(EnergyAsia, September 6 2012, Thursday) — Shell said it and its partners will invest a total of C$1.3 billion to build the world’s first carbon capture and storage (CCS) project for an oil sands operation located in Canada’s Alberta province. (US$1=C$0.99). The Quest project will be built on behalf of the Athabasca oil sands project (more…)

(EnergyAsia, September 6 2012, Thursday) — Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard is mocking those predicting the top of the mining boom by citing a well-worn Mark Twain quote in response to false rumours that he had died. “Reports of the mining boom’s death have been exaggerated,” Ms Gillard told the 8th Australian Association of Mining (more…)

(EnergyAsia, September 5 2012, Wednesday) — Ship engine exhaust emissions make up more than a quarter of nitrogen oxide emissions generated in Australia, according to a recently-published study by CSIRO and the Australian Maritime College in Launceston. Nitrogen oxide is a non-greenhouse gas, unlike similarly named nitrous oxide. The remainder comes from road and air (more…)

(EnergyAsia, September 5 2012, Wednesday) — Energy media groups Platts and Argus have expanded their coal pricing and reporting services. Platts, a McGraw-Hill unit, said it has expanded its power sector pricing references for India, China and Asia with its launch of a new price assessment for Indonesia-loaded thermal coal cargoes. Known as Platts Kalimantan (more…)

(EnergyAsia, September 5 2012, Wednesday) — Brazilian mining company Vale SA said it has resumed production at its Carborough Downs coal mine in the Central Bowen Basin in Australia’s Queensland state. Citing safety reasons after detecting abnormally high levels of carbon monoxide, the company declared force majeure and stopped work at the metallurgical coal mine (more…)

(EnergyAsia, September 4 2012, Tuesday) — In Indonesia, a Thai independent power producer, Electricity Generating (Egco Group), has acquired a 40% stake in a coal mine project, while India’s National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) has cancelled a coal supply deal for its captive power plant. Egco said it paid US$197 million for the 40% stake (more…)

(EnergyAsia, September 4 2012, Tuesday) — Australia is unlikely to achieve the government’s model carbon price of A$29 a tonne by 2015 from linking it to Europe’s emissions market, said carbon analysis firm RepuTex. (US$1=A$0.98). The company gave this assessment in response to the announcement by Australia’s Minister for Climate Change & Efficiency, Greg Combet, (more…)

(EnergyAsia, September 3 2012, Monday) — Schneider Electric, a leading energy management company, said it has been awarded the contract to provide medium voltage (MV) switchgears and low voltage (LV) switchboards for Singapore’s Jurong Rock Cavern oil storage project, Southeast Asia’s first underground oil storage facility. Schneider Electric will supply, test and commission the 22KV (more…)

(EnergyAsia, September 3 2012, Monday) — Canada’s SouthGobi Resources Ltd has announced the cancellation of the proposed US$30 million sale of its Tsagaan Tolgoi thermal coal project in Mongolia to Australia’s Modun Resources Ltd by mutual consent. The Mongolia-focused coal miner said it will evaluate options for the deposit, which are non-core to its operations. (more…)

(EnergyAsia, September 3 2012, Monday) — India’s GVK Power and Infrastructure said it has been given environmental approval by the Australian government to proceed with its A$10 billion Alpha coal and rail project in Queensland state. (US$1=A$0.98). The approval for what will be the first project to tap the Galilee Basin came with 19 conditions (more…)

(EnergyAsia, August 31 2012, Friday) — UK’s Wood Group GTS said it has extended long-term agreements to provide maintenance for the power plants of GDF SUEZ Glow Energy Public Company Limited and Glow SPP11 Company Limited (formerly known as Thai National Power Co Ltd). Wood Group said the extension for the original agreement signed in (more…)

(EnergyAsia, August 31 2012, Friday) — Papua New Guinea government has suspended its May 14 2012 notice of intention to cancel an agreement to jointly develop a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project with Liquid Niugini Gas Limited, said Houston, Texas-based InterOil Corp which owns a 47.5% stake in the company. The suspension of the 2009 (more…)

