(EnergyAsia, January 14 2013, Monday) — Mongolia may have found a way to export coal by sea, thus reducing its current overwhelming dependence on land-based sales to China. Singapore-listed commodities trader Noble Group has agreed to invest in a multi-billion-dollar coal and rail development project in Mongolia that will include the use of a Russian (more…)

(EnergyAsia, January 11 2013, Friday) — TransCanada Corp has been selected to design, build, own and operate a C$5 billion pipeline to deliver natural gas to a proposed export terminal along the British Columbia coast in western Canada. (US$1=C$0.99). The contract was awarded by Calgary-based Progress Energy, a fully owned subsidiary of Malaysia’s state energy (more…)

(EnergyAsia, January 11 2013, Friday) — Hong Kong-based Sinopec Kantons Holdings Limited, which is building an oil storage project in Indonesia and expanding into Europe, has bought a 50% stake in a Fujairah project being developed by Singapore’s Concord Energy Pte Ltd. The Sinopec subsidiary said its fully owned subsidiary, Sinomart KTS Development Limited, will (more…)

(EnergyAsia, January 10 2013, Thursday) — Faced with competition from cheap natural gas, US coal consumption for power generation fell to a 20-year low of 829 million short tons (mmst) in 2012, said the Energy Information Administration (EIA). In 2011, the US consumed 932.5 mmst of coal for power generation. But that downward trend will (more…)

(EnergyAsia, January 9 2013, Wednesday) — Russia’s leadership in the natural gas business could come under threat from rising exploitation and production of shale reserves in the US, and potentially from Europe and other parts of the world. According to US-based GBI Research, shale prospects in Europe may well reshape the continent’s energy market dynamics (more…)

(EnergyAsia, January 8 2012, Tuesday) — Environmental groups are demanding that governments impose an immediate ban on all oil and gas exploration activities in the Arctic region in the wake of the grounding of a Shell rig in the remote ecologically-sensitive northern part of the planet. The Kulluk was refloated yesterday and towed away after (more…)

(EnergyAsia, January 8 2013, Tuesday) — In a belated announcement, Singapore’s Keppel FELS Limited said it has delivered its first KFELS Super B Class jack-up oil drilling rig to a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Aramco. Named SAR 202, the rig was delivered 13 days ahead of schedule, on budget and with a perfect safety record (more…)

(EnergyAsia, January 7 2013, Monday) — China oil storage and distribution company Longwei Petroleum Investment Holding Ltd said it will defend itself against fraud allegations published in a report last week that caused its NYSE-listed stock price to plunge from around US$2.62 a share to US$0.62 before it was suspended. The stock was trading near (more…)

(EnergyAsia, January 4 2013, Friday) — China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation or Sinopec, and US oil and gas company ConocoPhillips have begun a joint study to explore and develop in western China’s Sichuan basin over the next two years, the two companies have announced. Sinopec Exploration Southern Co, a subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned major (more…)

(EnergyAsia, January 4 2013, Friday) — Hong Kong-based Sino Oil and Gas Holdings Limited said it has started selling piped sales of coalbed methane (CBM) gas from the Sanjiao block in China’s Shanxi province while in a separate deal, European major Shell said it has bought into a tight gas block in Sichuan province. Sino (more…)

(EnergyAsia, January 3 2012, Thursday) — The Australian coal industry has hailed the launch of what it calls the country’s first “’clean coal” carbon capture plant. The A$200-million callide oxyfuel demonstration plant is said to trap greenhouse gas generated by CS Energy’s Callide A coal-fired power station in Biloela in central Queensland. (US$1=A$0.95). The Australian (more…)

(EnergyAsia, January 3 2012, Thursday) — Vancouver, Canada-based Carbon Friendly Solutions Inc said its wholly-owned subsidiary, MicroCoal International Inc (MCI), has signed a binding letter of intent with two companies to build a coal-fired power plant in Indonesia, its first in Asia. MCI, Carbon 2 Power Ventures Inc, also of Vancouver, and PT Wijaya Tri (more…)

