Bukan Karna Durhaka Kulit Anak Ini Berubah Jadi ‘Batu', Ternyata Karna Ini

Thailand is expected to increase the share of electricity generated by coal to diversify its fuel mix for power generation, the country’s energy minister said. “The share of coal in our power generation mix is very low at slightly less than 20 percent,” Energy Minister Siri Jirapongphan said on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum late on Wednesday. “We need to diversify the sources of fuel for our power generation. Having a reasonable percentage of coal to be used for power generation would be a necessity in considering the security of fuel supply to our generation system.” Thailand relies mainly on natural gas to generate power, but domestic demand is falling behind consumption, requiring the country to import more piped gas from Myanmar and more liquefied natural gas (LNG). A plan by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) to build coal-fired power plants in the southern Thailand tourist destinations of Krabi and Songkhla has been delayed for years due to opposition from villagers and environmentalists. “We need to conduct a more global strategic environmental assessment to identify a more suitable location to build a coal-fired power plant that Thailand needs,” Siri said, adding that a decision on the plants’ locations could be made towards the end of this year. “In terms of contribution to carbon dioxide generation, Thailand can be considered as one of the lowest in the world,” Siri said. Thailand has promoted the use of renewable energy aggressively over the past 10 years, he said, adding that the share of electricity generation from renewables has reached around 12 percent, which is the highest rate among the countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. “But that achievement came at an expense as we’re paying a high rate for generation of electricity from renewable resources,” he said. Authorities increased retail electricity prices by 3.5 percent last year for the first time since 2014, citing rising oil and gas prices. Falling costs for solar panels has made the renewable resource competitive against fossil fuels. “We have proven in several pilot projects that we can expand on our success to promote more electricity generation from renewable resources at a price which we call grid parity at 8 cents (per kilowatt hour) on a wholesale basis.” Going forward, Siri said Thailand will only be accepting grid-parity prices of electricity generated from renewable sources.

Pipe dream? Chevron, Woodside vie to shape Australia's LNG sector Sonali Paul 6 MIN READ MELBOURNE (Reuters) - After spending a decade and billions of dollars developing Australia’s vast gas reserves, U.S. energy giant Chevron Corp and local firm Woodside Petroleum are at odds over the pace and timing of the next leg of expansion. Shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) have become one of Australia’s biggest exports and a key source of revenue for many energy majors, so any hurdles in the sector’s development could strike a substantial blow. The issue comes down to how quickly to build a shared infrastructure system that would include a major trunk pipeline for transporting gas from mammoth new offshore fields owned by various companies in northwest Australia. Woodside (WPL.AX) wants to take the lead in such a project, pushing to build soon so it can go ahead with its $11 billion Scarborough development, the only new gas field in the region that is primed for a final investment decision by 2020. But Chevron (CVX.N) would prefer to spend more time planning and building such a system, which it says could be led by it or other companies. “I don’t think there are any showstoppers in changing ... to a more shared infrastructure model,” Chevron’s Asia Pacific exploration and production president, Stephen Green, said in a group interview. “It’s just getting the alignment of all the different parties that want to participate in that value chain and coming up with the structure that satisfies each party’s needs.”

Firms with stakes in the region’s gas fields, including Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), BP (BP.L) and BHP Billiton (BHP.AX)(BLT.L), will need to decide which option to pursue within the next 18 months to ensure untapped reserves are available ahead of a supply shortfall that some industry analysts see emerging from around 2022. Putting pressure on his peers, Woodside Chief Executive Peter Coleman said last month that any rival would need to negotiate with him by September to get their gas into an infrastructure system led by Woodside. “They really need to get to us in the third quarter and be very serious about what they’re doing, because that window will close,” he said at an investor briefing. Chevron has not put a cost estimate on its infrastructure plan, saying it depends on how big any trunkline is and how many fields it connects to. Woodside has not given an exact estimate of costs for a shared project that it would lead. “Talk of collaboration is good rhetoric, but there are an awful lot of moving parts,” said Wood Mackenzie analyst Saul Kavonic. BHP and BP declined to comment. Shell declined to comment except to reiterate that its Australian head, Zoe Yujnovich, has called for “greater cooperation between ventures to reduce waste and duplication”. Chevron and Woodside are key in Australia’s LNG sector as they operate the four LNG plants in Western Australia, and between them have a total of more than 60 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of undeveloped gas resources in the region’s offshore Carnarvon and Browse basins.

China’s independent oil refiners are suffering a drastic change of fortune as new tax rules, shrinking diesel demand and higher crude prices threaten their nearly three-year profit bonanza. Industry executives and analysts said nearly 40 private refiners, often called “teapots” - which account for a fifth of China’s almost 10 million barrels per day (bpd) in crude oil imports - are losing money and market share. Several have shut for maintenance to cut exposure to the market, and some teapots may have to shut for good if the conditions continue. “The gains in retail prices at pumps in recent weeks have been completely wiped out by higher costs of crude and a hefty consumption tax,” said Gao Jian, crude oil analyst with China Sublime Information Group. “We expect much weaker margins in June and July as more orders booked at peak crude prices arrive,” Gao said. Asian refining margins have thinned as crude prices LCOc1 surged amid output cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Venezuela supply disruptions and looming U.S. sanctions against major exporter Iran. SPONSORED But China’s independents have also been hit hard by new tax rules that cut even further into their profit. Last month, teapots lost 300 yuan ($46.80) per ton of crude oil processed, data provided by Zibo Longzong Information Group showed. That is a stunning reversal from a profit of 900 yuan a ton in early 2016. Beijing enacted new rules in March to enforce collection of a $38 per barrel gasoline consumption tax and a $29 per barrel tax on diesel, a response to the alleged use of illicit fuel invoices by many of the teapots to evade the taxes. The teapots’ plight throws into sharp relief the performances of their state rivals, including top refiners PetroChina (601857.SS) and Sinopec (600028.SS), where 2018 profits so far are running at their best in two or more years. State refiners have to pay the consumption tax as well, but their massive local marketing networks and control of China’s fuel exports help to offset the domestic market pressures.