(EnergyAsia, Mar 14) — Formosa Plastiics Corp. (FPC), Taiwan’s largest plastics manufacturer, recently secured a US$230 million seven-year syndicated loan from a banking consortium to undertake the third-phase expansion project of its Ningbo plant in China’s Zhejiang province.   According to the official CENS news agency, the interest rate for the syndicated loan is set...

(EnergyAsia, Mar 14) — Indonesian state oil company Pertamina said it will soon issue a tender calling for the construction of an oil fuel terminal and pipelines in Tuban. The project is expected to cost US$80 million. The terminal will have the capacity to handle 450,000 kiloliters of fuel per day, said deputy marketing director...

(EnergyAsia, March 14) — India’s leading upstream company ONGC said it has made a ‘significant’ gas discovery in its on-going Sagar Samriddhi deepwater exploration campaign at location VA-1A in Block No. KG-OS-DW-IV in the Krishna-Godavari Basin. The find is located some 30 km from the Amalapuram coast and about 75 km from Kakinada port. ONGC,...

(EnergyAsia, March 14) — Heilongjiang provincial authorities have approved Longjing Petrochemical Company’s proposal to build an oil depot in its capital of Harbin, according to Interfax new service. The company, a Heilongjiang-based oil products retailer, will invest RMB 65.6 million building 10 tanks with a total throughput capacity of 100,000 tons a year. (US$1=RMB8.27). The...

(EnergyAsia, March 14) — Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has vowed to continue subsidising domestic diesel prices but wants his people to reduce their fuel use as high oil prices is contributing to the country’s biggest current account deficit since 1997.   “Energy saving is the best way to tackle the high oil prices, or...

(EnergyAsia, March 11) — Singapore’s PPL Shipyard, a subsidiary of SembCorp Marine, has signed a rig building contract worth US$121 million with Wilsuperior Ltd, a subsidiary of Awilco Offshore ASA (AWIL) for the construction of a Baker Marine Pacific Class 375 deep drilling offshore jack-up rig.             In a statement, SembCorp said the contract is...

(EnergyAsia, March 11) — Singapore’s Keppel FELS Ltd said it has constructed a US$95 million semisubmersible accommodation platform for deepwater environments. The platform was built for the 85/15 Special Purpose Company (SPC) between Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) and JCE Group (JCE) of Sweden.   The platform was named Safe Concordia at a ceremony...

(EnergyAsia, March 11) — Global demand for bio fuels and biodiesel especially from Europe could push palm oil prices past the RM1,550 per tonne level this year, said chief executive of Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA), M.R. Chandran. (US$1=RM3.8). “Bio-fuel could increase local consumption. Even before the setting of the Biofuel Act, there are many...

(EnergyAsia, March 11) — SembCorp Utilities has announced that its UK subsidiary, SembCorp Utilities (UK) Ltd, will invest £60 million (£1=US$1.9) to build a new wood-burning power station at the Wilton International site manufacturing site in Teesside, UK.  This project increases SembUtilities’ commitment to greater renewable energy generation for the future.   Known as ‘Wilton...

(EnergyAsia, March 11) — Qatar Petroleum and Sasol Chevron last week signed a Memorandum of Understanding for gas-to-liquid (GTL) base oils. The MOU was signed by the Second Deputy Premier, Minister of Energy and Industry, Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, and Sasol Chevron directors Pat Davies and Mark Nelson.             Mr Al-Attiyah said that the MOU...

(EnergyAsia, March 11) — Malaysian research house MayBan Securities has placed a ‘hold’ rating on the country’s leading power company Tenaga Holdings. The stock has been trading between RM7.85 and RM9.70 over the past 52 weeks. (US$1=RM3.8).             In a research note, MayBan said Tenaga’s bottomline will be boosted by the government’s decision to continue...

(EnergyAsia, March 11) — Origin Energy will continue to promote renewable energy in Australia’s Victoria state in response to the state government’s challenge to households to increase their use of renewable energy. Phil Craig, Origin’s general manager for sales and marketing, said: “Origin can answer Minister Thwaites’ call. We have more than 45,000 Green Power...

