Nippon Oil News

Japanese shipping firm Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation (JX) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop a carbon capture and storage (CCS) value chain between Japan and Australia, including CO2 marine transport.The MoU focuses on the establishment of a CCS value chain by capturing CO2 emitted from ENEOS refinery and nearby various industries in Japan, transporting it by CO2 carrier to the Port of Bonython in Australia, and…

On August 25, NYK was commissioned by a consortium comprising ENEOS Corporation, Electric Power Development (J-POWER), and JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration to conduct a study on the marine transportation of liquefied carbon dioxide (CO2).The study is part of a fiscal 2023 feasibility study on advanced carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in Japan.NYK will study the economics and feasibility of the technology for transporting by ship CO2 emitted in western Japan from ENEOS…

Future Energy Exports CRC, JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation, Low Emission Technology Australia, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), and Osaka Gas have executed a project agreement for the "LP Technology R&D Project" to conduct research and development to demonstrate the technical feasibility and operability of low-pressure and low temperature solutions for the bulk transport of CO2 by ships.The LP Technology R&D Project will involve studying behaviour and boil off characteristics of liquid CO2 under dynamic operating conditions and the impact of non-CO2 components.

Malaysia’s oilfield services player Sapura Energy said it has has clinched contracts worth a total of MYR 1 billion ($242 million) for several new oil patch deals and one – the company’s first – offshore wind contract.The 10 new contracts are for its engineering and construction and drilling segments across Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and Australia, said a press release from the company.In addition, the company has been selected for a frame agreement with Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) for fixed offshore structure works, the company said in a statement today.Regarding the first offshore wind farm contract, the statement said, "Sapura Offshore Sdn Bhd (Sapura Offshore) has been awarded a contract by Yunneng Wind Power Co. Ltd.

Malaysia’s Yinson Energy Sdn Bhd plans to take over the Layang floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) project from TH Heavy Engineering Bhd (THHE)  Edge Markets reported. THEE, which has the Layang FPSO contract with Japan’s JX Nippon. has applied to Kuala Lumpur High Court, Malaysia to allow it novate the contract and deliver the vessel to Yinson. Yinson has confirmed this in the Bursa Malaysia filing on Wednesday, saying it has no objection to the THHE application. The charter contract — which is for EPCIC and leasing of a floating production storage and offloading facility to be deployed at the Layang field in Block SK10, offshore Miri, Sarawak — was initially made between JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration (Malaysia) Ltd and THHE.

Cosmo says considering adding units to process more heavy crude; looking to maximize diesel output at Sakai coker. Japan's Cosmo Oil plans to increase diesel output at its Sakai refinery in Osaka, looking to capitalize on an expected jump in demand when a global mandate for ships to switch to cleaner fuels kicks in from 2020, its top executives said. The company, wholly owned by Cosmo Energy Holdings, is considering adding units such as a desalter that will allow its 100,000-barrels per day crude distillation unit (CDU) to process more heavy oil and maximize diesel output from its delayed coker in Sakai, Cosmo Oil President Hisashi Kobayashi told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry event.

Japan imported 8.3 million metric tons of LNG in January, an increase of 1.06 million metric tons compared to the previous year. The data, released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance, also reveals that the amount the country pays for LNG imports had increased by 6.7 percent since 2015. Japan is one of the largest LNG importers in the world and it is expected that gas and LNG will continue to remain a key energy source in the future. The nation’s reliance on LNG rose in 2011 following the closure of the country’s nuclear reactors…

Malaysian shipyard TH Heavy Engineering (THHE) has been served with three winding-up petitions over an alleged debt of around $9.52million in total, for the supply of equipment and work done on the Layang floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. THHE said that the first petition was placed by MIB Italiana on Monday for a sum of around $1.3 million for the supply and installment of quick release hook & mooring hawser for the FPSO. The second petition was also placed on Monday by Orwell Offshore for a sum of around $7.6 million in relation to the supply of equipment and machinery for the Layang. However, it had said that it was seeking legal advice on the matters with a view of defeating the petitions…

Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and Japanese oil company JX Nippon Oil & Energy (JX NOE) have signed an agreement for the sale and purchase of equity in Petronas LNG 9 Sdn Bhd (PL9SB), say local media. Under the agreement, JX NOE will acquire a 10% stake in PL9SB, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Petronas, owns the ninth LNG liquefaction train within the Petronas LNG Complex in Bintulu, Sarawak, Malaysia. The unit is developing and will run the ninth liquefaction train at the Petronas LNG complex in Bintulu, Sarawak. The train, with a production capacity of 3.6 million tonnes of LNG per year, is expected to begin commercial operations in the first quarter of 2017, the companies said on Friday.

