(EnergyAsia, February 26) — PetroChina, a unit of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), has received approval from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), to build a 10-million-ton/year oil refinery in Qinzhou city in Guangxi province.   The 15.2-billion-yuan refinery, the largest in southwestern China, is expected to come on stream next year and could...

(EnergyAsia, February 26) — Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical Corp may have to do battle with the state environmental agency in its bid to boost its refining capacity to 690,000 barrels a day.   While the Energy Bureau has approved the private firm’s plan to expand its seven-year-old Mailiao plant by up to 150,000 barrels per day...

(EnergyAsia, February 26) — Ezra Holdings Limited, a leading Singapore-based offshore support and marine services provider for the offshore oil and gas industry, recently placed out 15 million shares at S$5.18 apiece. (US$1=S$1.53).   Managing director Lionel Lee said: “We are gratified by investors’ interest in our shares and are accommodating their requests for more...

(EnergyAsia, February 26) — French engineering giant Technip said it has been awarded a contract by the exploration and production subsidiary of Thailand’s state oil and gas company PTT for basic and detailed engineering of four generic wellhead platforms with associated subsea pipelines and tie-ins. The platforms will be installed in the Arthit gas field,...

(EnergyAsia, February 26) — Increased attacks on oil infrastructure is causing Iraq to lose up to 400,000 barrels of crude oil a day, said the country’s oil ministry. Last year, insurgents successfully launched 159 serious attacks on oil installations, with pipelines the main targets.   The ministry said 116 attacks on pipelines led to disruption of...

(EnergyAsia, February 23) — GE is supplying its ecomagination-certified solar energy modules and water filtration technology to a new initiative, launched by Dynoil LLC, to increase the availability of clean drinking water in rural areas of India and in other developing countries of Southeast Asia and Africa. The use of solar energy technology to power...

(EnergyAsia, February 23) — Invensys Process Systems China has implemented an I/A Series distributed control system (DCS) project for the recently constructed Cilacap Power Plant, a two-unit, 600-megawatt coal-fired generating plant located at Cilacap, on the south coast of central Java in Indonesia. The new plant is to date the largest coal-fired generating project imported...

(EnergyAsia, February 23) — Dubai-headquartered Gulf Energy Maritime (GEM), the Middle East’s largest independent commercial product tanker operator, has taken delivery of the second of 13 double-hulled tankers on order with Korea’s Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) since last November. The US$57 million Gulf Elan is the eighth double-hulled tanker in GEM’s rapidly growing fleet, which...

(EnergyAsia, February 23) — US major Exxon Mobil Corp said that phase one of the Sakhalin-1 project off the coast of eastern Russia, led by its subsidiary Exxon Neftegas Limited has reached its targeted peak production rate of 250,000 barrels of oil per day. The project’s other participants include affiliates of Rosneft, RN-Astra and Sakhalinmorneftegas-Shelf,...

(EnergyAsia, February 23) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and China Gas Holdings Limited are partnering with 12 commercial banks to provide a US$75 million loan facility to finance a series of new natural gas distribution projects in China. “This is the first natural gas distribution network project supported by ADB, as well as ADB’s...

(EnergyAsia, February 23) — Those counting on the emergence of a spot market in liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes following in the example of the oil trade could be headed for disappointment, said the CEO of Australia’s Woodside Petroleum, one of Asia’s largest independent natural gas producers.   Singapore, planning for the country’s first LNG...

(EnergyAsia, February 23) — A recently constructed biomass power plant in Thailand’s Surin province has started supplying electricity into the national grid.   The plant supplies around eight megawatt (MW) into the grid, and is capable of meeting around 17% of Surin’s total power needs. The 600 million baht plant uses waste and residues from...

(EnergyAsia, February 23) — NYSE-listed Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, said it has signed several sales agreements with Germany’s Conergy AG, a leading solar system integrator in the world, to provide it with various PV modules for its global projects.   Suntech estimates...

(EnergyAsia, February 23) — Singapore-listed Chemoil Energy Limited and UAE’s Gulf Petrol Supplies (GPS) have announced plans to jointly develop and operate a 326,000-cubic meter (cbm) oil storage facility in Fujairah.   The bulk of the capacity, 226,000 cbm, will be used for storing and handling bunker fuel.   Gulf Petrol Supplies LLC (GPS), a...

(EnergyAsia, February 23) — Qatar Petroleum has offered participation in the Barzan gas project and rights for participation in all future phases of the project to ExxonMobil Middle East Marketing Ltd, the two companies announced this week.   Citing high costs, the partners also announced that they have decided not to progress the gas-to-liquids (GTL)...

(EnergyAsia, February 22) — Singapore police have arrested a naphtha trader with Japanese trading firm Mitsui Oil Asia for allegedly covering up trading losses worth US$81 million incurred last year. Noriyuki Yamazaki, 35, is out on bail while the company has been shut down by its parent, Mitsui & Co.   Mr Yamazaki allegedly speculated...

(EnergyAsia, February 22) — Singapore-based Wilmar International Limited, one of Asia’s largest integrated agribusiness groups, last week reported an 80.2% rise in net profits to a record US$104.6 million for the year ended December 31 2006. Revenue rose 14% to US$5,301.6 million. (US$1=1.53).   The company said fourth quarter net profit surged 152.3% to US$36.3...

(EnergyAsia, February 22) — Indian oil refining companies are continuing their plans for expansion.   Essar Oil is planning to expand its group refining capacity to 32 million tonnes per year by 2011. Its new 16-million tonne refinery in Gujarat is due to start up around the same time.   Another state-owned refining and marketing...

(EnergyAsia, February 22) — India and Yemen have signed a protocol to expand oil and gas cooperation that includes assured supply of crude oil from the African nation to the Asian giant. The agreement was signed in the Yemeni capital of Saana earlier this month by India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Murli Deora,...

(EnergyAsia, February 22) — Swedish consulting group SWECO said subsidiary SWECO VBB has won a contract to help build an underground crude oil storage facility in Visakhapatnam in India. The 3.3-million euro contract was awarded by Engineers of India Limited. (US$1=0.75 euro).   SWECO VBB will work with Skanska Teknik and Midrock Engineering to undertake...

(EnergyAsia, February 22) — Horizon Terminals will have 1.2 million cubic metres of oil storage capacity on Singapore’s Jurong Island by year after it finishes constructing 250,000 cubic metres of capacity.   The company’s phase 3 project will help boost Singapore’s total independent oil storage capacity to 7.5 million cubices to meet Asia’s growing demand...

(EnergyAsia, February 22) — GE Energy said it has landed its second commitment in less than two months for major power plant projects in Saudi Arabia. The scope of supply for the new projects is expected to exceed US$1 billion by the time the projects are completed.   GE signed a new agreement for the...

(EnergyAsia, February 22) — Kuwait’s entire 920,000 b/d refining capacity was shut down for several hours after power supply to the three plants was abruptly cut off for about an hour on February 19. The incident followed two fires at two of the plants in recent months.   Kuwait National Petroleum Company said the shutdown...

(EnergyAsia, February 22) — The Oxford Princeton Programme Inc, one of the world’s leading provider of training solutions to the energy, commodity and derivatives industries, has opened a regional office in Singapore. The office was opened by President and CEO Clara Lippert who was in Singapore in early February.   Created from the merger of...

(EnergyAsia, February 22) — Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) said it posted a profit of 28,047 million baht or 8.55 baht per share in 2006, an increase of 4,312 million baht or 18% from the profit of 23,735 million baht posted in 2005. The return on shareholder’s equity came to 35.01%....