(Energy Asia, January 6) — The Indonesian government plans to encourage the use of alternative energy such as coal, natural gas and bio-mass fuel to help save some Rp 50 trillion (US$1=Rp10,000) that would otherwise be spent on subsidising fuels, reported the Jakarta Post. These savings are achievable, according to Aburizal Barkrie, coordinating minister...
(Energy Asia, January 6) — The proposed merger of Malaysia’s shipping company PDZ Holdings Bhd and KIC Oil & Gas Ltd is expected to be completed by end 2006 once they clear the regulatory hurdles, reported the Malaysia Business Times. The move will be a reverse takeover of PDZ by KIC with KIC shareholders...
(Energy Asia, January 6) — Although Australia’s Victoria state is encouraging the development of green energy such as gas and wind power, its 500-year supply of cheap brown coal in the Latrobe Valley is expected to remain the main fuel for power generation. Currently, 90% of Victoria’s energy is obtained from brown coal and according...
(EnergyAsia, January 6) — PPL Shipyard, a subsidiary of Singapore’s SembCorp Marine has secured a rig building contract with Aban Singapore Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Aban Loyd Chiles Offshore Ltd of India for the construction of a US$175 million Baker Marine Pacific Class 375 deep drilling offshore jack-up rig. PPL said construction is...
(Energy Asia, January 6) — Indonesia is unlikely to achieve its target crude oil production of 1.11 million barrels/day this year, according to an official of state oil and gas company Pertamina. It also failed to achieve its 1.075 million b/d production target last year. Speaking to reporters recently, Kardaya Warnika, the head of...
(EnergyAsia, January 6) — Singapore-listed Rotary Engineering Limited has been awarded a contract worth S$535 million for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of an oil terminal in Jurong Island by Universal Terminal (S) Pte Ltd. Universal is a subsidiary of Singapore-based oil trader Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd. (US$1=$1.65). Chia Kim Piow, Rotary’s...
(EnergyAsia, January 6) — Creditors of China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp Ltd have chosen to be paid in shares instead of cash as the financially troubled company continues to recover from its near death experience in 2004. The company, which lost more than US$550 million from oil derivatives trading, said its offer of US$22...
(Energy Asia, January 5) — The East Malaysian state of Sabah has set its sights on hosting the world’s leading biodiesel plant with the proposed construction of a 300,000-tonne/year plant at the state’s palm oil industrial cluster in Lahad Datu. The US$50 million palm oil-based plant will be jointly owned by state-owned POIC Sabah...
(Energy Asia, January 5) — Western Australia state expects to become a significant biofuels player with the government establishing a taskforce to investigate the challenges and measures needed to make it succeed. State leader Brendon Grylls, who will be a member of the taskforce, believes a biofuels industry will provide opportunities for rural diversification...
(EnergyAsia, January 5) — Singapore’s homegrown oil trading company Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd yesterday broke ground for its 2.3 million cubic metre (cbm) oil storage terminal on Jurong Island. The S$750 million facility, known as Universal Terminal (S) Pte Ltd, is the company’s first onshore tank facility in Singapore. (US$1=S$1.65). Universal Terminal will...
(Energy Asia, January 5) — Investors are interested to build bioethanol and biodiesel plants in Indonesia, said state minister for research and technology Kusmayanto Kadiman. To date, he said 11 investors have investigated the possibility of building plants with a yearly capacity of between 50,000 and 150,000 kilolitres. Three of the investors will build...
(EnergyAsia, January 5) — Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd said that the Vityaz complex off Sakhalin Island has completed its seventh production season. The cumulative oil production for the 2005 season was 12.1 million barrels. The field had produced a total of 73.3 million barrels since the start of operations in 1999. The...
(EnergyAsia, January 5) — Denver, US-based Hythane Company said it will begin demonstrating its low-emission vehicle fuel system in support of China’s attempt to improve its national air quality. The company said it has signed memos of understanding with five major cities to test and convert as many as 10,000 diesel busses to be powered...
(Energy Asia, January 5) — Malaysian-listed company Golden Hope Plantations Bhd (GHope) plans to build its fourth and biggest biodiesel plant in Bintulu in Sarawak state. According to the Malaysian Business Times, the RM100 million plant could produce 150,000 tonnes of fuel a year. (US$1 = RM3.77). The plant export most of its output,...
(EnergyAsia, January 5) — IndianOil Corporation Ltd said it has successfully commissioned a hydrocracker unit at its Panipat oil refinery located about 100 km from New Delhi. The project is part of an ongoing refinery expansion project to double capacity from six to 12 million tonnes per annum. The hydrocracker unit was completed in...
(EnergyAsia, January 5) — South Australia state faces a perennial threat of running out of fuel as its Birkenhead depot holds only three days of storage, said the local automobile association, RAA. The motoring group is demanding the State government act now to prevent a fuel shortage crisis, which it claims nearly occurred last...
(EnergyAsia, January 5) — CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Company Limited (CSPC) said they have completed the construction of their joint world scale petrochemicals complex in Daya Bay in southern China. The company is a joint venture between China’s China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and the Royal Dutch Shell. Shell said that final preparations...
(EnergyAsia, January 4) — Taking a contrarian stand to many analysts, Thailand’s state agency Energy Policy and Planning Office (EPPO) has predicted that oil prices will fall this year, by an average of US$3 to $5 a barrel below 2005’s recording breaking US$46 a barrel based on Dubai crude. Many private economists are predicting crude...
(EnergyAsia, January 3) — Shanghai Turbo Enterprises Ltd has announced plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO) of 70 million shares at S$0.28 per share in conjunction with its listing on the main board of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX). (US$1=S$1.65). The 70 million new shares represent 25.9% of the company’s...
(Energy Asia, January 4) — The production and use of biofuels are gaining popularity in China in the form of gasohol, a mixture of gasoline and ethanol alcohol, according to the Shanghai Daily. Gasohol can also be a blend of gasoline and methanol, or wood alcohol. Across the country, wastes from corn, wheat, rye...
(Energy Asia, January 4) — Fresh from signing agreements with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) to set up joint-venture plants, the country’s three major biodiesel players Ð Golden Hope Plantations Bhd (GHope), Kumpulan Fima Bhd and Carotino Sdn Bhd Ð are already planning production expansion. The biodiesel plants Ð two in Klang and...
(Energy Asia, January 4) — Indonesia’s first ethanol factory will be built in Lampung city by PT Medco Ethanol Indonesia, a subsidiary of publicly listed energy company PT Medco Energi Internasional (JSX:MEDC), in a 85/15 joint venture with PT Trada Bioenergy Indonesia. The 60,000 kilolitres per year plant is expected to start up in...
(EnergyAsia, January 4) — Korea Electric Power Corp has signed a deal with Indonesia’s state electricity company PT PLN to assist in building its first nuclear power plant. The two companies and KEPCO affiliate Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co last month signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly produce a business plan for the...
(Energy Asia, January 4) — India’s first biodiesel fuel, extracted from karanja seeds, was recently commercially launched in Pune by Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (MEDA)’s director general Anil Diggikar. According to the Indian Express, Pune-based Mint Biofuels, a subsidiary of Minilec and Intec group which produced and marketed the fuel said it chose karanja...
(EnergyAsia, January 4) — BP said it and Iranian Oil Company UK Limited (IOC UK Ltd) will jointly produce and export natural gas from the Rhum field, the UK’s largest undeveloped gas discovery, 400 km north-east of Aberdeen. The £350 million Rhum development is a subsea tieback to the BP-operated Bruce field and is...