The operator of Canada's largest synthetic crude project said on Saturday it is investigating the causes of an early morning fire at an upgrading plant. Firefighters extinguished the blaze, at Syncrude Canada's Mildred Lake upgrading complex in northern Alberta, and no one was injured, said company spokesman Will Gibson in a phone interview. The fire broke out a few hours after the province's energy regulator announced it was shutting in 95 pipelines operated by Nexen, one of the partners in the project, because of safety issues identified following a large oil-related spill in July. But he said it was too soon to know how production would be affected.

Ecopetrol reports it has established an Alliance with Japan’s JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration through its affiliate in Brazil, Ecopetrol Óleo e Gás to explore the FZA-M-320 block, located in shallow waters of the Foz Amazonas basin on the equatorial margin of the Brazilian Amazon region. Ecopetrol has held the exclusive rights for this block since May 2013, which was awarded during the 11th Round carried out by the ANP, the National Petroleum Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency in Brazil. The commercial agreement announced today, yet to be approved by the ANP, establishes that JX Nippon will undertake exploration of this block with a 30% share, for both exploration investments and potential resources that may be discovered. Ecopetrol will maintain its 70% share and will continue as Operator.

Mexico's Pemex said on Friday it had agreed to ship six million barrels of its light crude to Japan's largest refinery over the next six months, as the state-run oil company seeks to further develop its ties with Asia. The shipments of Isthmus crude will go via six cargoes between this August and January 2016 to JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp. Pemex already shipped about 4 million barrels to JX Nippon in the first half of the year. Pemex had been negotiating with buyers in Japan and South Korea earlier this year about the chloride content of its crude, and said it would offer discounts if the level of the chemical that can cause corrosion was higher than usual. The crude will be shipped from Pemex's Salina Cruz terminal on the southern Pacific coast of Mexico.

LNG carrier Spirit of Hela, which is jointly owned by MOL and Itochu Corporation, has left Papua New Guinea carrying the first LNG cargo from the ExxonMobil-led PNG LNG Project, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. announced. The PNG LNG Project is Papua New Guinea’s first ever LNG project, and it will provide long-term supply of gas to customers in Japan and other countries. The vessel loaded LNG at the Project’s Marine Terminal, which is located near Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. The first cargo will be delivered to Tokyo Electric Power Company. On May 14, Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill visited the vessel for a tour.

Exxon Mobil Corporatio says it has shipped the first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the $19 billion PNG (Papua New Guinea) LNG project ahead of schedule. PNG LNG, operated by ExxonMobil affiliate ExxonMobil PNG Limited, is expected to produce more than 9 trillion cubic feet of gas over its estimated 30 years of operations. The first cargo is bound for LNG customer Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc. (TEPCO) in Japan. Production from the first train started in April, 2014, and production from the second train has also started as additional wells came online. Construction of PNG LNG began in 2010, and took more than 190 million work hours to complete. At its peak, the project employed more than 21,000 people.

ExxonMobil's $19 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Papua New Guinea, which is shipping its first cargo, is set to dramatically transform one of Asia-Pacific's most unstable countries, for better or for worse. The LNG venture, which is expected to produce more than 9 trillion cubic feet of gas over 30 years, is the largest private investment in the South Pacific nation's history. ExxonMobil is relying on projects like this one for much-needed production growth, while the Papua New Guinea government hopes it might double its $15 billion dollar economy, now slightly larger than Botswana's. But sharing the spoils of resource projects has previously torn apart a country that is seen as one of the most corrupt in the world…

