(EnergyAsia, July 29, Wednesday) — China’s CNOOC Limited said it and Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corp have agreed to jointly acquire a 20% working interest in the production sharing contract (PSC) and joint operating agreement in an offshore field in Angola. The transaction with a Marathon Oil Corp subsidiary for Block 32 is...

(EnergyAsia, July 29, Wednesday) — BP and the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) said they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly explore and develop the Shafag and Asiman structures in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. As part of the government’s plan to ensure that all of...

(EnergyAsia, July 29, Wednesday) — Mumbai, India-based refiner Reliance Industries Ltd has started selling fuel to the US through oil trader Hess Corp. Hess hired tanker King Douglas which delivered a cargo of Reliance-produced gasoline to New York city recently. The gasoline came from Reliance’s 580,000 b/d refinery in Gujarat province in western India. Even...

(EnergyAsia, July 28, Tuesday) — Singapore-listed Rotary Engineering Limited said it has inked an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract worth S$48 million with Thailand’s PTT Tank Terminal Company Limited for a tank terminal project. The contract was secured through Rotary’s Thai unit, REL-TREL joint venture, for the construction of an ammonia storage tank and...

(EnergyAsia, July 28, Tuesday) — The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced plans to put limits on the trading of oil, natural gas and other commodities to protect markets against what it calls manipulation and excessive speculation. The long-awaited move comes in response to last year’s record-high oil and food commodities prices, which...

(EnergyAsia, July 28, Tuesday) — The Chinese government will continue to push investments into the resource-rich and strategic far western region of Xinjiang despite the recent outbreak of violence and potential for further ethnic unrest. The largely Muslim region is becoming increasingly crucial to China with its strategic location and links to the resource-rich countries...

(EnergyAsia, July28, Tuesday) — MayBank has maintained its “sell” rating on the stock of Malaysia-listed engineering firm Dialog despite last month’s announcement that the company is partnering the Johor state government to develop a US$1 billion deepwater storage terminal hub in Pengerang, just north of Singapore. While the project could provide Dialog a long-term stream...

(EnergyAsia, July 28, Tuesday) — Singapore-listed Rotary Engineering Limited said it has signed two contracts totalling S$36 million with Neste Oil Singapore Pte Ltd for work on the Finland company’s S$1.2 billion biodiesel plant in Tuas in Singapore. The contracts for the “NExBTL” renewable diesel plant relate to electrical and instrumentation works as well as...

(EnergyAsia, July 28, Tuesday) — Japan has agreed with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) to jointly store crude oil in facilities in Kagoshima prefecture. Under their agreement, Japanese refiner Nippon Oil Corp will store some 3.8 million barrels of oil from Abu Dhabi at a terminal in the southern Japan prefecture. The deal will...

(EnergyAsia, July 28, Tuesday) — Longwei Petroleum Investment expects to complete its oil storage project in China’s Shanxi province later this year. The new 70,000-tonne terminal at Gujiao city will more than double the oil trader’s storage capacity to 120,000 tonnes. It will allow Longwei to increase its fuel supplies to customers in Gujiao’s industrial...

(EnergyAsia, July 28, Tuesday) — Australia-listed Stuart Petroleum Limited said it has made a net gain of A$2.2 million following the closeout of part of its foreign currency hedge position. (US$1=A$1.2). Proceeds from the closeout of the currency hedges will be used to reduce Stuart’s debt from A$11.25 million at June 30 to A$9 million,...

(EnergyAsia, July 27, Monday) — The Verwater Group, a Dutch specialist in storage tank maintenance and construction, said it has signed a contract to help build a one-million-cubic-metre storage terminal in Malaysia’s Kedah state. Verwater said it signed the 220-million-euro contract with UK investment company Lenstar at the Verwater Group Headquarters in Hoogvliet in the...