(EnergyAsia, March 11) — Exxon Mobil Corporation chairman and CEO Lee Raymond told analysts at the New York Stock Exchange that the energy market is changing and that the changes are playing to the company’s strengths. He said ExxonMobil has a track record of anticipating change. “We work hard to ensure that our differentiating capability...

(EnergyAsia, March 11) — This year’s Green Trading Summit, the fourth in as many year, will focus on green hedge funds, carbon sequestration, advances in renewable energy trading, the new demand response regimes creating financial negawatts, software tools for forward curve generation and new green finance innovations. The event, to be held in New York,...

(EnergyAsia, March 11) — US telecommunications giant Lucent Technologies said it has signed an exclusive reseller agreement with Shanghai Wantel Electronic Equipment Co Ltd to sell sophisticated new communications sytems to China’s oil and gas companies. Lucent said its solutions will help customers optimise their communication systems for data acquisition, video monitoring and video conferencing,...

(EnergyAsia, March 10) — Karachi port’s first dedicated oil terminal in Pakistan will start operating in June with the capacity to handle eight million tonnes a year. Still under construction, the Rs1.31 billion terminal is located in the port’s lower East Wharf harbour and is designed to accommodate deep draft oil tanker up to 75,000...

(EnergyAsia, March 10) — A consortium comprising Indian upstream company ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) and IPR Energy Red Sea Inc, a subsidiary of Texas Independent, has bagged North Ramadan block six in Egypt.   The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation recently announced the award of the block, which was the most contested block, in EGPC international...

(EnergyAsia, March 10) — Kerr-McGee China Petroleum Ltd., a wholly owned affiliate of US upstream company Kerr-McGee Corp, said it has received approval from the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) for the development of the CFD 11-3 and CFD 11-5 fields on block 04/36 in China’s Bohai Bay.   “These developments extend the success...

(EnergyAsia, March 10 ) — Singapore Power Ltd said it has sold off the merchant energy business (MEB) of SPI Australia Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore Power, to CLP Power Australia Energy Holdings Pty Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CLP Holdings Limited for A$2.128 billion. This is above the net book value of the...

(EnergyAsia, March 10) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, visiting India this week, has blamed the US and President George Bush for high oil prices on the world markets. At a press conference at the end of his four-day visit, Mr Chavez said oil prices have stayed high because of the US military invasion of Iraq...

(EnergyAsia, March 10) — The government of India’s Chhattisgarh state is laying the foundation for a biofuels industry with plans to plant 80 million saplings of energy-rich jatropha.             According to the Indo Asian News Serivce, State Chief Secretary A.K. Vijayvargiya has instructed district officials to identify wastelands as sites for establishing jatropha plantations and...

(EnergyAsia, March 10) — A joint operation comprising PT Brown & Root Indonesia, a subsidiary of KBR, JGC Corporation (JGC) of Japan and PT Pertafenikki Engineering (PFN) of Indonesia has been awarded the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract by BP Berau, Ltd for the Tangguh LNG plant at Teluk Bintuni in Indonesia’s Papua...

(EnergyAsia, March 10) — Canadian upstream company Talisman Energy Inc, which has significant exposure in Asia, said its 2004 cash flow increased 7% to C$2,931 million (C$7.65/share), compared to C$2,729 million (C$7.07/share) a year ago. Cash flow per share was $1.78 in the fourth quarter, up 6% from the same period a year earlier. Net...

(EnergyAsia, March 10) — Australian upstream company Antares Energy Limited said its operating profit for the half year to December 31 2004 rose 15% to A$8.2 million. (US$1=A$1.25).   After subtracting general and administrative expenses, but before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and exploration write-offs (EBITDAX), operating profit was A$6.2 million, compared to the $5.9 million...

(EnergyAsia, March 10) — The Mangistau region in western Kazakhstan has submitted a feasibility study to expand the Aktau port on the Caspian Sea that will include four oil terminals for US$210 million.             According to Russian news agency ITAR-TASS, the study, prepared by the Kazgidro company, also calls for the construction of two dry...