In an air separation process at a major manufacturer of industrial gases, the company was reducing the pressure in a cooling water stream with a pressure let-down valve. This provided an opportunity to install a process pump from ITT Industries’ Goulds Pumps unit, run it backwards as a turbine, and recover some of the available...
Norwegian oil services, engineering, construction and shipbuilding group Aker Kvaerner is building on its presence in Saudi Arabia by merging its two units in the kingdom Ð John Brown SA Ltd and Saudi Davy Company Ltd Ð into a new business called AK Gulf, a media release from the company said. The new company...
Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment (BOI) has awarded Tokyo Lanka, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational Mitsui, a pioneering 650-million-Sri-Lankan-rupee (US$6.2-million) clean-energy project with biomass as the source, reported the Daily News newspaper. The project, to be based in Trincomalee in Sri Lanka’s North-east, is expected to help regenerate economic activity in the area. The plant...
With the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse emissions coming into force on Feb 16, Taiwan Ð home to one of the world’s densest traffic systems including the highest concentration of small, two-strokes engines Ð is taking steps to reduce greenhouse emissions although it is an outsider to the UN system. “Taiwan believes it is time...
Malaysian national oil company Petronas has discovered a new gas field, the F2 Attic, in the offshore block SK310, about 130 kilometres northwest of Miri, Sarawak. The F2 Attic-1 exploration well, located in a water depth of 91 metres, was spudded on Sept 9, 2004, and reached a final total depth of 2,400 metres below...
The petroleum product price increases that India’s United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government announced last month have led to theatrical scenes on all sides of the Indian parliament, according to the Worldwide Socialist Web Site. With inflation running at more than 7% and hundreds of millions living in extreme want, India’s political elite recognizes that the...
A new report presented to the APEC Energy Working Group (EWG) estimates that the global export potential of natural gas could Ð based on current prices Ð exceed US$200 billion per annum in 20 years, an APEC media release said. However the report, prepared by ResourcesLaw International in Australia for APEC EWG, also notes that an...
The world is experiencing robust growth in energy needs. The return of economic growth in the US, the increase in energy demand in Asia, particularly in China and India, and the continued political uncertainty in a number of major oil producing areas, have led to unprecedented high oil prices. These developments pose challenges but also...
The China National Offshore Oil Corporation Ltd (CNOOC) has announced the success of KE7-3, a wildcat gas field in Offshore West Madura, Indonesia. KE7-3 is located in the offshore West Madura Production Sharing Contract area. The well, drilled by operator Kodeco Energy Co Ltd, reached a depth of about 2,250 meters, a media release...
PT Petrosea Tbk, the Indonesian subsidiary of Clough Limited Ð one of Australia’s largest multi-disciplinary engineering and construction groups Ð has signed a contract for a A$180-million (US$140-million), 48-month extension to its long-term coal overburden stripping contract in East Kalimantan. The work for PT Gunungbayan Pratamacoal (GBP) was first awarded to Petrosea in November,...
Caltex Australia said a gas leak had been stopped at the company’s Kurnell refinery after a pressure relief safety valve on an LPG processing vessel had released LPG gas to the atmosphere early this week Refinery crews immediately shut down the vessel and began spraying itwith water to dissipate the gas. Fire brigade units attended...
Caltex Australia Limited has predicted an increase of at least 60% in its 2004 net profit. The company expects a stronger profit after tax on a replacement-cost-of-sales-operating-profit basis of A$315 million (US$243 million) to A$335 million, excluding significant items, for the full-year 2004 compared with A$199.7 million for 2003. “This result excludes the impact of...
Oman-government-owned Oman Oil Company (OOC) has signed an agreement to acquire a 3% stake in Thai Olefins Public Company Limited (TOC), Oman news agency ONA reported. TOC is one of Thailand’s major producers of ethylene, propylene and petrochemical by-products with a market cap worth over US$1.4 billion. The investment is OOC’s first in Thailand....
The Asian Development Bank’s Clean Air Initiative for Asian cities (CAI-Asia) is working towards a consensus with oil companies on the need for fuel quality improvements for ensuring better air quality management, an ADB media release said. A multi-disciplinary approach to better fuel quality Ð involving specialised organisations representing the oil and gas, automobile and...
Occidental Petroleum Corporation, the fourth largest oil producer in the US, has adopted a corporate-wide human rights policy, according to a company press release. The policy reaffirms its respect for and promotion of human rights as recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Labour Organisation Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at...
Indonesia is opening up its oil and gas sector to foreign investment, according to a senior oil official. Eddy Purwanto, deputy chairman of Indonesia’s Government Executive Agency for Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities (BPMIGAS), which regulates the country’s upstream oil and gas business, said the enactment of an oil and gas law in 2002...
Banking giant HSBC has signed a US$292-million syndicated loan agreement to finance the import of crude oil by Indonesia’s state oil and gas company Pertamina. HSBC is the lead arranger and sole book runner for the loan, which was raised from several Islamic banks and is to be disbursed to Pertamina via the sharia...
Petroleum ministers from major oil producing countries will meet in New Delhi on Jan 6 as part of the Indian government’s initiative to tackle the issue of rising oil prices, the Press Trust of India reported. “Petroleum ministers from West Asian and South Asian countries will meet on Jan 6,” Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar...
Openspec naphtha tonne C+F Japan – US$397.75 (+US$8.90 from Dec 14 closing) 95 ron unleaded gasoline barrel FOB Singapore Ð 43.37 (+1.58) Jet kerosene barrel FOB Singapore Ð 49.35 (+0.69) Gasoil barrel FOB Singapore Ð 49.20 (+1.05) LSWR barrel FOB Indonesia Ð 22.75 (+0.45) HSFO 180cst tonne FOB Singapore Ð 176.75 (+4.89) HSFO 380cst tonne FOB Singapore Ð 157.25 (+3.15) ...
Royal Dutch and Shell Group will merge to become Royal Dutch Shell with Jeroen van der Veer as its first chief executive, Aad Jacobs as non-executive chairman and Lord Kerr as deputy chairman. The other key appointments are Peter Voser as chief financial officer, Malcolm Brinded as executive director of exploration and production; Linda Cook...
Keppel FELS Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore’s Keppel Corporation Ltd, has secured a contract to build a KFELS B Class jack-up valued at US$110 million for Gulf Drilling International Limited (GDI), Qatar’s first national drilling company. The jack-up, GULF-4, which is well suited for the Arabian Gulf and Indian waters, will be built according...
China Aviation Oil Group Corp (CAOGC), which monopolises the country’s jet fuel supply, is setting up a jet fuel joint venture with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec). CAOGC said the new company will help improve its competitiveness ahead of the opening of China’s oil products market to international...
Revived talks about a Chinese takeover of Toronto-listed Husky Energy (crude oil and NGL reserves: 544.3 million barrels, gas: 2,058.9 billion cubic feet) drove its stock price to a six-year high of more than C$35 in late November. The Calgary, Alberta-based company is majority-owned by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing and his conglomerate, Hong Kong-based...
Trials are about to begin on the development of the first “greenhouse-friendly” liquefied petroleum gas engine (LPG) for heavy vehicles in Australia. Minister for the Environment and Heritage Ian Campbell has announced that the Australian government would contribute A$600,000 to help BP develop and put to trial the engine. (US$1=A$1.3). “Successful trials of this engine...
The Royal Dutch Shell group has announced that it is progressing to the next phase of its proposed world-scale ethylene cracker and derivatives project in Singapore. This phase will result in a detailed design and engineering package for construction to begin in 2006 and start-up in the first half of 2009. The project, estimated...