(EnergyAsia, August 16 2010 Monday) — The Shaw Group Inc, a US-based engineering company, said it, Japan’s Toshiba Corporation and Exelon Nuclear Partners have agreed to team up to pursue opportunities to provide a full complement of services to design, engineer, construct and operate new nuclear electric generating plants in Saudi Arabia. Shaw Group said...

(EnergyAsia, August 16 2010, Monday) — Solid Energy is expected to soon start building an underground coal gasification (UCG) pilot plant in Waikato in New Zealand’s north island with the capacity to convert 30,000 tons of coal into synthetic gas. The NZ$22-million UCG plant is envisioned to complement traditional mining by providing access to coal...

(EnergyAsia, August 16 2010, Monday) — World coal demand stayed flat at 3.28 billion metric tons last year as increased consumption in Asia’s economic power houses China and India offset decline in the Western world. According to BP’s annual statistical energy review, coal consumption in the developed countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and...

(EnergyAsia, August 16 2010, Monday) — In a breakthrough agreement, Iraq has agreed to enable its once bitter enemy, Iran, to exports of up to 300 million cubic feet of gas per day through its territory enroute to Syria. The oil ministries of the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding in Baghdad agreeing to...

(EnergyAsia, August 13 2010, Friday) — Iran will need to attract a total of $46 billion to upgrade its nine refineries and build seven new ones to develop fuel self-sufficiency in the face of tightening trade and economic sanctions imposed on the country by the US and Europe, said the Iranian oil ministry. China is...

(EnergyAsia, August 13 2010, Friday) — Iran’s oil minister has claimed that his country will reverse its position as a large fuel importer to exporter by 2013 with the impending expansion of its refining capacity. Seyed Massoud Mir-Kazemi told Russia Today TV station that the government will launch “several oil refineries” over the next few...

(EnergyAsia, August 13 2010, Friday) — Oil will likely continue trading at US$70 to US$80 a barrel, a range that is fair for both producers and consumers, according to Saudi Oil Minister Al Al Naimi. In a recent press interview, he described this price range as “ideal” to encourage investments as well as encourage economic...

(EnergyAsia, August 13 2010, Friday) – Russia’s Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp made little progress in their latest round of negotiations for the export of Russian natural gas delivery to China. A Gazprom delegation led by deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev met a CNPC team led by vice president Wang Dongjin in Beijing last month...

(EnergyAsia, August 13 2010, Friday) — The Omani government is investing US$3.5 billion to raise the kingdom’s crude oil production by 18% to around one million b/d by 2015. This year, it expects to produce around 870,000 b/d for an 8% rise from 2009’s output. To reach its goal, the government plans to step up...

  (EnergyAsia, August 13 2010, Friday) — Without any major new field discoveries, Kuwait’s oil reserves have fallen below 100 billion barrels, according to daily newspaper al-Rai. The OPEC-member country’s small geographical area is seen as limiting its efforts to boost reserves through discoveries. This means that the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter will now have...

(EnergyAsia, August 12 2010, Thursday) – Iraq’s crude exports are likely to have risen in July after falling in June on a month-on-month basis as the country grapples to boost oil sales to finance reconstruction of its war-ravaged economy. Falah al-Amri, the head of Iraq’s Oil Marketing Co, said July crude exports could have risen...

(EnergyAsia, August 12 2010, Thursday) — Abu Dhabi will account for the bulk of the UAE’s projected 800,000 b/d increase in crude oil production capacity to 3.5 million b/d by 2018. This would exceed an earlier estimate by the International Energy Agency that Abu Dhabi would raise its production capacity to 3.1 million b/d by...

(EnergyAsia, August 12 2010, Thursday) — Supported by UAE port officials, Japanese shipping firm Mitsui OSK Lines has stuck to its findings that one of its very large crude oil carriers, the M Star, was damaged in a terrorist attack late last month. The company said a crew member was injured when its double-hulled vessel...

(EnergyAsia, August 12 2010, Thursday) — The Saudi Arabian government has approved a record 1.44-trillion-riyal plan to accelerate the development of the country’s economy over the next five years to 2014, according to state news media SPA. (US$1=3.75 riyal). At 67% above the previous five-year plan, the latest budget will focus on developing the country’s...

(EnergyAsia, August 12 2010, Wednesday) – Joint venture partners BP Plc, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and Iraq state-owned South Oil Co are looking to raise crude production at Iraq’s biggest oilfield. In a much needed move to help Iraq rebuild its war-torn economy, CNPC said it expects crude production at Rumalia to increase to...

(EnergyAsia, August 12 2010, Thursday) — Longwei Petroleum Investment Holding Ltd, a fuel wholesaler and distributor operating in China’s Shanxi Province, has reported a 128% increase in total revenue of US$72.9 million for the April-May 2010 period from US$32 million reported for the same period last year. The company said its gross profit for the...

(EnergyAsia, August 12 2010, Thursday) –UAE-based MEC holdings said it expects its coal mine in Indonesia’s Kalimantan province to start operating by end-2012, producing one million tons. For the full year of 2013, the mine is expected to produce 14 million tons, mostly for export to power companies China, India and Indonesia. The company said...

(EnergyAsia, August 11 2010, Wednesday) –– Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Hossein Noqrehkar Shirazi said China is offering to participate in the construction of seven new oil refineries in his country to add to the nearly US$40 billion that it has already invested in its oil and gas sector. These consist US$29 billion in upstream projects...

(EnergyAsia, August 11 2010, Wednesday) — Fuel shortages in Iran are worsening as new sanctions imposed by the West have further tightened the movement of essential goods and services into the country. Traders said Iran was able to import only a fraction of its usual gasoline requirements last month, making domestic travel even harder during...

(EnergyAsia, August 11 2010, Wednesday) — Foreign companies remain committed to invest in Iraq’s oil and gas projects despite on-going concerns with the country’s political stability and level of violence. Their commitment, backed by the expected long-term US military presence despite talks of an early withdrawal, could add nearly 10 million b/d of new capacity...

(EnergyAsia, August 11 2010, Wednesday) — Iraq’s central government and Kurdistan are embroiled in a new round of dispute after Baghdad accused the semi-autonomous region of illegally exporting the country’s crude oil and products, and keeping the proceeds instead of returning it to the federal treasury. Iraq’s federal oil minister Hussein al-Shahristani has demanded that...

(EnergyAsia, August 11 2010, Wednesday) — Keppel FELS Limited, the offshore subsidiary of Singapore’s Keppel Corp, said it has commercialised its new wind turbine installation vessel design for deeper waters in partnership with leading European fleet owner and operator Seafox Group. Keppel said its multi-purpose self-elevating platform (MPSEP) design has been chosen by the Seafox...