(EnergyAsia, April 11) –— Vinod Khosla, a co-founder of IT giant Sun Micro Systems, has bought a 10% stake in Pune-based Praj Industries, a leading Indian biofuels technology and plant builder. The Silicon Valley-based billionaire venture capitalist has identified ethanol fuel as his next big project. He bought the stake in Praj Industries through...
(EnergyAsia, April 11) — The following commentary was provided by Antoine Halff, an oil analyst with US trading firm FIMAT. OPEC President Edmund Daukoru and International Energy Agency (IEA) executive director Claude Mandil helped sooth market concerns over supply disruptions on April 7 at the Seventh International Oil Summit in Paris, an annual conference...
(EnergyAsia, April 11) — Homegrown wind company Suzlon Energy Ltd is planning a large wind power project in India’s West Bengal state. The 50-megawatt (MW) project will supply grid-quality power, to be sold to commercial users and the West Bengal State Electricity Board (WESEB). The company is now deciding whether to locate the Rs2.5...
(EnergyAsia, April 11) — Singapore has announced the signing of two landmark economic agreements with Saudi Arabia as the Middle East oil giant continues its shift towards developing ties with Asian countries. According to Singapore’s Trade and Industry Ministry, the first agreement on investment guarantee is designed to promote greater investment flows between the...
(EnergyAsia, April 11) — About 20% of the gasoline sold in China now has ethanol content, said the State Development and Reform Commission. Production of ethanol-mixed gasoline rose to 10.2 million tons last year in response to rising demand, according to the Shanghai Securities News. To accelerate the adoption of biofuels, China has announced...
(EnergyAsia, April 11) — The world must accept that Iran will proceed to develop its uranium enrichment and nuclear programme, Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in a recent speech at the Japan Institute of International Affairs in Tokyo. He cited Article 4 of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons which obliges...
(EnergyAsia, April 10) — As part of its long-term expansion plans in Asia, Hansen Transmissions International said it has signed a lease agreement in Tianjin city, China to set up an assembly and service centre. The factory is located in the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA) in northeastern China. Hansen is a leading manufacturer...
(EnergyAsia, April 10) — Swiss banking group UBS AG and Diapason Commodities Management S.A said they have launched the world’s first biofuels index. The UBS Diapason Global Biofuel Index (UBS-D GBFI), covering a variety of commodities used in the production of ethanol and biodiesel, is published in US$, EUR, Swiss franc and Japanese yen. ...
(EnergyAsia, April 10) — Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK) has unveiled plans for an Asia Pacific business centre in Singapore that will begin operations next month. The company, which counts the oil, gas, petrochemical and power industries among its customers, expects to hire approximately 400 employees by 2008 when the centre is fully operational. “This...
(EnergyAsia, April 10) — New Zealand’s Contact Energy said it has been advised by Maui Developments Limited (MDL), as the agent of several mining companies, that the Maui licence area will offer more natural gas for sale. The proposed sale will be subject to the Right of First Refusal (ROFR) arrangements contained within the...
(EnergyAsia, April 10) Ð The Washington-based FutureGen Industrial Alliance said nine countries have offered a choice of 22 sites to host the its project Ð the world’s first coal-fuelled “zero emissions” power plant that will generate electricity and hydrogen while capturing and permanently storing carbon dioxide deep underground. FutureGen said it received widespread interest...
(EnergyAsia, April 10) — State-owned Indian Oil Corporation Ltd said its board has approved the development of a 15-million-tonne/year grassroots oil refinery-petrochemicals complex at Paradip in Orissa state. The company had earlier planned to install a nine-million-tonne/year refinery. The complex will also produce petrochemicals like paraxylene, polypropylene and styrene. The IndianOil board has...
(EnergyAsia, April 10) — Sakhalin Energy said four new vessels will be built for the Sakhalin II oil and gas production project in Russian shipyards. Admiralteiskie Verfi shipyard in Saint-Petersburg will construct two ice class harbour tugs, while Far Eastern Shipyard Zvezda in Primorsky region will construct two new-build line handling boats. This is...
