Indonesia 2019 biodiesel exports to rise in best-case scenario -association
The Indonesia Biodiesel Producers Association (APROBI) estimates the country may export up to 2 million kilolitres (kl) of unblended biodiesel in 2019 in an “optimistic scenario”, Vice Chairman Paulus Tjakrawan told reporters on Thursday. In a “pessimistic scenario”, he said biodiesel exports this year would be around 1 million to 1.2 million kl. This compares with exports of 1.78 million kl of biodiesel last year. The “pessimistic scenario” takes into consideration the European Union (EU) setting countervailing duties on Indonesian biodiesel this year, Tjakrawan said, after it launched an anti-subsidy investigation on the Indonesian biofuel in late 2018. Indonesia resumed exports of biodiesel to Europe early last year, after the World Trade Organization (WTO) had ruled in its favour on several challenges Jakarta made on previous anti-dumping duties imposed by the EU on its biodiesel shipments. In the first quarter this year, Indonesia’s overall biodiesel exports were 173,542 kl, association data showed, up 78 percent from the same period last year. The shipments were mostly headed to the EU and China. In Indonesia’s domestic market, first-quarter consumption of biodiesel more than doubled to 1.5 million kl from 659,813.51 kl a year earlier, APROBI data showed on Thursday. Consumption of the palm oil-based fuel jumped after Indonesian government made the use of B20 fuel mandatory. That’s diesel with a 20 percent biodiesel component. Indonesia estimates 6.2 million kl of domestic biodiesel consumption in 2019. APROBI Chairman M.P. Tumanggor said the government aims to soon conduct a road test for B30 biodiesel, containing a 30 percent bio component. “According to schedule, (the test) will go on until September, but we want to speed it up to (finish) in July,” Tumanggor said. APROBI estimated that B30 implementation would increase domestic consumption of biodiesel to as much as 10 million kl. According to government regulations, road vehicles will have to start using B30 fuel from 2020, although an energy ministry official has said the implementation schedule will depend on the results of the road test.
Singapore’s Pavilion Energy marks first ship-to-ship LNG refuelling operation
Pavilion Energy has performed the first commercial ship-to-ship (STS) liquefied natural gas (LNG) refuelling operation in the port of Singapore, the company said. The operation included loading 2,000 cubic metres of LNG onto a small-scale tanker at the Singapore LNG (SLNG) Terminal, followed by an STS transfer to a receiving heavy-lift commercial vessel, Pavilion Energy said in a statement on Thursday. The use of LNG as a marine or bunker fuel has grown amid tightening regulations on global shipping emissions. “We strongly believe that LNG will become the worldwide fuel of choice for bunkering in the long term,” said Tan Soo Koong, chief executive officer of SLNG. “We are keen to work with all stakeholders and invest in infrastructure as necessary, to help grow LNG bunkering here,” Tan said. Pavilion Energy is a Singapore-based LNG company incorporated by state-owned Temasek Holdings to invest in clean energy. From 2020, International Maritime Organization (IMO) rules will ban ships from using fuels with a sulphur content above 0.5 percent – compared with 3.5 percent now – unless they are equipped to clean their sulphur emissions. Using LNG to power ships instead of traditional fuels like fuel oil or gasoil can reduce polluting emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxides by 90 to 95 percent, according to industry estimates. Singapore is the world’s largest bunkering hub with sales of 49.8 million tonnes of fuel in 2018. Other major bunkering ports like Rotterdam in the Netherlands have also encouraged the use of LNG bunkers. In Rotterdam, demand for cleaner-burning LNG rose more than sixfold in 2018 to 9,500 tonnes, up from 1,500 tonnes in the year before.
UAE’s ADNOC launches second exploration bid round for oil, gas blocks
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said on Wednesday that it has launched the second exploration bid round for five new oil and gas blocks. The bidding will be for both conventional and unconventional resources, and the successful bidders will enter into agreements granting them exploration rights, ADNOC said in a statement. The new blocks are three offshore and two onshore.
Natural gas consumption up 1.5% on higher import prices
India’s natural gas consumption rose barely 1.5 per cent in 2018-19 as higher imported gas prices limited demand from the power sector and other industries, underlining the difficulty in making the cleaner fossil fuel popular in the country. Total gas available for sale in 2018-19 rose to 53.05 billion cubic metres (BCM) from 52.25 BCM a year earlier, according to the oil ministry data. In 2018-19, availability of domestic gas for sale rose 0.4 per cent while import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) went up 2.6 percent. The share of LNG in total gas consumption in the year was 51 percent. At this rate of demand growth, it would be hard for India to achieve its goal of raising the share of natural gas in its energy mix to 15 percent by 2030 from the current 6 percent. In a bid to penetrate much of the country with gas distribution infrastructure, the downstream regulator awarded city gas licenses for 136 geographical areas in a year, which should raise piped gas coverage to 70 percent of the country’s population from 20 per cent now. But some industry executives said policy push should be aimed at power sector which is a potentially heavy consumer. Natural gas consumption up 1.5% on higher import prices “The stagnancy in demand is mainly due to price sensitivity of customers,” said K Ravichandran, an analyst at rating agency ICRA. Power plants avoid using expensive LNG as electricity distributors prefer cheaper electricity produced from coal. This is why plant load factors at gas-based generators have been low, he added. Other gas-consuming industries switching to liquid fuel when LNG rates rose sharply last year also kept gas demand volatile and stagnant, Ravichandran said. Most factories have multi-fuel boilers and can easily switch to liquid fuel if that becomes economical. Unlike fuel oil, propane or coal that’s used as fuel by many industries, natural gas is not in the ambit of the goods and services tax. This means industries do not get input tax credit for gas consumed. Natural gas prices are mostly linked to crude oil rates and rose sharply following a spike in the oil rates last year. But spot rates of LNG have been down sharply since the beginning of this year with rates coming down to $6 per million metric British thermal unit (mmBtu). The fertilizer sector, another key consumer of gas, didn’t see operational capacity expansion last year. A new facility will start functioning this year and that will likely boost gas consumption.
Indian Oil plans to shut units at northeast refineries to upgrade fuel: Sources
Indian Oil Corp, the country’s top refiner, plans to shut units in phases at its northeast plants from August to produce cleaner fuels, two sources privy to the move said. Domestic refiners have lined up upgrade plans ahead of full-scale roll-out of Euro VI-compliant fuels in the country from April 2020. IOC’s refineries in the state of Assam are very old and small in size. These refineries get incentives from the government to protect their gross refining margins and cater to fuel demand in the land-locked region. IOC will shut a delayed coker, hydrotreater and gasoline units for about 15 days for catalyst replacement at its 13,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) Digboi refinery, the sources said. At the 48,000-bpd Bongaigaon refinery, it will shut one of the two crude units, a delayed coker, diesel hydrotreater and hydrogen generation unit for three months from September, they said. The second crude unit at the Bongaigaon refinery will be idle as most units at the plant will be shut. The refiner will also shut gasoline units at the plant for 20 days in September to install a new naphtha hydrotreater. It will fully shut its 20,000-bpd Guwahati refinery in the first quarter of 2020 to modify the plant for producing Euro VI-compliant fuels, they added. Apart from revamping the units, IOC aims to raise the capacity of Guwahati refinery to 24,000 bpd. IOC will source fuels from other refineries to meet demand in the northeast due to the shutdown of units, they added. IOC was not immediately available for comment.