(EnergyAsia, October 1, Thursday) — Police in Karachi city said they fought off several armed militants who were planning an attack on Pakistan’s largest and most important oil terminal. The attackers shot dead a guard but were unable to advance beyond the gate and inflict any serious damage after they were stopped by security officers....
(EnergyAsia, September 30, Wednesday) — Fears of an oil supply crunch next decade are being fanned anew by a new study showing the rising cost of finding and developing new oil just as upstream companies are reporting a drop in their crude reserves despite an increase in exploration spending. The study by US research firm...
(EnergyAsia, September 30, Wednesday) — There’s a glimmer of hope that India’s GMR group may be able to proceed with a much delayed proposal to build a 800-MW power plant on Singapore’s Jurong Island. The breakthrough came recently when the Energy Market Authority (EMA) said it will support the power project once GMR concludes talks...
(EnergyAsia, September 30, Wednesday) — Pakistan’s ambitious plan to develop its politically unstable southwest Balochistan province could be derailed if China and the UAE decide to delay or cancel their respective proposals for oil refinery projects. The Chinese government has joined the UAE in reconsidering its plans for a multi-billion-dollar refinery amid continuing violence in...
(EnergyAsia, September 30, Wednesday) — The Indonesian government may sell as much as five million barrels of its 11 million barrels in crude oil stockpile before the end of the year to meet its sales target. The government is unlikely to meet its own target of selling 650,000 b/d of crude oil this year, said...
(EnergyAsia, September 30, Wednesday) — Three refineries run by Royal Dutch Shell have attracted bids from India’s Essar Oil Ltd and interest from Valero Energy Corp of the US, Libya’s National Oil Corp and a Saudi group. Essar has offered a total of US$1.8 billion for the three refineries: the UK’s second largest refinery with...
(EnergyAsia, September 30, Wednesady) — China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said it will work with the UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (Adnoc) to trade, ship and store crude oil. The two state-owned oil and gas firms recently signed a memorandum of understanding to that effect, but no details were provided. Last December, CNPC signed...
(EnergyAsia, September 30, Wednesday) — While Asian countries continue to sign up long-term contracts to import liquefied natural gas (LNG), spot demand has dried up, said a leading supplier to the region. Peter Cleary, the president of the marketing unit of Western Australia’s North West Shelf Venture, which produces about 40% of the country’s oil...
(EnergyAsia, September 30, Wednesday) — The following is an edited version of the speech delivered by Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang at a ceremony last week marking the completion of Jurong Island’s reclamation. “Jurong Island … did not exist just 15 years ago. To fully appreciate the significance of Jurong Island, we need...
(EnergyAsia, September 29, Tuesday) — China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has been granted a US$30 billion five-year loan to further its expansion abroad. China Development Bank will provide the loan to the state-owned Chinese oil and gas firm at a discounted rate under an agreement signed recently. “The credit agreement is of great importance for...
(EnergyAsia, September 29, Tuesday) — Asia’s largest oil and gas producer, PetroChina, plans to build a RMB40 billion oil refinery in Shangqui in central Henan province in China. (US$1=RMB6.83). The company will commission an environmental evaluation for the project for the approval of the National Development and Reform Commission, the state planning agency. The 10-millionnes-per-year...
(EnergyAsia, September 29, Tuesday) — Asian builders of rigs and drillships may have to deal with weak demand for their products and services in the near term. Singapore rig builders Keppel Corp and Sembcorp Marine did not have an order for a new rig in the first two quarters this year, and are unlikely...
(EnergyAsia, September 29, Tuesday) – With industry data showing that turnaround costs have nearly tripled for refineries and olefin plants worldwide this decade, Solomon Associates, the US-based leading performance improvement company for the global energy industry, said it has launched a new study to help refining and petrochemical companies better manage turnaround-related expenditures. The company...
(EnergyAsia, September 29, Tuesday) — The following is an edited version of a speech by JTC Corp chairman Cedric Foo delivered on September 25 at a ceremony marking the completion of Jurong Island reclamation. “Less than two decades ago, we had seven southern offshore islands with a total land mass of 991 hectares. In a...
(EnergyAsia, September 29, Tuesday) — PetroChina Co has brought onstream an integrated oil refinery-petrochemical complex in Dushanzi district, Karamay City in the country’s northwestern Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The RMB30 billion complex includes a sophisticated 200,000-b/d refinery which will produce Euro IV-emission grade products from processing high-sulphur crude oil imported from neighbouring Kazakhstan. ...
(EnergyAsia, September 29, Tuesday) — The Chinese government has approved a plan to build the country’s second phase 170-million-barrel strategic petroleum stockpile, said state-owned China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC). Construction of the new terminals will start later this year. China is racing to build up its emergency oil reserves to meet at least 90 days...
(EnergyAsia, September 29, Tuesday) — Privately held Chinese marine bunkering firm Brightoil Petroleum said it started work on several oil storage projects this year. The company entered into a joint venture with Zhoushan Port Group for the development of wharfs and provision of related logistic services at Zhoushan Port in Zhejiang province. It also acquired...
(EnergyAsia, September 28, Monday) — PT Indonesia Bulk Terminal (IBT), a subsidiary of the country’s second-largest coal producer Adaro Energy, and Shell Indonesia have signed an agreement to build a US$40 million fuel storage facility on an island off Borneo. Shell will build the 60,000-tonne facility beside an existing fuel tank owned by IBT...
(EnergyAsia, September 28, Monday) — A worldwide surplus in liquefied natural gas (LNG) production will grow bigger next year and may peak in 2011, according to an analyst at Scotland’s Wood Mackenzie Consultants Ltd. Frank Harris, global head of LNG at the Edinburgh-based consultancy, expects LNG producers to earn smaller margins amid low demand...
(EnergyAsia, September 28, Monday) — South Korean state-owned oil firm Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) has won a suit seeking the restoration of two offshore oil prospecting licences granted in 2005 in oil-rich Nigeria. The licences had been revoked in January by the government on the ground that KNOC had not fully paid its pledged...
(EnergyAsia, September 28, Monday) — Finland’s Wartsila Corporation said its scrubber technology to reduce sulphur oxides in engines has been awarded the Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA) Compliance Certificate by classification societies Det Norske Veritas and Germanischer Lloyd. Wartsila said its marine scrubbers, which clean exhaust gases of sulphuric oxides (SOx), are the first to...
(EnergyAsia, September 28, Monday) — The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has awarded a local company, Ecospec Global Technology Pte Ltd, S$2 million as co-funding to test-bed technology that reduces greenhouse gas and exhaust pollutants from ship emissions. (US$1=S$1.41). Pending International Maritime Organisation (IMO) approval, Ecospec said its CSNOx system could boost global...
(EnergyAsia, September 28, Monday) — Sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp (CIC) will pay $850 million for a 15% stake in Singapore-listed commodities trader and supplier Noble Group. CIC has agreed to pay S$2.1137, or 8.1% less than the price prior to trading suspension last week, for 438 million new shares and 135 million shares...
(EnergyAsia, September 28, Monday) — China has begun work on the second and third phases of its ambitious oil stockpiling programme to eventually raise the official crude oil reserves level to at least 90 days of consumption over the next few years. Having completed the first phase of more than 100 million barrels early this...
(EnergyAsia, September 28, Monday) — A company owned by China’s state defence conglomerate Norinco has started up a new 100,000-b/d oil refinery in Liaoning province. Zhenhua Oil’s first refinery will depend entirely on imports for its crude feedstock. The company has also started operating a 650,000-tonne-per-year ethylene cracker in the province through a local subsidiary....