Following the earthquake that struck on Friday 11th March, six Japanese refineries are reportedly closed. The plants in question, detailed in the table belo,have a combined capacity of 1.34m bbl/day, or around 28% of Japan’s total. The immediate effects of the earthquake are likely to cause a drop in oil demand, but it is likely that in the long‐run, oil and product demand could rebound to levels that surpass those seen pre‐quake as the country re‐builds. Furthermor with up to ten nuclear reactors shut down…

A unit of Williams has announced that it has commissioned a new production handling platform in federal waters approximately 60 miles south of Mobile Bay, Ala. Gas production from approximately 35,000 acres of federal leases is dedicated to the platform. Construction of Williams' Canyon Station -- a fixed-leg platform in 300 feet of water in East Main Pass Block 261 -- was completed on schedule at the end of June. The jacket was installed in October 2001, followed by the deck and all of the topsides equipment in May 2002. Phil Wright, president and chief executive officer of Williams' energy services unit, said, "The deck is set, the generators are running and we're raring to go.

In extending its adherence to delivering cost-efficient and safety driven technologies, DNV has introduced a new means of quickly and accurately determining steel thickness can speed ship surveys. It is especially valuable in inspecting old and corroded steelwork. Present-day methods, based on ultrasonic thickness measurements, are said to have dubious reliability on heavily corroded plates, and for large vessels are also considered too slow. The basic technological challenge was to transmit 100 percent of the signal energy through corroded steel plates, and receive and interpret the reflected signal to give an accurate thickness measurement. The basic principles of the new measuring method (half-wave resonance) have been known for 40 years.

With TBT paints on the endangered list due to environmental concerns, shipowners must find an alternative method to keep ships coated and efficiently clean. Jotun believes it has the answer. Bringing her first cargo to Europe following completion by Samsung Heavy Industries, the 306,000-dwt British Pioneer has given new expression to environmental-consciousness in the crude oil transportation sector. While the security of her 2.1-million barrel cargo containment has been enhanced by the compulsory double hulling, the non-mandatory continuation of the double shell aft better safeguards the bunker spaces, reducing the risk of fuel oil spillage in the event of the aftship being breached.

Jotun Paints confirmed the October 10, 2001 announcement on phasing out of antifouling paints containing organotin compounds. The move comes in preparation for the IMO’s ban on the application of paints containing organotin biocides, which will go into effect January 1, 2003. From that date, the complete Jotun Paints antifouling range will comply with IMO’s requirements. According to Jotun, their antifouling technology will maintain performance equal to existing TBT products and will continue to meet expectations. Jotun Paints is gearing manufacture and supply of antifouling paints over the rest of this year to make the transition to the TBT free era as smooth and hassle free as possible, while avoiding the problem of surplus TBT products in 2003.

Seven directors were elected to the Board of the UK P&I Club at the AGM in Bermuda on October 26th. Jason Liberty, Vice President of Strategy, Corporate Planning & Insurance Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd is responsible for his company’s corporate finance, strategy, M&A, forecasting & planning, insurance and continuous improvement group. A former advisory director with KPMG LLP, Liberty joined Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd in 2005. Harley Franco, Chairman and CEO, Harley Marine Services…

Nippon Oil Corp. has started commercial production of crude oil at a reservoir in the North Sea. Maximum daily oil production at the Blane field, located some 260 kilometers east of Scotland's Aberdeen, is estimated at 17,000 barrels. MOC Exploration (U.K.) Ltd., a fifty-fifty joint venture between Nippon Oil and the Japanese government, holds a 14.0 pct stake in the concession, which accounts for daily production of 2,380 barrels of crude oil. Nippon Oil plans to transport the crude oil from the field to the Scottish mainland via a pipeline, and then sell it on to European users, it said. The Blane field produces light crude oil, suitable for processing into gasoline and gas oil.

Technip has been awarded a contract for the Cili Padi gas field development by Shell Oil and Gas Malaysia LLC. Shell, a production sharing contract (PSC) contractor to Petronas, is the operator for the field, with Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd and Nippon Oil as partners. 91m. the contract. platforms, a new 30km pipeline including a subsea T-piece for the tie-in of the Selasih field, and a new electrical power generation and distribution system. The project is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter 2008.