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China Shenhua Energy's October coal output up 14.2% year-on-year

Huaihua, Hunan (Platts)–18Nov2013/534 pm EST/2234 GMT China Shenhua Energy Co., the listed subsidiary of Shenhua Group, said at the weekend it mined 27.3 million mt of commercially-ready coal in October, up 14.2% year-on-year. The company sold 46.7 million mt in October, up 14.7% year on year. China Shenhua Energy exported 300,000 mt of coal in October, up from 100,000 mt a year earlier. Over January-October, Shenhua Energy exported 2.2 million mt of coal, down 24.1% year-on-year. The company imported 2.5 million mt of coal in October, up from 0.8 million mt a year earlier. Over January-October, Shenhua Energy imported 9.9 million mt of coal, up 52.3% year-on-year. It did not give a breakdown between thermal coal and coking coal. It has a coking coal mining capacity of around 20 million mt/year, mainly from Shenhua Group subsidiaries Shenhua Wuhai Energy in Inner Mongolia and Shenhua Ningxia Coal Mining Group in […]

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China Shenhua Energy’s October coal output up 14.2% year-on-year

Huaihua, Hunan (Platts)–18Nov2013/534 pm EST/2234 GMT China Shenhua Energy Co., the listed subsidiary of Shenhua Group, said at the weekend it mined 27.3 million mt of commercially-ready coal in October, up 14.2% year-on-year. The company sold 46.7 million mt in October, up 14.7% year on year. China Shenhua Energy exported 300,000 mt of coal in October, up from 100,000 mt a year earlier. Over January-October, Shenhua Energy exported 2.2 million mt of coal, down 24.1% year-on-year. The company imported 2.5 million mt of coal in October, up from 0.8 million mt a year earlier. Over January-October, Shenhua Energy imported 9.9 million mt of coal, up 52.3% year-on-year. It did not give a breakdown between thermal coal and coking coal. It has a coking coal mining capacity of around 20 million mt/year, mainly from Shenhua Group subsidiaries Shenhua Wuhai Energy in Inner Mongolia and Shenhua Ningxia Coal Mining Group in […]

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China on path to further reform one-child policy-spokesman

BEIJING (Reuters) – China will further ease its family planning laws after announcing last week that it would allow millions of families to have two children, a senior official from the government’s family planning commission said on Tuesday. "I can only say that the direction is definite, but as to what kind of specific strategy will be chosen, we have to wait for the experts’ verification of the situation at that time," said Mao Qun’an, the spokesman for the National Health and Family Planning Commission. The commission executes and advises the government on family planning policy, and as a senior official at the agency, Mao would be privy to the direction of the recommendations. The government said last week that it would allow couples in which one of the parents is an only child to have a second child. It was the most significant relaxation of the one-child policy […]

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Beijing Rethinks Formula for GDP

BEIJING—China is studying new ways to measure the size of its economy to reflect ambitious reform plans to make it easier for farmers to sell their land and to take into account property values. The new methods, which dovetail with an economic blueprint for reforms agreed on at a key meeting of Communist Party leaders that ended last week, are likely to increase the size of China’s economy, already the world’s second largest, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. “We need to revise the method of calculating the size of our domestic economy to make it conform with a new economic structure, the latest economic developments and…international standards,” the statistics bureau said. Officials didn’t specify how much the new calculations might change China’s headline numbers, or whether it is likely to speed up or slow growth rates. The statistics bureau will announce gross-domestic-product estimates using the new method […]

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Japan Starts Removing Fukushima Nuclear Fuel

TOKYO—More than 2½ years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Tokyo Electric Power Co. 9501.TO -1.62% Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc. Japan: Tokyo ¥ 548 -9 -1.62% Nov. 19, 2013 3:00 pm Volume : 23.23M P/E Ratio 3.81 Market Cap ¥893.50 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee ¥129,550,000 11/18/13 Fukushima Watch: Tepco Starts … 11/15/13 Fukushima Watch: Remote Contro… 11/13/13 Watchdog to Proceed with Tepco… More quote details and news » 9501.TO in Your Value Your Change Short position began Monday the painstaking and potentially dangerous process of removing fuel rods from one of the plant’s damaged reactor units. The operation, expected to take more than a year to complete, is Tepco’s first step toward dismantling the devastated plant in what is expected to be a 30- to 40-year cleanup process after one of the worst nuclear accidents in history. The removal of the fuel also provides the operator […]

