(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%...

(EnergyAsia, April 6) — Saudi Aramco and Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical Company Ltd last month signed the final project financing documents for their joint project to build a US$9.8 billion interated refining and petrochemical complex in Rabigh on the Kingdom’s west coast.   When completed in 2008, the PETRORabigh project would produce a total of 2.4...

(EnergyAsia, April 6) — South Australia state’s Outer Habour could be turned into a fuel storage hub to improve the flow of fuel to Adelaide city, which has been worried about supply disruption.   According to Vincent Tremaine, Fliners Ports CEO, the mothballed Port Stanvac is not the only site for a storage facility capable...

(EnergyAsia, April 6) — Philippine carmakers and assemblers are lobbying the government not to make mandatory the use of bio-fuel in motor vehicles. Instead, bio-fuel blends should be an alternative to 100% petroleum-based fuel, said a statement by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (Campi).   “Consumers should be given the choice on...

(EnergyAsia, April 6) — Gas is set to overtake oil as the fuel of choice in the Arab world, said industry analysts, who predict gas’s share in the energy mix to rise from last year’s 48.9% to 53.3% by 2015.   According to Gulf Daily News, the analysts made the prediction at the recent Middle...

(EnergyAsia, April 6) — Oilfield services compny Schlumberger has inaugurated a new oilfield research center in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia under the patronage of the Kingdom’s Minister of Higher Education Khalid Al Angari and the Minister of Petroleum & Mineral Resources HE Mr. Ali Naimi.   Schlumberger chairman and CEO Andrew Gould, King Fahd University of...

(EnergyAsia, April 6) — Two Canadian companies, Vancouver-based UGL Enterprises Ltd and joint venture partner Toronto-based Mega Uranium Ltd, said they have begun examining the uranium reserves potential of several fields in Mongolia. The partners will start examining the potential of a number of “priority target areas” on five of their combined 14 Mongolian uranium...

(EnergyAsia, April 6) — India’s Suzlon Energy Limited has agreed to acquire Belgian wind turbine gearbox maker Hansen Transmissions Int NV for 465 million euros. (1 euro=US$1.22).   Suzlon, the world’s sixth-largest wind turbine maker and Asia’s leading wind power company, is moving to integrate manufacturing in the fast-growing wind power industry.   In acquiring...

(EnergyAsia, April 6) — Economic and electricity consumption growth, government’s interests in renovating and developing power infrastructure, as well as the inflow of foreign funds are likely to strengthen the demand for power and distribution transformers in China and Taiwan. Moreover, China’s entry in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the exceptional performance of the...

(EnergyAsia, April 6) — China’s CNOOC Limited said its 2005 net income surged 57% to a record RMB25,323 million while revenue climbed 25.8% to RMB69,456 million. (US$1=RMB8.02).   Earning per share reached RMB 0.62, an increase of 58% year-on-year. The Hong Kong-listed company said it generated revenues of RMB 53,418 million from oil and gas...

(EnergyAsia, April 6) — US-based Green Energy Resources said it is seeking inclusion of woodchips on the new UBS Biofuels Index. UBS, an international bank, and Diapson Commodities of Switzerland, recently launched a commodity based biofuels index.   The new global index comes in response to rapidly increasing demand for the two major forms of...

(EnergyAsia, April 5) — Australia’s upstream company Origin Energy Resources (Kupe) Limited, as operator of the Kupe gas project in New Zealand, has awarded ‘preferred tenderer’ status to Technip Oceania Pty Ltd for the construction of the onshore gas production station.   The appointment of Technip as preferred tenderer will enable more detailed discussions to...

(EnergyAsia, April 5) — Canada’s Mega Uranium Ltd said it has agreed to acquire the private Australian company, Future Metals and Energy Ltd (FME), which holds historical uranium resources totaling 6.4 million lbs U3O8 (2.34 million tonnes) in exploration permits adjacent to Mega’s Georgetown Project, in North Queensland.   Upon completion of the agreement, Mega...