(EnergyAsia, January 2 2013, Wednesday) — UK gas giant BG Group PLC said it has obtained a US$1.8 billion loan from the US Export-Import Bank to purchase the services of American companies for the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Australia’s Queensland state. The loan is part of the company’s attempt to (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 31 2012, Monday) — Global expenditure on oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) is expected to reach a record US$1,039 billion for 2012, said natural resources consultant GlobalData. In a recent report, the UK-based firm predicts that the sector’s capital expenditure will increase by 13.4% over 2011’s US $916 billion as oil (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 31 2012, Monday) — After more than a year of delay, ExxonMobil said it has started up operations at one of the world’s largest ethylene steam crackers, the centrepiece of the company’s multi-billion dollar expansion project at its Singapore petrochemical complex. The US major has added a new 220-megawatt cogeneration power plant, and (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 28 2012, Friday) — Shipping executives predict their industry will benefit from China’s long-term shift to becoming a domestic consumer-driven economy. As the world’s second largest economy continues to grow at more than seven percent a year, the shipping industry will likely see further growth in new vessel deliveries in 2013, said Xu (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 28 2012, Friday) — Amid falling oil prices, OPEC’s net oil export revenues will fall by 9.2% next year to US$955 billion after reaching a record US$1.052 trillion in 2012, predicts the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA). In 2011, the 12-member Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries earned US$1.27 trillion from oil exports (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 28 2012, Friday) — With three new contracts worth a total S$420 million, Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd said the combined value of its rig orders for 2012 reached S$9.9 billion, just short of last year’s record S$10 billion. (US$1=S$1.22). Two of the contracts went to Keppel Singmarine Pte Ltd while the (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 27 2012, Thursday) — Switzerland-based Foster Wheeler AG said its global engineering and construction group has been awarded a US$500 million project management and consultancy (PMC) services contract for a clean fuels project at the Mina Al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah refineries in Kuwait. Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), which awarded the contract, is (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 27 2012, Thursday) — After decades of relative inaction in Canada’s oil-rich Alberta province, Japan Petroleum Exploration Co (Japex) said it plans to invest C$1.1-billion to boost production at its jointly-owned Hangingstone field from about 6,000 to 7,000 b/d to 30,000 b/d from 2016. (US$1=C$0.99). Japan’s second largest upstream company said subsidiary Japan (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 26 2012, Wednesday) — BP said it has agreed to sell its 34.3% interest in the Yacheng gas field in the South China Sea to Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) for US$308 million cash. Expected to close in the second half of 2013 upon clearing regulatory, partner and third party approvals, the (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 24 2012, Monday) — America can bank on plentiful domestic natural gas, but will have to continue relying on foreign oil, according to 250 oil and gas decision-makers who participated in a recent Deloitte survey. Three-quarters of the respondents think the US is already natural gas self-sufficient, or will be within 10 years. (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 24 2012, Monday) — Russian gas giant Gazprom said it has executed the first successful shipment of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo through the Arctic northern sea route. This route cuts the maritime distance from Northern Europe to Northeast Asia by up to 40% compared to southern sea routes via the Suez (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 24 2012, Monday) — Boosted by its surging natural gas output, Australia produced a record 143.2 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) in the latest September quarter, according to Adelaide-based EnergyQuest. Australia’s natural gas production reached a record 611 petajoules (PJ) in the July-September period, surpassing the previous high of 547 PJ in (more…)

(EnergyAsia, December 21 2012, Friday) — Wartsila, a Finnish supplier of flexible and efficient power plant solutions, said it has signed a contract to supply and install the largest gas-fired power plant in Mozambique worth 138 million euro. (US$1=0.75 euro). The company said it will also construct a sub-station and a gas pipeline as part (more…)