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Fukushima engineers begin removing fuel rods from damaged reactor

Workers started removing radioactive fuel rods from a reactor building at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant  on Monday, plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. The painstaking and risky task is a crucial first step toward a full cleanup of the earthquake- and tsunami-damaged plant in northeastern Japan. The removal of the rods is the most difficult and dangerous process undertaken since runaway reactors were brought under control two years ago, after being hit by an earthquake and tsunami that claimed nearly 16,000 lives. The rod removal follows months of setbacks and glitches that have stoked widespread criticism of the utility’s handling of the crisis, the worst nuclear accident in decades. The Unit 4 reactor was offline at the time of the March 2011 disaster, and its core did not melt as Units 1 through 3 did. But hydrogen explosions blew out the roof and walls of the Unit […]

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Japan lowers carbon dioxide emissions reduction target

TOKYO, Nov. 18 (UPI) — Japan has slashed its carbon dioxide emissions reduction target. Japan says it now tentatively aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 3.8 percent from fiscal 2005 levels by 2020 instead of the 25 percent cut from 1990 levels as promised in 2009. The announcement Friday from the world’s fifth-largest emitter of carbon dioxide struck a blow to the United Nations’ Nov. 11-22 climate talks in Warsaw, Poland. “I don’t have any words to describe my dismay,” Xinhua News Agency quoted China’s negotiator in Warsaw, Su Wei , as saying about the downwardly revised air pollution goal. Japan’s environment minister, Nobuteru Ishihara, said the new target “does not consider the possible effect of nuclear power plants reducing emissions” and that Japan “would set a more definite target” after it decided which sources of energy it would use in the future, The New York Times […]

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AAA: Gasoline price decrease ends streak

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) — AAA said Monday the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline has increased for the longest consecutive streak since August. AAA reported a national average price of $3.20 for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline. That’s 2 cents more than the same time last week and represents the longest consecutive period of increases since August. AAA spokesman Michael Green told United Press International there were planned and unplanned maintenance issues at several of the nation’s largest refineries, which means there’s a level of uncertainty ahead for retail gasoline prices. “If supplies remain tight in various regions, then the national average [price] could remain flat or even rise 5- to 10 cents per gallon,” he said. “If refineries come off maintenance and increase production to take advantage of falling domestic crude oil costs, then supplies would quickly build and bring prices down through […]

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North Dakota oil relies in part on rail deliveries

BISMARCK, N.D., Nov. 18 (UPI) — North Dakota Industrial Commission Director Lynn Helms said delivery of crude oil from the state should be “adequate” as long as rail deliveries continue. “Crude oil take away capacity is expected to be adequate as long as rail deliveries to coastal refineries keep growing,” he said in his so-called director’s cut, published Friday. Pipelines aren’t enough to keep up with North Dakota oil production. The Association of American Railroads says crude oil delivery by rail has increased steadily in the past year. The NDIC said Friday there was 931,940 barrels of oil produced per day on average in September, a “new all-time high” for the state. Helms said more than 95 percent of the drilling activity in the state targets the Bakken and Three Forks formations, two of North Dakota’s most promising oil fields. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department’s analytical […]

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Strong gasoline boosts USGC cracking margins

New York (Platts)–18Nov2013/343 pm EST/2043 GMT US Gulf Coast cracking margins jumped across the board last week, led by West Texas Sour, Bakken and Louisiana Light Sweet, a Platts analysis showed Monday. Margins strengthened on a combination of higher netbacks and lower operating costs as USGC gasoline prices soared amid lower crude differentials. USGC cracking margins for WTS averaged $15.88/barrel last week, up $5.58/b. LLS jumped $5.38/b to $15.74/b, while Bakken margins rose $3.92/b to average $14.54/b. Article continues below… Request a free trial of: Oilgram News Oilgram News Oilgram News brings you fast-breaking global petroleum and gas news on and including: Industry players, upstream and downstream markets, refineries, midstream transportation and financial reports Supply and demand trends, government actions, exploration and technology Daily futures summary Weekly API statistics, and much more Request a trial to Oilgram News Even margins for imported crudes like Iraqi Basrah Light nearly doubled, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple