyAsia, October 11 2010, Monday) — Russia’s Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK) said it has secured a US$700 million five-year syndicated pre-export loan facility last month through a group of 12 banks as mandated lead arrangers and book runners. Russia’s largest coal producer and exporter described the banks’ support of the facility as being “very...

(EnergyAsia, October 11 2010, Monday) — Japan’s JGC Corp said it and Indonesia’s Sinarmas Group will be jointly building a demonstration plant in Karawang in Indonesia to convert low grade coal into 10,000 tons of fuel a year as a substitute for petroleum. Due to be completed next year, the plant will help meet Indonesia’s...

(EnergyAsia, October 8, Monday) — Environmentalists are launching a campaign to block the proposed A$30 billion gas hub on the Kimberley coast of Western Australia, claiming the companies behind the project have been involved in land grabbing. (US$1=A$1.03). The campaigners accuse the project’s developers, Woodside Petroleum, Chevron, Shell, BHP and BP, of forcibly acquiring land...

(EnergyAsia, October 11 2010, Monday) — Mergers and acquisitions in Australia’s coal industry are unlikely to top last year’s A$3.9 billion, the highest level in at least five years, said industry insiders. (US$1=A$1.03). Last year, Yanzhou Coal Mining Co Ltd scored the biggest deal with its A$3.5 billion takeover of Felix Resources Ltd. Up to...

(EnergyAsia, October 11 2010, Monday) — Engineering giant Foster Wheeler AG said it has been awarded a contract by an international consortium to study a range of refinery, in-situ extraction of bitumen and natural gas power generation carbon dioxide capture scenarios. Foster Wheeler, which declined to disclose the contract’s value, said the carbon dioxide capture...

(EnergyAsia, October 8 2010, Friday) — Wartsila, a Finland-based global leader in complete lifecycle power solutions for the marine and energy markets, and Ecospec Global Technology, a Singapore company providing emissions abatement technology, recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to work together on developing clean power solutions. By combining their joint expertise, Wartsila and...

(EnergyAsia, October 8 2010, Friday) — Dow Formulated Systems, a global business unit of The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), said it will be adding wind energy capacity in China and in North America for its customers. The investment will increase Dow Formulated Systems’ capacity for infusion in China, and for adhesives in North America. Pepe...

(EnergyAsia, October 8 2010, Friday) — Australian upstream company Petsec Energy Ltd said it has signed an agreement with the China National Offshore Oil Corp Ltd (CNOOC) to develop three oil fields in China’s Beibu Gulf. The agreement confirms the two parties commercial terms agreed in May for CNOOC’s 51% stake in the project, its...

(EnergyAsia, October 8 2010, Friday) — Indonesia expects to export less coal this year on reduced production from unusually heavy rainfall, and the government’s new focus on meeting the needs of domestic users. The Mines and Energy Ministry recently forecast that coal production will fall by up to 20% in 2010 as heavy rains forced...

(EnergyAsia, October 8 2010, Friday) — Singapore’s Energy Market Authority (EMA) has appointed consulting firm Accenture Pte Ltd to design and implement the nation’s first intelligent energy system (IES) pilot project as a major step towards improving energy efficiency. Covering around 4,500 customers in various residential, commercial and industrial locations including the Nanyang Technological University...

(EnergyAsia, October 8 2010, Friday) — Australia’s newly appointed Climate Change Minister is walking a tightrope with his pledge to pursue a clean energy economy while protecting the country’s powerful coal industry from being hit with a high carbon cost. Praising the domestic coal industry as vibrant and forward-looking, Greg Combet, who joins the cabinet...

(EnergyAsia, October 7 2010, Thursday) — US-listed Sino Gas International Holdings said its operating income for the first six months ended June 30, 2010 increased by 62.7% to US$1.84 million while its revenue rose to US$12.9 million compared with US$12.4 million for the corresponding period. Revenue from gas sales dropped slightly from US$8.2 million last...

(EnergyAsia, October 7 2010, Thursday) — The world’s demand for electricity and fuel is expected to continue growing rapidly over the next two decades, raising the spectre of whether the supply of fossil fuels will keep pace. Energy experts meeting in Montreal last month agreed that global demand will continue rising on account of economic...

(EnergyAsia, October 7 2010, Thursday) — Malaysian environmentalists are celebrating the decision by Sabah’s environment minister to support their call to halt the planned construction of a coal-fired power plant on Borneo Island. But they know the fight is far from over as the multi-billion-dollar project has the support of powerful politicians and business groups....

(EnergyAsia, October 7 2010, Thursday) – A consortium of 11 mining companies that includes heavyweights BHP Billiton Ltd, Xstrata Plc and Anglo American Plc has decided it will not bid to acquire a coal railway network which the Queensland state government is planning to offload this year. The Queensland Coal Industry Rail Group (QCIR) said...

(EnergyAsia, October 7 2010, Thursday) — Asia has overtaken Europe in coal imports from South Africa, a trend that’s bound to continue given strong demand from China and India. For the first seven months of 2010, South Africa exported 45% more coal to Asia than the same period last year while reducing shipments to Europe...

(EnergyAsia, October 7 2010, Thursday) — Hong Kong-based global commodities supplier Noble Group said it has agreed to acquire Sempra Energy Solutions (SES) from NYSE-listed Sempra Energy and The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), a unit of their RBS-Sempra Commodities joint venture for US$317 million in cash and the assumption of approximately US$265 million in...

(EnergyAsia, October 7 2010, Thursday) — Cummins Power Generation (China) Co Ltd, a unit of NYSE-listed Cummins Inc, said it recently launched a domestically made series of the Q60 generator sets, marking the company’s integration into the global supply. Its customers in China are now able to have a direct transaction, saing them time and...

(EnergyAsia, October 6 2010, Wednesday) — Nigerian and Chinese investors are teaming up to build a free trade zone and a local manufacturing base near the West African country’s main commercial city of Lagos. The Lekki free trade zone, which is targeted to start operation in November, offers potential given that it is adjacent to...