(EnergyAsia, December 15) — US energy company ConocoPhillips has announced the successful testing of the Barossa-1 exploration well in the NT/P69 license located off the coast of Australia’s Northern Territory state. Drilling of the Barossa-1 well started in July and was drilled to a total depth of 4,310 meters. Logging and two drill stem...
(EnergyAsia, December 15) — US-based GT Solar Incorporated co-founder and CEO, Kedar Gupta, will retire from the company on December 31, 2006. President Tom Zarrella will lead the company and report to the board of directors. Dr Gupta co-founded the company with his long time business partner, Jon Talbott, in 1994 with $1,000 between...
(EnergyAsia, December 14) — Australian upstream company Santos has announced its intention to rebalance its exploration and production portfolio by divesting all of its interests in the US, and to focus its exploration activities into Australia, Asia and the Middle East. Following a strategic review, Santos said it intends to sell all of its...
(EnergyAsia, December 14) — Singapore’s Swiber Holdings Limited, a niche service provider to the offshore oil and gas industry, said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Swiber Marine Pte Ltd, has formed an equal joint venture agreement with Calox Consultants FZ LLC to jointly market and provide offshore marine support services in India. Calox, a UAE-incorporated company established...
(EnergyAsia, December 14) — The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), said it recently launched a study on private sector opportunities in Mongolia’s oil, gas, and chemicals sector. Funded by the Swedish government, the study will evaluate prospects and challenges for private companies to develop and diversify the country’s energy market. It will also assess...
(EnergyAsia, December 14) — India’s Himachal Pradesh state has awarded two major hydro-electric contracts to Netherlands-based Brakel. In beating out Indian competitors Reliance Energy and Birla, Brakel is said to have offered an attractive tariff of Rs3.6 million per megawatt (MW) to the state government, along with other incentives (US$=Rs45). The two projects,...
(EnergyAsia, December 14) — US-based SunGard said it has added Point Carbon’s European Union Allowance (EUA) over-the-counter (OTC) closing prices to its FAME Energy managed data solutions for financial institutions, energy producers and traders. Point Carbon’s EUA OTC prices are now directly distributed to FAME Energy and available for customers interested in the emissions markets...
(EnergyAsia, December 14) — Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has agreed to pay Rs21.50 a litre for ethanol supplied by sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh state. ($1=Rs45). The agreement sets the stage for IOC to roll out ethanol-blended fuel throughout the state. Together with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL),...
(EnergyAsia, December 14) — Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it is lending $450 million to help stabilise the power situation in the Philippines. The funds will hep the Philippine government in restructuring the power sector, considered crucial to improving the country’s fiscal imbalance and investment climate. “Without a stable and reliable electricity supply, industry...
(EnergyAsia, December 14) — Canada’s Synenco Energy Inc has released an updated capital cost estimate of C$4.4 billion for the upstream mining and extraction portion of the Northern Lights oil sands project in Alberta state. The estimate reflects a modularised construction approach for the extraction plant and associated facilities, which are anticipated to be sourced...
(EnergyAsia, December 14) — Partly boosted by the demand for biofuels, cereal prices, particularly for wheat and maize, have reached levels not seen for a decade, according to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) in its latest Food Outlook report. Poor harvests in key producing countries and a fast-growing demand for biofuel production...
(EnergyAsia, December 14) — Engineering giant Foster Wheeler Ltd said its subsidiary, Foster Wheeler International Corporation, has won a front-end engineering design (FEED) and project management consultancy (PMC) contract by PTT Public Company Ltd for its sixth gas separation plant, GSP6, which will be located at Rayong, Thailand. The plant will have process up...
(EnergyAsia, December 13) — Indonesia is looking to the US government and companies to help develop its biofuels industry. This appears to be one of the few highlights of President George W. Bush’s recent visit to Jakarta last month. The US is expected to help Indonesia gain access to funding and technology. Indonesia...
(EnergyAsia, December 13) — Pakistan’s government said it has short-listed 13 investors to set up wind power projects in the country. Another 58 companies are considering projects, said the country’s Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB). The government is making the development of alternative energy sources a key priority in its attempt to improve national...
(EnergyAsia, December 13) — Philippine National Oil Company Petrochemicals Corp and the National Development Co are jointly investing one billion peso to boost their biofuels research and development. (US$1=Peso50). The companies are focusing on jatropha as feedstock, with initial efforts aimed at converting idle land to cultivating the crop. The government is aiming...
(EnergyAsia, December 13) — India’s state oil marketing firms must make huge investments in ethanol-blending facilities before the fuel can be introduced across the nation. The cost of setting up the blending facilities at a single depot is about Rs10 million, said Indian Oil Corp (IOC). The company is planning to invest Rs1.4 billion...
(EnergyAsia, December 13) — China’s northwest Gansu province is planning to build a 100 megawatt (MW) solar power station in Dunhuang city. The 6-billion yuan project, billed as the world’s largest such facility, would be completed in five years, eclipsing the five-MW plant in Leipzig city in Germany. The Dunhuang local government has signed...
(EnergyAsia, December 13) — The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private sector arm, and the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) have agreed to work together to support market-driven solutions that address climate change. The two organisations will undertake together activities to increase the awareness and participation of the private sector in the greenhouse...
(EnergyAsia, December 13) — Thai solar-cell producer Ekarat Engineering Plc said it will invest 800 million baht on new equipment for its new solar-cell plant in Rayong. (US$1=Baht36). Ekarat expects to start up the plant in June 2007 with an initial capacity of six megawatts (MW). Full capacity of 30 MW will be reached...
(EnergyAsia, December 13) — Elevated particle emissions resulting from increased economic activity in Asia may have increased Australia’s tropical rainfall, according to Australian scientists studying the impact of pollution on climate. “Until now, there has been ample evidence that these particles have important effects on climate in the Northern Hemisphere but little such evidence...
(EnergyAsia, December 13) — The rapid growth of Europe’s biofuels industry could pave the way for genetically modified (GM) crops to gain acceptance, threatening to close the door on a lucrative market for Australian canola exports. At a recent media briefing, an Australian farm group warned that GM canola may soon be needed to...
(EnergyAsia, December 13) — China has started building a giant dam on the main tributary of the Yangtze River in the country’s southwest. Costing more than US$3.6 billion, the six-gigawatt Xiangjiaba will tap the lower reaches of the Jianshajiang River to generate about 31 billion kilowatts of electricity a year when it starts up in...
(EnergyAsia, December 12) — Australian upstream company Woodside Petroleum Ltd said it intends to activate a dividend reinvestment plan for the 2006 final dividend. The plan will give eligible shareholders the option of reinvesting their dividends in additional Woodside shares, without paying any brokerage or other costs. The plan will raise capital to support...
(EnergyAsia, December 12) — Ethanol-blended gasoline is available in only three Indian states so far, despite the government’s much vaunted plans to introduce the fuel nationwide by November 15. The only states where the logistics for distributing ethanol are in place are Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Goa. India’s state-owned oil marketing firms...
(EnergyAsia, December 12) — Montreal-based Tiger Ethanol International said it has restructured its activities and acquired a 90% interest in a joint venture plant to produce corn-based ethanol in China’s Xinjiang province. Tiger bought the stake of five million shares from Gallant Energy International Ltd, with local Chinese companies holding the remaining 10%. Led...