(EnergyAsia, July 18 2013, Thursday) — Stung by high business costs, a scarce and inflexible labour market and tough regulations, liquefied natural gas (LNG) investors are increasingly turning away from Australia and looking to tap emerging opportunities in North America. Three of Australia’s biggest fans, Chevron, Exxon and Royal Dutch Shell, have decided to slowdown...
(EnergyAsia, July 18 2013, Thursday) — Steady as she goes, Oman’s hydrocarbon-powered economy will grow by 5.1% this year after expanding 5% last year and 4.5% in 2011, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Oil and gas exports will bring in record high revenues of US$36.4 billion this year, just slightly higher than 2012’s level...
(EnergyAsia, July 17 2013, Wednesday) — Barely two weeks after US President Barack Obama skipped Nigeria on his three-day trip to Africa, President Goodluck Jonathan flew to a high-profile welcome in Beijing and left with as much US$3 billion worth of deals including a US$1.1 billion low-interest loan to pay for infrastructure projects. The contrast...
(EnergyAsia, July 17 2013, Wednesday) — Japan is expected to extend a three-year deal for the free storage of Saudi crude oil on Okinawa Island when it expires at the end of 2013. In December 2010, state Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp (JOGMEC) signed an agreement with Saudi Aramco to store up to...
(EnergyAsia, July 17 2013, Wednesday) — Local and foreign businesses warn that they may have to cut back on operations and reduce long-term expansion plans in Vietnam in response to the country’s worsening electricity supply disruptions, particularly in the southern provinces where most of its trading and manufacturing activities are conducted. At the recent 2013...
(EnergyAsia, July 16 2013, Tuesday) — After years of debate over the need to reduce energy subsidies, the Indian government said it has agreed to raise the domestic price of natural gas to as high as US$8 per million BTU from next April 1, compared with US$4.2 today. The new price still represents a huge...
(EnergyAsia, July 16 2013, Tuesday) — Indian officials said Iraq and Iran have made unprecedented offers to expand oil and trade ties with their country. Worried about potential competition from surging shale oil output in the US and slowing global demand, the two Middle Eastern oil producers are racing to lock up sales to Asian...
(EnergyAsia, July 16 2013, Tuesday) — InterOil, Schneider Electric and Societe Generale, three companies with substantial exposure to the energy business in Asia, have announced senior executive appointments. InterOil Corporation, which is developing an integrated oil and gas business in Papua New Guinea, said it has appointed Michael Hession as CEO effective July 11, 2013....
(EnergyAsia, July 15 2013, Monday) — The team that launched Singapore’s most successful oil company in 2005 is back again to try raise S$270.8 million through a public listing. (US$1=S$1.28). KrisEnergy Ltd will offer nearly 152 million shares at S$1.10 each, with 132.1 million shares marked for institutional and other sophisticated investors, and the remaining...
(EnergyAsia, July 15 2013, Monday) — The world’s two largest polluting nations have agreed to a non-binding five-point plan to reduce greenhouse emissions from coal-fired power plants, manufacturing facilities, heavy-duty vehicles and buildings. The US and China signed the agreement in Washington DC last week that includes exchanging climate data and cooperating on developing smart...
(EnergyAsia, July 15 2013, Monday) — Saudi Arabia’s economy will grow by 4% in 2013, down from last year’s 5.1%, on account of reduced oil production and a weaker oil price, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “Private sector growth is expected to be strong, but oil production is likely to be below 2012 levels...
(EnergyAsia, July 12 2013, Friday) — Two years after it began construction, Sinopec, China’s largest integrated energy and chemical group, has started up a large lubricants plant in Singapore, the first outside its home base, as it prepares for global expansion. Located on a 242,811-sq m site in Tuas on the southwestern tip of the (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 12 2013, Friday) — China’s recently announced reform of its natural gas pricing system has won the approval of at least one US company, the Houston, Texas-based Far East Energy Corporation which is exploring and developing coalbed methane (CBM) resources in Shanxi province. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 12 2013, Friday) — For the first time in memory, growth for Saudi Arabia’s oil-dependent economy will be driven entirely by infrastructure building, construction, tourism, telecommunications, banking and services. The oil sector, which provides around 90% of government revenue, will be the drag in 2013 as it is expected to shrink by 1.5%...
(EnergyAsia, July 11 2013, Thursday) — Australia-listed Aspire Mining said it has signed non-binding memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with four Chinese mills and coking coal buyers that it says will support plans to develop and commercialise a major coal project in northern Mongolia. The Chinese companies could purchase an annual total of up to 5.6...
(EnergyAsia, July 11 2013, Thursday) — Global Pacific & Partners will unveil new exploration, production and development business opportunities in the Asia Pacific region at its upcoming 19th Asia Oil Week event in Singapore on October 3-4. The landmark event for Asia’s upstream oil and gas industry brings together keynote speakers from all over the...
(EnergyAsia, July 11 2013, Thursday) — Indonesia could miss its coal production target of 400 million tonnes this year amid mine cutbacks and continuing weak external demand, particularly in China and India. Larger miners have reduced operations while smaller ones have shut down with no signs that the main buyers of Indonesia coal will resume...
(EnergyAsia, July 10 2013, Wednesday) — Could Singapore’s newly established Pavilion Gas be next to buy into Canada’s natural gas boom through an equity stake in Petronas’s Pacific NorthWest LNG? The subsidiary of Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings was established in May with an initial capital of S$1.25 million to focus on buying, marketing (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 10 2013, Wednesday) — Australian metallurgical coal miner Cokal Limited said it will raise A$9,609,125.44 from selling shares to Singapore investment company Blumont Group over the next four months. (US$1=A$1.07). The Australia-listed miner said it will sell a total of 60,057,034 fully paid ordinary shares at A$0.16 each in five tranches between July (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 10 2013, Wednesday) — Iran faces an uphill battle to keep its oil customers as the US and its allies insist the markets are well supplied while further tightening trade and financial sanctions against the Islamic regime for pursuing its nuclear energy programme. In an interview with Reuters last month, US Energy Secretary...
(EnergyAsia, July 9 2013, Tuesday) — Both facing serious domestic economic challenges, Iran and India expect their bilateral trade to continue growing despite the weight of trade and financial sanctions imposed by the West on Tehran and its trading partners. Iran is holding onto its main oil customers in Asia, while India, faced with its...
(EnergyAsia, July 9 2013, Tuesday) — The coal industry will contribute about A$43 billion to the Australian economy this year and provide 180,000 direct and indirect jobs, said the Australian Coal Association (ACA). (US$1=A$1.07). The association recently revealed these and other figures contained in a special study that it had commissioned to counter a growing (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 9 2013, Tuesday) — Iranian security officials met their Chinese counterparts in Beijing and Shanghai last week as the recent escalation of violence and conflict in the Middle East along with cyber-hacking threaten geopolitical stability across the region and Asia. Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar met Public Security Minister Guo Shengkun as...
(EnergyAsia, July 8 2013, Monday) — The Canadian subsidiary of Malaysia’s state energy firm Petronas said it has applied for a licence for the annual export of 19.68 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its proposed terminal in western British Columbia province. Pacific NorthWest LNG has applied to the National Energy Board (NEB) (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 8 2013, Monday) —- The Australian Coal Association (ACA) has welcomed the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) endorsement of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology as a key solution in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to fight climate change. In a landmark report, released last week, “Technology Roadmap: Carbon Capture and Storage”, the IEA predicts (more…)