(EnergyAsia, August 31 2012, Friday) — GAIL (India) Limited has signed an agreement to import 12 cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from France’s GDF SUEZ in 2013 and 2014. Weighing a total of 800,000 tons, the agreement will contribute to meeting India’s fast-growing energy demand, said GDF SUEZ. Indian natural gas consumption is expected (more…)

(EnergyAsia, August 31 2012, Friday) — The Canadian government looks set to approve the takeover of Progress Energy Resources Corp by Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas, but stall over the application of China’s CNOOC Ltd to acquire Nexen Inc. The different treatment meted out to two of Asia’s well-known state-owned energy companies reflects Ottawa’s evolving, cautious approach (more…)

(EnergyAsia, August 30 2012, Thursday) — Mobil Oil New Zealand Limited said it is expanding and upgrading fuel storage facilities at its Mount Maunganui Terminal to meet the growing demand for marine fuels at the Port of Tauranga. The ExxonMobil subsidiary will refurbish an existing under-utilised eight-million-litre tank and upgrade the terminal’s boiler, control room (more…)

(EnergyAsia, August 30 2012, Thursday) — Australian engineering firm Transfield Services recently secured two contracts worth a total of A$100 million for the engineering, design and construction of fuel storage terminals in the country’s mining region of Pilbara. (US$1=A$0.97). The company will design and construct Rio Tinto’s Parker Point fuels storage terminal in Dampier for (more…)

(EnergyAsia, August 30 2012, Thursday) — Crude oil prices fell on the twin expectations that Hurricane Isaac will not inflict significant damage on crude oil production in the US Gulf of Mexico and the G7 countries might release oil stockpiles to stem the recent rise in prices. Brent crude oil has fallen to near US$112 (more…)

(EnergyAsia, August 29 2012, Wednesday) — PTT Mining Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Thai energy firm PTT International Company Limited, said it has offered to acquire the remaining 54.73% stake in Singapore-based Sakari Resources Limited that it does not own for S$1.2 billion. (US$1=S$1.25). At S$1.90 a share, the offer represents a 27.5% premium (more…)

(EnergyAsia, August 29 2012, Wednesday) — Caltex, Australia’s leading downstream oil company, is expanding its fuel marketing and distribution activities as its refining operations shrink with the planned closure of the Kurnell plant in Sydney in 2014. In reporting its latest half-year result, the company revealed plans to invest as much as A$$450 million in (more…)

(EnergyAsia, August 29 2012, Wednesday) — New Zealand’s only oil refining company said it suffered a first-half net loss of nearly NZ$1.49 million on shrinking refining margins and a weaker US dollar, compared with a NZ$31.2 million profit for the same period last year. Revenue fell 28% to NZ$113 million for the six months ending (more…)

(EnergyAsia, August 29 2012, Wednesday) — Australia’’ science agency CSIRO and Germany’s chemical giant BASF have jointly developed a process that improves the recovery of coal particles, thus making coal production more efficient and lucrative. According to BASF, CSIRO’s coal grain analysis tool had found that particles of some coal types were difficult to recover (more…)

(EnergyAsia, August 28 2012, Tuesday) — Buoyed by strong energy demand from emerging economies and the continued outlook for high oil prices, the marine and offshore industry contributed over S$16 billion to Singapore’s economy last year. (US$1=S$1.25). In addition, the sector provided employment for 18,000 local residents at the end of last year, up 30% (more…)

(EnergyAsia, August 28 2012, Tuesday) — Oil and gas companies will invest a record of more than US$1 trillion in exploration and production activities this year, said UK-based consultant GlobalData. In a new report, the company said exploration and production (E&P) investment spending will rise 13.4% to reach US$1,039 billion compared with last year’s US$916 (more…)

(EnergyAsia, August 27 2012, Monday) — Singapore’s oil refiners, power plant operators, chemical producers and automobile importers will be among the companies most affected by the National Environment Agency’s (NEA) plan to raise emissions standards and improve air quality by 2020. According to environment minister Vivian Balakrishnan, the agency will be implementing measures to meet (more…)

(EnergyAsia, August 27 2012, Monday) — Shell Australia said it has opened two new tanks with the capacity to hold a combined 38 million litres of diesel at its Mackay Terminal in Queensland state. The tanks will provide extra capacity and supply security to Shell customers in the Bowen Basin and northern Queensland. The company’s (more…)