(EnergyAsia, July 13) — The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Advanced Technology Office (ATO) is soliciting proposals for biofuels for use in the military. In a statement, the Defense Department said it has been directed to explore a wide range of energy alternatives and fuel efficiency efforts in a bid to reduce the...
(EnergyAsia, July 13) — The Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) has issued the following report on the state of the world oil markets. Benchmark NYMEX WTI crude futures rallied above $75/barrel in early July driven by strong gasoline prices, refinery problems and geopolitical uncertainty. Supply constraints remain in Nigeria, although Iraq’s northern pipeline is...
(EnergyAsia, July 13) — Sakhalin Energy, the Russia-based operator of the Sakhalin II Project, has signed a new Heads of Agreement (HoA) to supply 500,000 tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) a year to Japan’s Chubu Electric Power Co Inc for 15 years. Delivery will start in April 2011. Sakhalin Energy said it and...
(EnergyAsia, July 12) — Production and consumption of farm products are expanding faster in developing countries than in developed economies. But a new joint report by the OECD and FAO says productivity growth in the world’s poorest nations is not keeping pace with the food needs of their rising populations. The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2006-2015...
(EnergyAsia, July 12) — German chemicals giant BASF and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Corp) this week signed a $500 million agreement to expand their joint chemical Verbund site in Nanjing city. The agreement was signed by Chen Tonghai, Sinopec chairman, and BASF chairman JŸrgen Hambrecht, in Berlin. “The expansion of BASF-YPC Co....
(EnergyAsia, July 12) — The Indian government is looking to develop a special economic zone (SEZ) dedicated exclusively to manufacturing renewable energy equipment and devices. The Ministry for Non-Conventional Energy Sources, which is promoting the idea, is preparing a policy draft on developing new and renewable sources of energy by the end of this...
(EnergyAsia, July 12) — The White Nile (5B) Petroleum Operating Company (WNPOC) produced oil from Sudan’s Thar Jath Field in Block 5A late last month. ONGC subsidiary OVL holds an equity stake of 24.125% in the block. The estimated average addition of crude from Block 5A to the present inflow from GNOP will be...
(EnergyAsia, July 12) — Golden Hope Plantations Bhd has launched Malaysia’s first biodiesel plant and is planning to build four more. The 30,000 tonnes a year plant in Teluk Panglima Garang started producing biodiesel for export last month. Chief executive Sabri Ahmad said the first cargo of more than 2,000 tonnes from the RM10...
(EnergyAsia, July 12) — Tired of continuous political infighting and foot-dragging, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has told the various state agencies to speed up the design of the second-phase of the Son La hydro-power project by the end of July and to finish its cost estimates this quarter. The Son La project...
(EnergyAsia, July 12) — Japanese engineering giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) has announced the establishment of a new representative office in Vietnam’s Hanoi city from July 1. The office will enable MHI respond to increasing business opportunities in Vietnam for large-scale projects relating to social infrastructure improvements, including power plant and subway construction in...
(EnergyAsia, July 12) — The biodiesel bandwagon is undergoing a reality check in Malaysia as the government has started to worry if there is enough palm oil to meet the demand of all the 32 proposed projects it has licensed to produce crop-based fuels. In an unexpected move last month, the Cabinet Committee on...
(EnergyAsia, July 12) — Singapore yesterday officially became a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, a UN-backed international treaty to fight global warming through efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As part of Singapore’s efforts to fight global warming, it will launch the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore (SEAS) as the lead association responsible for...
(EnergyAsia, July 12) — Indian upstream company Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) last week signed a deal to supply natural gas to Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) for 15 years. The agreement is an extension of an Memorandum of Understanding signed in 1990 and extended till 1999. The latest agreement was...
(EnergyAsia, July 11) — A Chinese company has signed a greenhouse gas emission reductions purchase agreement with the World Bank acting on behalf of the Italian Carbon Fund for the first energy efficiency project in China under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. The project is expected to reduce 61,860 tons of...
(EnergyAsia, July 11) — GE Energy last month opened its first wind turbine assembly plant in China. Located in Shenyang, the multi-million dollar facility will provide local support for the growing wind power industry in China and Asia. The GE Energy (Shenyang) Co Ltd facility, wholly owned by GE, is designed to produce 1.5-megawatt wind...
(EnergyAsia, July 11) — UK-listed biofuels company D1 Oils plc said it has entered into “very preliminary discussions with a number of parties which may or may not lead to an acquisition of a substantial shareholding in the company.” The company issued the statement after its share price soared and takeover speculation appeared in...
(EnergyAsia, July 11) — ChemConnect Inc, a US-based electronic exchange for trading midstream energy, chemicals and plastics, said it has added ethanol to its commodity exchange platform. The ChemConnect Commodity Exchange is widely recognised as a leading platform for price discovery and physical transaction execution for gasoline blendstocks and octane components such as toluene, xylene, butane...
(EnergyAsia, July 11) — Noble Americas Corp, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore-listed Noble Group Ltd, has added 114 million gallons in off take per year to their ethanol business through an arrangement with Northeast Biofuels LP’s (NEB) ethanol plant expected to start commercial production by December 2007. The plant will be located in Volney,...
(EnergyAsia, July 11) — The Chinese government is planning to put in place by 2008 a “basic law” on energy as the foundation of the country’s future energy policies. The law aims to make China an energy-efficient, innovative and environmentally friendly society. Beijing has set the goal of reducing national energy consumption by 20%...
(EnergyAsia, July 11) — Indian oil and gas company Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) is venturing into the renewable energy business with plans to build two windpower projects in the states of Gujarat and Karnataka. The two wind farms costing a total of Rs400 million will be capable of generating up to 50 megawatts...
(EnergyAsia, July 11) — New Delhi city planners have proposed legislation that would mandate solar heating and lighting for all the city’s commercial buildings. The proposal, by New Delhi’s local Power Department, has already been sent to the city’s legal staff for scrutiny. City hall officials said the city can mandate the compulsory...
(EnergyAsia, July 11) — The US Department of Energy (DOE) has released an ambitious new research agenda for the development of cellulosic ethanol as an alternative to gasoline. Unlike ethanol produced from crops, cellulosic ethanol is produced from inedible plant fibre, avoiding the ethical debate of food crop being diverted for use as fuel. The...
(EnergyAsia, July 11) — A Sino-German solar energy cooperation has built photovoltaic and photovoltaic-diesel engine hybrid stations in 11 villages in China’s northwest Qinghai province. The projects have benefited at least 520 rural households in the Mongolian-Tibetan-Kazak prefecture of Haixi and the Tibetan Prefecture of Haibei. Launched in July 2002, the Sino-German cooperation programme...
(EnergyAsia, July 10) — Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance said it will accept a suggestion from law makers to impose an energy tax to replace the country’s existing oil and natural gas commodity taxes. The ministry will work with the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) to draft the new policy and calculate the income from...
(EnergyAsia, July 10) — Keppel Singmarine Pte Ltd said it has clinched contracts worth a total of S$260 million for two highly specialised vessels from LUKOIL Ð Kaliningradmorneft (LUKOIL), a subsidiary of leading Russian oil company, LUKOIL Oil Company. The contracts, secured on the back of the AHTS, are turnkey projects. They are for...