(EnergyAsia, October 30 2012, Tuesday) — Ezra Holdings, a Singapore-based provider of offshore oil and gas services, said its full-year net profit rose 62% to US$65 million with revenues surging 76% to a record US$984.2 million in its 20-year history. The company attributed the sharp rise in revenue for the year to August 2012 to (more…)
(EnergyAsia, October 30 2012, Tuesday) — Asia is increasingly at risk of oil supply disruptions as the region does not have sufficient strategic stockpiles while its oil deficit is projected to rise to 30 million b/d in 2030 from 18 million b/d in 2010, said UK-based Chatham House. In a new report, the research institute...
(EnergyAsia, October 29 2012, Monday) — Singapore will invest S$500 million to add a fourth tank to its liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal by 2017, boosting the total storage capacity to nine million tonnes, said the country’s Second Trade and Industry Minister S. Iswaran. (US$1=S$1.22). The terminal is expected to start up in the second (more…)
(EnergyAsia, October 29 2012, Monday) — The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has marginally raised its forecasts for global oil demand to reach 88.81 million b/d in 2012 and 89.6 million b/d next year, but slashed the rate of growth for both years. Continuing its focus on the downside risks to the outlook for...
(EnergyAsia, October 29 2012, Monday) — Dutch oil and chemicals logistics giant Royal Vopak said it has raised a total of US$1 billion in various currencies from a new notes programme through a private placement in the US. Comprising a senior tranche of US$900 million and a subordinated tranche of US$100 million, the programme was (more…)
(EnergyAsia, October 29 2012, Monday) — Global oil demand will still breach the 90-million b/d ceiling next year, but the increase from this year will be smaller than earlier forecast, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its October short-term energy outlook. In its latest monthly forecast, the agency downgraded the world’s oil demand...
(EnergyAsia, October 25 2012, Thursday) — Norwegian classification and inspection firm Det Norske Veritas (DNV) said it has teamed up with nine Australian companies to conduct a four-month study into the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a shipping fuel to protect the environment. Similar to a pioneering study launched in Singapore in 2010, (more…)
(EnergyAsia, October 25 2012, Thursday) — Western companies again dominated the elite in the latest rankings of the world’s top 250 energy companies by Platts that featured more companies from Asia led by China and India. At an award dinner ceremony in Singapore on Tuesday, global energy media Platts announced that the Asia Pacific region (more…)
(EnergyAsia, October 25 2012, Thursday) — The Indian government wants private companies to build and operate strategic crude oil reserves to augment the stockpiling role played by state-owned companies. For now, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPR), a subsidiary of the Oil Industry Development Board, and the country’s leading state-owned companies have the responsibility to...
(EnergyAsia, October 25 2012, Thursday) — Australian upstream company Santos made two landmark announcements the past week. It has claimed the country’s first production of natural gas from shale as well as admitted the first Asian businessman into its board of directors. Santos said its Moomba-191 shale well in the Cooper Basin is producing around (more…)
(EnergyAsia, October 25 2012, Thursday) — Afghanistan has become a crude oil producer for the first time following the recent start-up of operation in the Amu Darya basin in northern Afghanistan by China’s state-owned CNPC. Production is expected to rise to under 2,000 b/d by year end, and to more than 4,100 b/d from January,...
(EnergyAsia, October 24 2012, Wednesday) — Oman is looking to build a large refinery and the world’s largest oil storage terminal to hold up to 200 million barrels of crude in an area south of the Straits of Hormuz to reduce the risk of supply disruption from geopolitical events. State-owned Oman Oil Company has begun...
(EnergyAsia, October 24 2012, Tuesday) — The Chinese government has raised its estimate of the country’s oil and gas reserves to 88.1 billion tonnes of oil equivalent as at end-2010, an increase of 15% over its previous survey in 2007, according to local media reports citing the Ministry of Land and Resources. Recoverable oil in...
