(EnergyAsia, November 19 2012, Monday) — Asia offers a “viable and attractive” market for western Canada’s natural gas exports which look set to lose further ground in the increasingly glutted US after plunging 80% since 2008, said energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. Its upstream and global gas consultants estimate that western Canadian producers have lost...
(EnergyAsia, November 16 2012, Friday) —Dubai expects to start up its first major solar power plant by next October, said Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) which awarded the contract for the construction of the 13MW project’s first phase. Located in the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the project kick-starts Dubai’s plan to (more…)
(EnergyAsia, November 16 2012, Friday) — Saudi Arabian Oil Co, or Aramco, has opened a new head office in Beijing as it continues to expand ties with the world’s second largest oil consumer. Aramco Asia, a wholly owned subsidiary of the world’s largest oil company according to a PIW ranking, adds to the company’s two (more…)
(EnergyAsia, November 16 2012, Friday) — German chemical company BASF SE said it will raise its oil and gas production, and exit the gas trading and storage business following an agreement to swap assets with Russia’s Gazprom OAO. As part of the agreement, BASF subsidiary Wintershall will receive an equity of 25% plus one share (more…)
(EnergyAsia, November 16 2012, Friday) — The Norwegian government will provide a US$850,000 technical assistance (TA) grant to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to help Myanmar update its 1984 Electricity Law. According to the bank, the grant will enable the Southeast Asian country to bring forward its laws to reflect current international standards that would...
(EnergyAsia, November 15 2012, Thursday) — The partners developing what could well be Australia’s largest coal deposits said they are pushing ahead with their multi-billion-dollar project dismissing reports that it faces significant delay from financing difficulties. India’s GVK Group, the majority owner in the Alpha coal project in Queensland state, said it has approved more (more…)
(EnergyAsia, November 15 2012, Thursday) — In response to weak domestic demand, US coal production will decline over the next two years from 1,095 million short tons (mmst) in 2011, said the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The agency sees US coal production falling by 6.2% to 1,027 mmst in 2012 and by a further one...
(EnergyAsia, November 15 2012, Thursday) — Slammed by lower coal prices, Thailand’s largest coal miner Banpu Plc has reported a third-quarter profit of 2.26 billion baht, down 46% from year-ago level and 17% lower from the previous quarter. (US$1=30 baht). The Bangkok-listed company, which produces coal in Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and China, expects no relief (more…)
(EnergyAsia, November 15 2012, Thursday) — Coal will remain the world’s leading fuel for power generation before declining by three percentage points to under 25% by 2035, said the International Energy Agency (IEA). In its latest World Energy Outlook report, the Paris-based agency predicts coal’s share in the global energy mix will drop in favour...
(EnergyAsia, November 14 2012, Tuesday) — India’s power supply crisis will worsen, with the shortfall in generation capacity at peak electricity consumption reaching a record of nearly 15,000 MW or 10.6% this fiscal year, predicts the Central Electricity Authority (CEA). For the previous year ending March 31 2012, India’s peak power shortage was 9.6%, the...
(EnergyAsia, November 14 2012, Tuesday) — India’s power crisis culminating in the massive blackout of July 31-August 2 and increased irrigation activities by farmers sharply boosted the country’s diesel demand, said the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). In its September market report, OPEC said the world-record blackout left 600 million people without electricity, and...
(EnergyAsia, November 14 2012, Tuesday) — India’s Tata Power Company and Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan Co have acquired stakes in an Indonesian coal miner in separate deals Tata Power bought a 26% stake in Jakarta-listed PT Baramulti Sukses Sarana Tbk (BSSR) for an undisclosed sum while Idemitsu Kosan said it paid more than one billion yen (more…)
(EnergyAsia, November 14 2012, Tuesday) — Coal India Limited, the country’s largest coal miner, said it could double production capacity in the central state of Chhattisgarh to 220 million tonnes (MT) by 2017 if it completes three railway lines to the region’s mines. “If rail connectivity is established, production capacity from our subsidiaries would double...