(EnergyAsia, July 27, Monday) — Manila-listed Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. (PPPI) plans to initially import five million litres of petroleum products with the opening of its Calaca, Batangas terminal facility last week. PPPI chief operating officer Romeo de Guzman said the company would eventually import 10 million litres of products to be sourced from either...

(EnergyAsia, July 27, Monday) — CNPC, China’s largest oil firm, has reportedly agreed to buy 200,000 b/d of refined oil products from a proposed $10-billion refinery to be built in Yan, Kedah in Malaysia. It might even consider taking a stake in the 350,000 b/d refinery, said Nazri Ramli, executive chairman of Merapoh Resources Corporation,...

(EnergyAsia, July 27, Monday) — China’s main economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, has approved an application by PetroChina International Co Ltd, a wholly-owned unit of PetroChina, to acquire a 49% stake in a refinery owned by Japan’s Nippon Oil. Located in Osaka, the 115,000-b/d refinery is one of Nippon Oil’s nine...

(EnergyAsia, July 27, Monday) — Sinopec Corp, Asia’s largest oil refiner, said it has taken over the management of China’s strategic oil reserves in Huangdao and Zhenhai as ordered by the National Energy Administration and the Ministry of Finance. Analysts said the move to transfer management of the tanks to Sinopec paves the way for...

(EnergyAsia, July 27, Monday) — The Chinese government has ruled out sabotage as a possibility behind the explosion of an oil tank in a refinery in the restive western Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region where deadly clashes have broken out between Han Chinese and the local Uighur people. On July 5, nearly 200 people died in...

(EnergyAsia, July 27, Monday) — China’s June crude oil consumption rose nearly 2.6% to 33.35 million metric tons, making it the third month in a row to register a year-on-year increase in demand, said Platts. In an analysis of official data, Platt found that China’s refinery throughput rose to a new high of 31.92 million...

(EnergyAsia, July 27, Monday) — CNPC is building a new refinery in Liaoning province, and expanding an existing one in Jilin province, both located in the northeastern corner of the country. On July 9, subsidiary Liaoyang Petrochemical began building a 10 million-ton-per-year refinery dedicated solely to processing crude oil imported from Russia. Less than five...

(EnergyAsia, July 24, Friday) — Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will increase diesel supplies to Nepal from its Raxaul depot to meet a shortfall in the Himalayan nation. IOC is the only fuel supplier to the impoverished landlocked country, which has seen its consumption of diesel and gasoline more than doubled in recent years. Border town...

(EnergyAsia, July 24, Friday) — Oman Oil is interested to boost its 2% stake in India’s Bina refinery project to 26%, said the oil minister from the Middle East country. Oman Oil Minister Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Rumhy said the company could look to pay US$250 million for the increased shareholding after having already invested Rs750...

(EnergyAsia, July 24, Friday) — Sinochem Corp is on track to complete its two-million cubic metre oil reserve in Zhoushan in China’s Zhejiang province next year. A one-million cubic metre terminal is already in operation at the same location. The facility is adjacent to the five-million-cubic metre Zhousan national strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) terminal, one...

(EnergyAsia, July 24, Friday) — The Asian gas oil market could get a temporary boost from the recent booking of a supertanker by UK-based Barclays Bank to store the product. Last month, another bank, JP Morgan Chase & Co, made a similar play when it booked a supertanker to store gasoil off Malta’s coast. The...

(EnergyAsia, July 24, Friday) — The Indian government is considering offering crude oil producers and traders the use of its new strategic underground storage facilities in the ports of Mangalore, Vizag and Padur. According to a study prepared by state Engineers India Ltd, the producers and traders could have the use of up to one...

(EnergyAsia, July 24, Friday) — Dutch commodities trader Trafigura plans to invest US$400 million over the next two years to double its oil storage capacity to 25 million barrels at its sites in Africa, Malaysia, the Caribbean and Middle East. The expansions will be overseen by a wholly-owned subsidiary, Puma Energy. Trafigura is described as...