(EnergyAsia, October 24 2012, Wednesday) — France’s Technip and its consortium partner, China Offshore Oil Engineering Co Ltd (COOEC), have secured a 200-million euro contract to provide engineering, procurement, installation and construction services for an offshore oil and gas exploration project. Technip said the contract was awarded by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Deepwater (more…)
(EnergyAsia, October 24 2012, Wednesday) — Hong Kong-listed Sinopec Kantons Holdings Limited said it will pay Swiss trader Mercuria Energy Group Limited 128.6 million euros for a 50% stake in its Europe-based oil storage firm as part of their establishment of a new joint venture. (US$1=0.77 euro) With its first foray into Europe, Sinopec Kantons...
(EnergyAsia, October 23 2012, Tuesday) — UK major BP said it has signed heads of terms to sell its 50% share in TNK-BP to Rosneft, the Russian integrated oil and gas company. Rosneft has agreed in principle to buy BP’s share in TNK-BP, Russia’s third largest oil company, in two tranches. This includes the sale (more…)
(EnergyAsia, October 23 2012, Tuesday) — Iraq could more than double its crude oil production to 6.1 million b/d by 2020 if it is able to attract international investment to build up its key infrastructure including power supply, transportation, storage and port facilities, pipelines and domestic security, said the International Energy Agency (IEA). In a...
(EnergyAsia, October 23 2012, Tuesday) — Gaylin, a Singapore-based oil rigging and lifting services provider, has launched an initial public offering (IPO) of 110 million shares at S$0.35 each for listing on the mainboard of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (US$1=S$1.22). At S$0.35 per share, the offering is priced at a price earnings ratio (more…)
(EnergyAsia, October 23 2012, Tuesday) — Canadian oil and gas stocks tumbled as an immediate response to the government’s shock decision to reject a generous C$5.9-billion offer by Malaysian state energy firm Petronas to take over mid-sized Calgary-based Progress Energy Resources Corp. Longer term, it might cast a shadow over Canada’s attraction as a destination...
(EnergyAsia, October 22 2012, Monday) — Australia’s gas pipeline association said the government should not implement regulation for its own sake as the nation already has in place the “most appropriate” environmental rules. Speaking at the opening session of the recent annual convention of The Australian Pipeline Industry Association (APIA) in Brisbane, its President, Kevin (more…)
(EnergyAsia, October 22 2012, Monday) — Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has completed the 30-month-long construction of a Rs3.3 billion oil storage terminal at Ennore port on the east coat of India’s Tamil Nadu state. (US$1=56 rupees). Due to start up soon, the 2.8-million kilolitre terminal is linked by pipelines to the port and will...
(EnergyAsia, October 22 2012, Monday) — With the global economy stalling and oil demand growth curtailed, oil prices will become “somewhat disconnected” from market fundamentals for the remainder of 2012, said consultant Ernst & Young. Fears of demand destruction were underscored when Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter of oil, expressed concern about the impact (more…)
(EnergyAsia, October 22 2012, Monday) — International companies are preparing to take on a key role in exploring and developing China’s enormous shale gas reserves as they approach the October 25 deadline for the country’s second auction on at least 17 blocks. It will be the first time that international companies have been invited to...
(EnergyAsia, October 19 2012, Friday) — A globally acceptable pricing system and support from key stakeholders must be in place for liquefied natural gas (LNG) to be developed into a viable bunker fuel source, said Lloyd’s Register. The inspection and classification company released these and other findings in a detailed study, “LNG fuelled deep-sea shipping (more…)
(EnergyAsia, October 19 2012, Friday) — Sinopec, Asia’s largest refiner, said it will be investing US$850 million to build Southeast Asia’s largest oil storage terminal on Indonesia’s Batam Island, while Oiltanking will develop a smaller project on Karimun Island. Both are located near Singapore, home to Asia’s largest independent oil storage capacity. Sinopec will own...