Extractive industries
Oil and gas resources
Laos boosts hydropower, explores coal deposits for shale gas
Laos aims to sharply boost its hydropower generation to 10,000 megawatts by 2020 and is exploring for shale gas as part of plans to export electricity to its neighbours, its vice minister of energy and mines said on 26 October. Laos is among Asia’s poorest countries ...
Cambodian government and industry reps hear EITI experience
A visiting Mongolian delegation comprised of government, industry and civil society active in the petroleum and mining sectors shared their experience in implementing the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) with their Cambodian counterparts at a workshop in Phnom Penh on 28 September. The EITI is an ...
Vietnam's oil exploitation output likely to increase by 4.6% this year
According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Vietnam`s crude oil exploitation output in 2015 is estimated to reach 17.58 million tonnes, rising 4.6% from the annual target of the government. The ministry also made a forecast that the crude oil output in 2016 would decline ...
Vietnam cautious on plan to raise crude oil output for growth
While some officials have proposed an increase in Vietnam’s crude output to counter the falling oil prices and achieve an economic growth of 6.2 percent, the government is not yet sure if that is an optimal strategy. The government will continue studying “all relevant factors” to ...
Ministry reveals CSR history for country’s largest oil and gas firms
The corporate social responsibility (CSR) contributions made by international oil companies operating in Myanmar have been made public for the first time, with France’s Total E&P Myanmar at the top of the list. The Ministry of Energy (MoE) has released figures dating back to 1998, on ...
China oil rig to keep drilling in waters disputed with Vietnam
A Chinese oil rig at the center of last year’s standoff between China and Vietnam will continue drilling not far from Vietnam’s coast, China’s maritime safety authorities said on 25 August. The deployment of the $1 billion deepwater rig last year about 120 nautical miles off ...
Vietnam, Dagestan reach oil and gas exploitation agreement
Vietnam is willing to pour up to 300 million USD into an oil and gas exploitation project in the Caspian Sea of the Republic of Dagestan within the Russian Federation, said Dagestan’s Government Office on 18 August. Keep reading ...
Thai boats caught smuggling oil in Vietnam waters
Vietnamese coast guards have caught two Thai boats smuggling fuel to two Vietnamese fishing boats in the southwestern waters off off Phu Quoc Island. Keep reading ...
Rayong fishermen mark two years since oil spill
Small fishermen in Rayong have called on Thailand’s biggest petrochemical company to do more to rehabilitate oil-spill impacted sites along the province’s coastline, saying they still are living with the after effects of a spill two years ago. Keep reading ...
Villages hope to get rich from Myanmar's oil rush
Once-quiet Myanmar villages have become oil boomtowns made out of bamboo and metal, and powered by generators. Speculators must pay both local authorities and the villagers whose land they want to drill on. And if they do strike oil, they better hope it’s not too ...
