(EnergyAsia, April 14, Monday) --- Population growth and globalisation has helped boost energy use throughout the world.

As demand for oil and gas continues to escalate, the world’s energy thirst has to be met through traditional and unconventional sources.

Experience shows that price volatility and alternating boom and bust cycles are harmful to both the industry and the consumers.

The industry faces the challenge of ensuring continuous, affordable and reliable supply that meets the society’s expectations through sustainable, transparent, ethical and environmentally sound practices.

The Petroleum Economist examines the challenging issues faced by the industry in ‘Fundamentals of the Global Oil and Gas Industry 2007’ which covers  various topics including environmental responsibility and its challenges, mergers and acquisitions, the role of new graduates in the oil industry  and dispute resolution.

Sections in this 130-page book include managing the industry, upstream, downstream, gas and renewables and the World Petroleum Council. The book also contains industry statistics and an energy map of the world.

For more information, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

(EnergyAsia, April 15, 2008, Tuesday) --- With oil, gas and coal prices at record levels, conference organiser Informa IBC Asia is looking at a busy year ahead.

On March 24, two of the group’s senior executives sat down with EnergyAsia for a filmed interview giving an overview of their plans ahead.

Rebecca Wolfe, who looks after the energy and mining industries, and Fred Adel, who leads the financial team, said their conferences and events will hold lots of opportunities for networking and idea sharing for oil, gas, mining and financial professionals.

Click here to view the interview in two parts:

http://www.energyasia.com/component/option,com_seyret/task,videodirectlink/Itemid,1/id,58/

http://www.energyasia.com/component/option,com_seyret/task,videodirectlink/Itemid,1/id,57/

(EnergyAsia, April 15, Tuesday) --- EnergyAsia has released filmed interviews with four participants at the Third Annual ‘World Renewable Energy Summit’ (WRES) at the JW Marriot hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from March 27 to 28.

The filmed interviews with Dr Wolfgang Palz, Chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy, Ms Nguyen Thanh Phat (IndoChina Capital), Ms Sopida Luveeraphan (MFC Asset Management Public Co Ltd) and Ms Wei Nee Chen (Pusat Tenaga Malaysia) can be viewed on www.EnergyAsia.com.

Dr Palz, a key speaker, disagrees with Greenpeace’s blanket rejection of biofuels as an energy source.

Ms Phat is promoting her company’s fund as one way for investors to participate in Vietnam’s fast growing energy market.

Ms Sopida, an executive vice president at MFC, is aiming to raise US$100 million for its fund to promote clean energy projects in Thailand.

Ms Chen, a solar energy specialist with the state-funded PTM, gave an update of Malaysia’s renewable energy programme.

If you want to use these copyrighted films for your company’s marketing and promotional activities, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

(EnergyAsia, April 14, Monday) --- The ‘Middle East Petrochemicals 2008’ conference will be held at the Sheraton Bahrain Hotel from June 15 to 17.

More than 40% of the global petrochemical capacity will be built in the Middle East by 2011. This would make the region the petrochemicals hub of the world offering the industry many opportunities.

The conference will gather international experts and decision makers to discuss ideas and share latest intelligence. Speakers will focus on the challenges faced by the industry and the opportunities available.

Topics addressed include feedstock availability and pricing, the region’s competitive advantages, managing in an overheated contracting market and distribution strategies.

Speakers at the event include Jim White (Abu Dhabi Industries Corporation), Nicholas Thevenot (Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation), Aamir Aka, Director (Argon Consulting Middle East), Filippo Fantechi (CONTAX), Andy Allen (Foster Wheeler International), Zahoor Khan, (Gulf Investment Corporation), Darren Davis (MENA), Martijn Vogelzang (Lyondell Basell Industries), Anthony Elwine (Maersk Logistics),

Edmund O’Sullivan (MEED Events), Mohammad Hadi Rahbari  (National Petrochemical Company), Theodore Theodoropoulos (Qatar Petrochemicals), Amit Chaturvedi (Reliance Industries), Phil Parker (Shell Chemicals Middle East), Abdullatif Bhairi  and Kevin Hayes (SIPCHEM), Saleh Al Nazha (TASNEE), Terry Newendorp (Taylor Dejongh), Graeme Burnett (TOTAL Petrochemicals), Malcolm Weaver (Zamil Group Corporate Finance).

‘Middle East Petrochemicals 2008’ is organised by MEED Events. For more information, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

(EnergyAsia, April 14, Monday) --- The McCloskey Group, a leading energy market news and information services company and the global leader in coal market news and price reporting, has launched a new publication entitled ‘McCloskey’s NuclearBusiness’.

As nuclear power is once again viewed as a likely leading provider of future global energy needs, there is growing demand for intelligence and reports to help meet the knowledge and information needs of the business community.

This monthly report aims to guide readers through this complicated and evolving market landscape.

Each issue includes industry news, insight and analysis, interviews, country and company profiles, plant developments and outages, share prices, uranium markets and prices and new build monitor.

For more information on ‘McCloskey’s NuclearBusiness’, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

(EnergyAsia, April 11, Friday) --- Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) said it is launching the world’s first clearing service for over-the-counter benzene swaps to serve growing demand for credit risk mitigation in the petrochemical market.

