(EnergyAsia, August 31, Monday) — The Kuwaiti government said it has foiled a planned attack by an Al Qaeda-linked group on its Shuaiba oil refinery during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Security forces said the unidentified group had used Google Earth to acquire images of the 200,000 b/d plant, one of Kuwait’s three...
(EnergyAsia, August 31, Monday) — Germany’s Oiltanking Group said it has increased its shareholding in the Star Energy oil terminal in Dubai’s Jebel Ali free zone from 25% to 50%. The strategically-located terminal is now equally owned with the Abu Dhabi-based Star Energy Group. The 857,000-cubic metre terminal, which stores and handles a wide range...
(EnergyAsia, August 28, Friday) — Papua New Guinean upstream company Oil Search Limited said its profit for the six months ended June 30 2009 plunged to US$35.6 million from US$133.3 million reported for the same period last year. The company attributed the fall to lower oil sales and weaker oil prices stemming from the global...
(EnergyAsia, August 28, Friday) — French engineering firm Technip said it has won a lump sum services contract from PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia for work on the Minas oil field in Sumatra, Indonesia. The contract covers detail engineering, project management, procurement assistance and construction management for water treatment and cooling facilities, polymer and surfactant mixing...
(EnergyAsia, August 28, Friday) — State-owned Indonesian gas and oil firm PT Pertamina is seeking a bigger stake in its proposed US$1.5 billion joint venture with Japan’s Mitsui & Co for an oil refinery project in Central Java. The move, however, could put in jeopardy financing that was originally secured for the project with the...
(EnergyAsia, August 28, Friday) — PetroChina, Royal Dutch Shell and Qatar have asked China’s overall economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, for approval to build a large refining and chemical complex in Taizhou city in eastern Zhejiang province. The complex will include a 400,000 b/d oil refinery, a 1.2-million-ton-per-year ethylene plant and...
(EnergyAsia, August 28, Friday) — Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and China’s Sinopec Group have agreed on a new site for a mega refining-and-petrochemical joint venture project, boosting chances for its approval by the Chinese government later this year. The plant will be located on Donghai Island in the coastal city of Zhanjiang in China’s Guangdong province....
(EnergyAsia, August 28, Friday) — Exxon Mobil Corporation and PetroChina Company Limited said their affiliates have signed a sales and purchase agreement for a 20-year supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the proposed Gorgon LNG Project in Western Australia. The contract for the supply of 2.25 million tonnes per year of the ExxonMobil affiliate’s...
(EnergyAsia, August 28, Friday) — Chevron Australia Pty Ltd has welcomed what it calls the timely approval of the Gorgon natural gas project’s revised and expanded scope by Australia’s Environment Minister, Peter Garrett. PetroChina and India’s Petronet have committed to buy a total of A$60 billion worth of liquefied natural gas from the Chevron-operated Gorgon...
(EnergyAsia, August 28, Friday) — Caltex Australia said it will enhance its large-scale marine bunkering operations in Queensland after entering into an agreement with the specialist barge operator, Korevaar Marine Group. The long term agreement will see Korevaar’s double-hulled self-propelled barge Bunker V used by Caltex to refuel a varied market of cruise ships, coastal...
(EnergyAsia, August 27, Thursday) — Western oil companies continue to dominate Africa despite the recent entry of national oil companies from Asia, said a study by UK’s Chatham House. The study, ‘Thirst for African Oil: Asian National Oil Companies in Nigeria and Angola’, said Western fears about an Asian takeover in the Nigerian and Angola...
(EnergyAsia, August 27, Thursday) — Asian imports of West African crude oil this month are on track to reach their highest monthly volume in recent years. China is expected to import 889,000 b/d while India could purchase 582,000 b/d for a combined 90% of the 1.62 million b/d in total headed for the region for...
(EnergyAsia, August 27, Thursday)— China recently purchased a spot cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia at a record low price. The 64,000-metric ton cargo was purchased for US$4.3 per million British thermal units (Btu), far lower than the US$6.3 million that it had paid Malaysia for a 22,000-tonne spot cargo in June....
(EnergyAsia, August 27, Thursday) — European demand for fuel oil could collapse in 2015 when shipping firms in the region are forced to switch to cleaner fuel. Industry sources said the region’s bunker demand could fall by a quarter over the next five years. Shipping firms in Europe are expected to switch to lighter...
(EnergyAsia, August 27, Thursday) — Singapore’s commodities trade is diversifying away from oil with the number of non-oil players rising to 163 last year from 129 in 2006. Non-oil players made up 65% of the total number of commodity trading firms in the city-state, with coal becoming an increasingly prominent. International Enterprise (IE) Singapore,...
(EnergyAsia, August 27, Thursday) — Electricity demand in Vietnam’s power-hungry economy is expected to grow by at least 15% per year over the next decade, said the Ministry of Industry and Trade. To keep up with this rate of demand growth, the country would have to attract at least US$10 billion worth of investment...
(EnergyAsia, August 27, Thursday) — State-owned China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has signed a deal to help develop Iran’s South Pars gas field. Under the US$5 billion deal, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) is targeting to produce some two billion cubic metres per day of natural gas and 70,000 b/d of condensates from South Pars’...
(EnergyAsia, August 27, Thursday) — Australia had less than 10 years of oil reserves at current production levels, said the country’s leading oil and gas association. The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) warned that the nation faces a crude oil and condensate deficit worth A$28 billion in under 10 years unless it makes...
(EnergyAsia, August 17, Monday) — Scotland’s OPITO-The Oil & Gas Academy said it has graduated its first batch of oil and gas students in Kazakhstan. A total of 98 trainee technicians completed the programmes including the Petroleum Open Learning (POL) Petroleum Technology series, an internationally recognised certificate used in more than 15 countries to enhance...
(EnergyAsia, August 26, Wednesday) — South Korea’s oil product exports are expected to drop by 12.9% to 1.62 million barrels in the second half of the year from the same period last year on lower global demand. The country’s Ministry of Knowledge and Economy has also forecast that oil export earnings will fall by 43.6%...
(EnergyAsia, August 26, Wednesday) — Sales of bunker in China are expected to reach 12 million tonnes by around 2013 or about double the amount in 2008 as government policies to encourage competition and higher production take effect. To encourage an increase in domestic fuel oil production, China’s government last month waived a US$118 per...
(EnergyAsia, August 26, Wednesday) — Noble Americas Corp, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Noble Group, said it has successfully tendered to purchased a portfolio of US energy assets belonging to SemFuel LP, which were placed on the auction block earlier this month. The sale was formally approved at a recent hearing at the...
(EnergyAsia, August 26, Wednesday) — Chevron Australia Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of the US major, said it has made two natural gas discoveries in the Carnarvon Basin off the coast of Western Australia. The company said the discoveries are located in Australia’s premier hydrocarbon basin, where it is the leading lease holder. Located 150 km...
(EnergyAsia, August 26, Wednesday) — China’s massive foreign exchange reserves will be used to support Chinese firms’ expansion and acquisitions overseas, said Premier Wen Jiabao. The statement will encourage large industrial state-owned groups to continue to acquire international companies in the energy and commodities sectors. Recently, the chairman of national policy lender China Development Bank...
(EnergyAsia, August 26, Wednesday) — UK oil major BP is in exploratory talks with partners Sinopec Corp and PetroChina to build refineries in China, industry sources said. The London-based firm is looking to build a joint-venture refinery with Sinopec in either Beihai city in Guangxi province or Zhanjiang in Guangdong province. It is also exploring...