As more companies struggle to obtain credit, the stock prices of leading solar firms such as Evergreen Solar, JA Solar Holdings and SunPower have slumped sharply. A key financial player in the renewable energy sector Lehman Brothers has filed for bankruptcy, putting at risk the credit supply to solar firms. At the same time, analysts...
procurement and construction (EPC) costs as well as uncertainties surrounding the outlook of natural gas supplies. The rise in costs could prompt the developers of the three-million-tonne import terminal to build it in stages. Construction is expected to start next year. The project’s site on the oil-petrochemicals hub on Jurong Island has enough space to...
a 123% rise in net profit to US$25.3 million for the year ended August 31 2008 (FY08) due to strong demand for services from the offshore oil and gas construction sector. Group turnover rose 244% to US$110.0 million, boosted by the full-year maiden contribution from EOC’s heavy-lift accommodation pipelay vessel, the Lewek Champion, and...
plunged 99.5% from S$98.12 million in the third quarter of 2007 to just S$507,000 a year later as the company reeled from a double beating by slumping oil prices and the worldwide credit crunch. (US$1=S$1.47). Earnings per share came to S0.12 cent compared with S19.03 cents for the same period last year. Revenue surged 46%...
Moly Metals Australia Pty Ltd for its Spinifex Ridge molybdenum and copper mine located in the Pilbara in Western Australia state. Moly Metals Australia is a wholly owned subsidiary of Australia Stock Exchange-listed Moly Mines Limited. Santos will supply approximately 33 PJ of gas over six years starting mid-2010. The gas will be supplied from...
b/d by 2012 from around 250,000 b/d now. During a successful visit to Beijing last month, President Hugo Chavez said his country would step up trade and business ties between the two countries as he sought to further diversify Venezuela’s dependence on the US. There are plans to jointly build four oil tankers, three oil...
a challenge posted by The ASSET India Foundation seeking the design of a solar-powered wireless router. Zacary Brown of Texas was awarded $20,000 for his design by the Rockefeller Foundation, which sponsored this challenge. Achieving Sustainable Social Equality through Technology (ASSET) India Foundation is a non-profit organisation that helps train the children of sex workers...
to have assets worth US$1 billion and 300MW of solar cells production capacity by 2012. To date, it has already invested nearly US$100 million in beefing up its solar cell manufacturing base of 180 MW and 125 MW in solar modules. Tata BP Solar has signed contracts to provide solar energy services to the military,...
solar energy in residences and business premises as part of its drive to reduce dependence on fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) will pay users to install energy-saving technologies on their building premises from fiscal 2009, starting next April 1. The ministry is expected to ask...
the rapidly deteriorating state of the global economy, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its latest projection. The agency believes the world will consume around 86.92 million b/d in 2009 instead of 87.06 million b/d as forecast last month. The EIA blames weaker demand in the US and the industrialised world for the...
bunkering services at a key terminal in Colombo. The terminal was transferred to SLPA by Lanka Marine Services Ltd in compliance with a court order aimed at ensuring competitive bunkering services at the harbour. SPLA plans to initially stock up to 6,500 tonnes of bunker fuel in two tanks at the terminal on Bloemendhal...
subsidiary of Phoenix Solar AG, built a solar PV canopy to offset carbon emissions for The Singapore FreePort Sky Lounge hospitality suite at the Fullerton Hotel during the week of the inaugural Formula One night race in Singapore last month. The 86-sq metre solar PV canopy using modules from Renewable Energy Corp ASA (REC) was...
Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) and Japan’s Marubeni Corporation have signed a business cooperation contract to implement an underground coal gasification project in Vietnam. The contract is a follow-through on the memorandum of understanding and project development agreement the partners had signed last year to pursue the project in the Red River Delta adjacent to Hanoi...
(KNOC) have agreed to each take a 30.875% stake in onshore exploration Block 70 in the Attaq area in Yemen’s Shabwa governorate. The agreement has been approved by Yemen’s Ministry of Oil and Minerals. Block 70, which covers a 1,367-sq km area, is located in the south-eastern part of Central Yemen’s Marib Basin. Following the...
must not forget to continue extending food and fuel aid to the poor in the midst of the global financial and credit crisis. Managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn issued a personal call to world leaders to take decisive action to address the continued debilitating impact of food and fuel price hikes on many of the world’s...
to pay US$40 billion this fiscal year for its crude oil imports, up 17.6% from last year. Chairman Sarthak Behuria said the company’s overall crude imports are set to rise to 47 million tonnes for the fiscal year ending March 31 2009. Last year, IOC spent US$34 billion to import some 41 million tonnes...
its new 580,000 b/d export refinery at Jamnagar in India’s western Gujarat state this month. US major Chevron has a 5% stake in the US$6 billion refinery, which is expected to operate at capacity in December. Located adjacent to another giant 660,000 b/d refinery, the new plant is equipped to process low-value heavy crude oil...
China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) with liquefied natural gas (LNG). Neither side has disclosed the contract price for the LNG, which will be exported to CNOOC’s planned Shanghai terminal. However, industry observers said that the price would be at least US$6 per million Btu higher than the very low US$2 to 3 per million...
Malaysians that their country, a net crude oil exporter, has started to experience fuel shortages in recent months. These shortages have worsened dramatically in the key urban centres just as Malaysia is starting to feel the impact of world economic recession and inflation. Tempers have risen as motorists reported widespread shortages in late September and...
oil companies to slowdown their plans to invest in new energy projects. Western oil companies led by ExxonMobil, Shell and BP all embarked on new upstream and downstream projects in recent years as oil prices soared. But the recent sharp drop in oil prices with forecasts for further weakening and the credit crisis have...
said it has licensed two of its proprietary wind turbine designs to South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co Ltd (HHI), the world’s largest shipbuilder. HHI is also a world leader in turnkey power plants and offshore projects, and supplier of high voltage electrical equipment. AMSC said its wholly owned AMSC Windtec™ subsidiary will...
meet the government’s plan to raise the ethanol mix in diesel to 20% by 2017. This would require that 35 million hectares of farm land be transformed to grow feed crops for biodiesel production. Calling the plans unrealistic, analysts have urged the government to take a more gradual approach. Private companies are mulling plans to...
procurement and construction contract (EPC) for participation in a design competition of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant and associated facilities for the ExxonMobil-operated project in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Chiyoda will be utilising the APCI liquefaction technology. The PNG LNG project is a joint venture between ExxonMobil through subsidiary Esso Highlands Limited, Oil Search,...
companies and the banking system, driving up the costs of ongoing and new energy projects. The crisis has cut into energy firms’ liquidity as some major banks – led by Lehman Brothers – have either collapsed or sharply reduced their commodities trading and lending activities to the detriment of oil companies and trading houses, analysts...
Bataan province after its operator was hit by smuggling charges. The Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group, or PASG, said the depot was effectively run by Oilink, a company that has been charged with defrauding Manila of hundreds of millions of dollar in taxes due to its smuggling activities. Oilink is said to owe the government some 3.7...