(EnergyAsia, April 10) — Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution (PTD) said it has been awarded another major order worth around 110 million euros by the Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) for a power transmission system expansion project currently in progress in Qatar. (US$1=0.82 euro). The new order comprises the construction of five...
(EnergyAsia, April 10) — Singapore-listed PEARL Energy Limited said it netted 12,634 barrels/day for the first-quarter from its stake in various producing oil fields in Indonesia and Thailand. They include fields in Salawati Island (1,573 b/d), Salawati Basin (2,376), Mengoepeh/Tungkal (1,660) and Jasmine/B 5/27 (7,025). PEARL is a Singapore-based oil and gas company engaged...
(EnergyAsia, April 10) — Malaysia’s IJM Plantations said it has set up a 60/40 venture with CTI Biofuels Malaysia, LLC of the US to build, own and operate a biodiesel plant in Sandakan city in Sabah state. IJM Biofuel Sdn Bhd, the joint venture company, will operate the RM74 million plant, to produce and...
(EnergyAsia, April 7) — Sinopec, Asia’s largest oil refiner, revealed plans for two crude importing facilities in Hebei province in northern China. The project in would represent the second phase of the construction of a national strategic petroleum reserve (SPR), China Daily reported. The US$740 million project will include two berths at Caofeidian near...
(EnergyAsia, April 7) — GE Energy said it was recently selected by AstroKorea to supply its solar energy equipment to Nam Jeju-gun, the local government of Korea’s Mara Island for a new solar power installation. GE Energy said it provided 2,010 GEPV-75W solar modules for a total output of 150kW. The modules were installed on...
(EnergyAsia, April 7) — Japan has taken a big step towards competing for world oil and gas reserves with last month’s formation of a new upstream major, Inpex Holdings Inc, through the merger of Inpex Corp and Teikoku Oil Co. Inpex Holdings began trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on April 3. The new company...
(EnergyAsia, April 7) — Indian oil refiners are preparing for a massive capacity expansion through new builds, upgrades and debottlenecking over the next few years. According to Petroleum Ministry report, the country’s domestic refining capacity of 133 million tonnes (2.68 million barrels per day) will rise to 154 million tonnes next year and 210 million...
(EnergyAsia, April 7) — An energy delegation from the European Union is in India to discuss joint projects and co-operation in energy security, upgrading and modernisation of power plants, fusion energy, renewable energy and bio-fuels. The India-EU energy meeting, however, will not include nuclear energy on the agenda but this is expected to be informally...
(EnergyAsia, April 7) — Shell Research Ltd, a unit of the oil and gas major, said it has signed a licence for its clean coal gasification technology with Tianjin Bohai Chemicals Industrial Co. Ltd, one of China’s leading major soda and ammonium chloride manufacturers. The chemical company will build a coal gasification plant at...
(EnergyAsia, April 7) — China’s CNOOC Limited said it has made yet another oil discovery in the Bozhong (BZ) 28-2S well in the Bohai Bay with the completion of wildcat BZ 28-2S-1. The well is located on Structure BZ28-2S in the Yellow River mouth of central southern Bohai Bay. The well hit its target depth...
(EnergyAsia, April 7) — A joint venture of Australia’s largest private drilling company, Mitchell Drilling Contractors, and Pacific Asia China Energy (TSX: PCE), the first publicly traded Canadian company, has been awarded a coal bed methane concession by China’s Coal Bed Methane Development company (CUCBM). The joint venture plan to team up their respective expertise...
(EnergyAsia, April 7) — Singapore Petroleum Company Limited said that it and its partners in the Sampang Production Sharing Contract (PSC) have begun drilling the Dukuh-1 exploration well in Indonesia. Dukuh-1 is located approximately 10 km south of the Jeruk oil discovery and about 40 km south east of the city of Surabaya. SPC’s 36%...