(EnergyAsia, November 12 2012, Monday) — Australia-listed Modun Resources said it has signed an agreement for trader Tennant Metals to market the thermal coal produced at its wholly owned Nuurst project in central Mongolia. According to Modun, Tennant will have exclusive rights to purchase all of Nuurst’s thermal coal available for export and at least (more…)
(EnergyAsia, November 12 2012, Monday) — Coal India Limited (CIL), the country’s largest coal producer, is continuing to resist calls for reforms despite being the target of mounting investigations into its role in India’s worsening power supply crisis. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is looking into corrupt practices while the Competition Commission of India...
(EnergyAsia, November 12 2012, Monday) — US-based Yinfu Gold Corp said it has agreed to acquire a 51% interest in Singapore-based Hitric Resources (S) Pte Ltd which owns 80% rights of a coal mine in Tanah Bumbu in Indonesia’s South Kalimantan province. According to Yinfu, Hitric Resources was granted a seven-year exploration licence over a (more…)
(EnergyAsia, November 12 2012, Monday) — A joint venture comprising South Korea’s Samsung C&T Corporation and Australia’s Smithbridge Group Pty Ltd has secured a contract to build the T3 terminal port at Abbot Point to export coal from the Alpha project in Australia’s Queensland state. India’s GVK Group said its subsidiary, Hancock Coal Infrastructure Pty...
(EnergyAsia, November 9 2012, Friday) — Foster Wheeler AG said a subsidiary of its Global Power Group has been awarded a contract by BHI Co Ltd to collaborate in the design of two supercritical pulverised coal (PC) fired steam generators in South Korea. The client, STX Electric Power Co Ltd (STXEP), is including the generators (more…)
(EnergyAsia, November 9 2012, Friday) — Indonesia’s coal production will recover next year after suffering an unexpected decline in 2012 as a result of weak demand in Asia and rising operating costs, said the industry’s spokesman. According to Bob Kamandanu, chairman of the Indonesian Coal Mining Association, the country’s coal output will increase to between...
(EnergyAsia, November 9 2012, Friday) — Hong Kong-listed Sunshine Oilsands Ltd, which hopes to start oil production in Canada’s Alberta province in late 2013, said it has obtained conditional approval for a secondary listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TXS). The company, which intends to maintain its primary listing in Hong Kong, said it will (more…)
(EnergyAsia, November 9 2012, Friday) — Goldman Sachs expects the price of Australian thermal coal to average around US$105 per tonne over the next two years, and to fall slightly in 2015 and 2016 on weaker Chinese demand and competition from cheaper oil. But high operating costs will support the fuel at US$90 per tonne...
(EnergyAsia, November 8 2012, Thursday) — Prophecy Coal Corp, a Canadian company which is developing coal and power projects in Mongolia, said it has appointed Jeffrey Mason as chief financial officer and Samir Devendra Patel as corporate secretary. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based company described Mr Mason as a chartered accountant with over 20 years’ experience (more…)
(EnergyAsia, November 8 2012, Thursday) — An international consortium led by Japananese trading house Marubeni has started commercial operation of a 660MW Cirebon coal-fired power plant on Indonesia’s Java Island. The US$850-million plant in West Java will supply electricity to Bali and Java for 30 years, said Marubeni, which owns a 32.5% stake in the (more…)
(EnergyAsia, November 8 2012, Thursday) — Despite the government’s orders and the possibility of further nationwide power blackouts, Coal India Limited (CIL), the world’s largest coal producer, remains deadlocked in negotiations with many of the country’s power companies over a new fuel supply agreement. CIL, which accounts for 80% of India’s domestic coal production, has...
(EnergyAsia, November 8 2012, Thursday) —- Mired in a worsening power crisis blamed largely on coal supply shortages, India may have further cause for worry if the proposed development of the massive Galilee Basin coal deposits in Australia’s Queensland state fails to take off. The barriers to development of the 247,000-sq km area, with an...