(EnergyAsia, April 5) — Denmark’s Vestas Group said it has received three orders for a total of 238 MW in China. The orders comprise 280 units of the V52-850 kW turbine.   Asia Wind Power (Mudanjiang) Co Ltd and Hong Kong Wind Power (Muling) Co Ltd – both subsidiaries of Hong Kong Construction (Holdings) Limited...

(EnergyAsia, April 5) — IndianOil Corp said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) to promote cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector in India, Kuwait and other countries.   The MoU was signed in New Delhi last week by B.M. Bansal, IndianOil’s planning and business development director, and Jamal Al Nouri,...

(EnergyAsia, April 5) — Vancouver, British Columbia-based UGL Enterprises Ltd said it has received confirmation and a significant upgrade to the historical bituminous coal resource estimate for its Ulaan Ovoo coal project in northern Mongolia.   The new estimate in a NI 43-101 compliant report, independently being prepared by Behre Dolbear (USA) of Denver, Colorado,...

(EnergyAsia, April 5) — Australia’s Origin Energy said it has appointed David Baldwin to take over as CEO of New Zealand’s Contact Energy Limited from May 1. Origin Energy owns a 51.36% interest in Contact Energy Limited. Contact’s chairman, Grant King, said board will appoint Mr Baldwin is a New Zealander who grew up in...

(EnergyAsia, April 5) — Fearing terror attacks, local fuel companies want the army to protect fuel supply infrastructure including oil depots and storage tanks throughout the country. The Bangladesh Fuel Oil Distributors Association (BFODA), which represents the majority of local oil distributors, has demanded the government to deploy armed guards inside oil depots and storage...

(EnergyAsia, April 5) — Gulf Energy, the global consortium of energy consultants and investors behind the multi-billion dollar Energy City Qatar project, said it has appointed Doha, Qatar-based MZ & Partners as the lead master planners and architects for the project.   To be developed within the US$5 billion Lusail development north of Doha, Energy...

(EnergyAsia, April 5) — US-based Emerson Process Management said it has been awarded a contract by Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) in what is to-date the fourth and single largest investment since the liberalisation of Taiwan’s utility market.   The opening of Taiwan’s utility market to independent power producers has generated greater competition as more companies...

(EnergyAsia, April 5) — Australian upstream company Santos Limited is positioning itself to play an increasing role as a significant supplier to international energy markets, said managing director John Ellice-Flint in the company’s 2005 Annual Report.   “We have entered 2006 with a major step into the international energy marketplace by dispatching the first cargo...

(EnergyAsia, April 4) — Australian Renewable Fuels (ARF) has started up its A$15 million biodiesel plant in South Australia state — one of the country’s largest — with a A$250 million distribution deal. (US$1=A$1.38). The plant could supply up to two percent of the state’s diesel demand by initially using waste oil and tallow as...

(EnergyAsia, April 4) — Australia has agreed to supply uranium to China in two landmark agreements signed in Canberra yesterday by the countries’ two foreign ministers. The agreements over nuclear transfer and nuclear cooperation was signed by Alexander Downer and Li Zhaoxing following a meeting between visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Australian Prime Minister...

(EnergyAsia, April 4) — Australian upstream company Woodside Petroleum has reported a 3.4% drop in 2005 after-tax net profit to A$1,107.4 million. The 2004 result had been positively impacted by the sale of 40% of Enfield oil and related permits. (US$1=A$1.38).   Revenue grew by 29.3% to a record A$2,746.7 million.   Woodside said the...

(EnergyAsia, April 4) — Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) and China’s Shenyang Pump Co Ltd (SPC) have agreed to establish a joint venture company in Shenyang in China’s Liaoning Province to conduct sales and engineering relating to pumps. MHI said it aims to make a full-scale entrance into the Chinese pump market where demand...