SGX AsiaClear will launch the service on May 5. Including this new product, SGX will have 13 energy contracts.

The size of each benzene FOB Korea Swaps contract is 500 metric tons. It will be cash settled based on the monthly average of Platts’ daily spot marker physical cargo assessments in the contract month.

Benjamin Foo, SGX Head of Clearing, Commodities and AsiaClear said:

“SGX has been working closely with OTC and petrochemical market participants to introduce benzene swaps to meet their trading and risk management needs. This product complements SGX’s suite of OTC oil contracts.”

Simon Chua, vice president for Summit Petrochemical Trading Inc, said: “Asia is an important pricing centre for aromatics. The launch of the SGX benzene swaps clearing facility is timely as there is a need for such a service in the petrochemical market. This service will help to create a more active benzene paper market for traders and producers to manage their price and counterparty risks.”

(EnergyAsia, April 10, Thursday) --- ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc, a subsidiary of the US major, said it and Malaysia’s national oil company, Petronas, will be extending their work together under a new 25-year production sharing contract to ensure sustainable energy supplies for the country.

The contract includes commitments to implement significant enhanced oil recovery activities and for major investments to continue conventional oil development.

Exxon Mobil Corporation senior vice president Mark Albers said: “We are proud of our partnership and collaboration with Petronas. This allows us to develop and deliver energy supplies to satisfy the country’s energy needs.”

“This agreement allows our partnership to grow and provides us with an opportunity to efficiently develop the substantial petroleum resources offshore Peninsular Malaysia using our world-class technologies and project execution capabilities,” he added.

The ExxonMobil subsidiary which has invested more than US$15 billion in Malaysia is one of the nation’s major suppliers of crude oil and natural gas. The company operates 43 platforms in 17 fields with a gross daily production of 150,000 barrels of oil and 1.2 billion cubic feet of gas.

(EnergyAsia, April 8, Tuesday) --- Developing Asian economies will register solid growth in 2008 despite a coincident slowdown in major industrial economies, surging food and fuel prices and a simmering credit crisis in the US, said the Asian Development Bank (ADB) says in a new major report.

Its flagship annual publication, Asian Development Outlook 2008 (ADO), forecasts developing Asian economies to expand at 7.6% in 2008 and 7.8% in 2009. The region posted its highest growth in almost two decades in 2007 – averaging 8.7%.

“Asia will not be immune to the global slowdown, neither will it be hostage to it. It remains tied to global activity through traditional trade channels, and increasingly, through its closer integration in international financial markets,” said ADB chief economist Ifzal Ali.

He said favourable policy conditions and impressive productivity growth associated with Asia’s economic modernisation and structural transformation will continue to keep the region on a strong growth path.

The report warns that the risk of an inflation spiral in Asia is palpable and urges policymakers to keep a close watch on it. Despite a slew of administrative measures and subsidies that are reining in price rises, inflation is expected to spike in 2008 and could hit a decade-long regional high, the report said.

Inflation is expected to rise to 5.1% in 2008 and gradually slide to 4.6% in 2009. Price increases will be highest in Central Asia where it will remain in double digits. Inflation is running at an 11-year high in China, and is a threat to other countries like Vietnam.

The ADB urges policymakers to tackle the problem at its root. For some economies, this may mean a more flexible exchange rate, while in others it may need a scrutiny of fiscal spending and priorities and, in some cases, targeted measures may be warranted to ease supply pressures that are piling on to cost pressures.

Growth in the region’s main economic powerhouses, China and India, is expected to moderate as authorities tighten policies to rein in blistering demand and ease inflationary pressures.

China is expected to grow by a solid 10% in 2008 while India is forecast to expand by 8%. The slowdown in the economies of the US, European Union and Japan will have a more pronounced impact on PRC, which is more open to trade than India.

The ADB said growth in East Asia is expected to decelerate in 2008 to 8.1% from 9.3% in 2007.

Southeast Asia will slow to 5.7% in 2008, from 6.5% in 2007, as its export prospects are likely to be pinched by a slowdown in the global economy. In Southeast Asia, only Thailand is expected to post higher growth after a return to normalcy in politics. Vietnam’s economic expansion will moderate as it grapples to keep a lid on inflation.

South Asia is also expected to lose some steam in 2008 mainly on moderation of growth in India. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will also be affected by economic deceleration in major markets as garment exports are expected to suffer.

Growth in Central Asia is expected to decelerate sharply to 7.5% in 2008 from double digit levels in recent years on the back of weaker expansion in the region’s largest economy, Kazakhstan. A sudden halt of capital flows to Kazakh banks has triggered a reduction in lending and downturn in non-oil economy.

Economic expansion in the Pacific Islands is expected to pick up in 2008 with the region’s biggest economy Papua New Guinea benefiting from high global commodity prices and Fiji Islands forecast to grow after contracting in 2007.

“Looking beyond the immediate bumps in the road, Asia’s long-term growth prospects will depend on how successfully countries tackle a range of structural constraints facing them,” said Mr Ali.

These include maintaining macroeconomic stability, integrating into the global economy, getting prices to send the right signals, creating a conducive business and investment climate and above all, ensuring that the benefits of growth are shared by all.