(EnergyAsia, February 13) — Canada’s ADVANTECH AMT Inc said its wholly owned subsidiary, ADVANTECH Satellite Networks Inc, has been awarded a contract by Saudi Aramco to provide a new VSAT satellite communications network for use in Saudi Arabia. The system includes redundant hubs with geographic diversity and provisions for hundreds of fixed, maritime and auto-tracking...

(EnergyAsia, February 13) — In the most authoritative and comprehensive finding to date, 2,500 scientists with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have provided the strongest evidence yet that human activities are causing climate change, and that its impact will be unstoppable.             There will be an increase in the number of hotter...

(EnergyAsia, February 12) — Singapore’s Tiong Woon Corporation Holding Ltd has posted a net profit after tax and minority interest of S$7.1 million in the first half of its financial year ending December 31 2006. (US$1=S$1.55). This was an increase of 129% over the S$3.1 million it made in the same period the previous year....

(EnergyAsia, February 12) — Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd said it has signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) for long term supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Japan’s Osaka Gas. The deal with Japan’s fourth largest LNG buyer represents the latest and last agreement for term sales of LNG from Trains 1 and 2...

(EnergyAsia, February 12) — French energy major Total said it has launched a pilot carbon dioxide capture and sequestration project in the Lacq basin in southwestern France. The project, which leverages a technique considered among the most promising in the fight against climate change, calls for up to 150,000 metric tons of CO2 to be...

(EnergyAsia, February 12) — Singapore-listed Noble Group, a global supply chain manager of agricultural, industrial and energy products, has bought over Usina Petribu Paulista Ltda (UPP), a sugar mill company in Brazil’s Sao Paulo State. The mill, which can crush up to two million tons of sugar cane, is capable of producing both sugar and...

(EnergyAsia, February 12) — Canada-based Tiger Ethanol International (TGEI) said its 90%-owned subsidiary, Xinjiang Yajia Distillate Company Limited, has agreed to obtain corn supplies from Xinjiang Yili Agricultural Division Supply and Sales Company, a state-owned company based in China’s Xinjiang province.   Xinjiang Yajia Distillate Company will use the corn for its ethanol manufacturing plant,...

(EnergyAsia, February 12) — NYSE-listed Trina Solar Limited, a leading integrated manufacturer of solar photovoltaic products based in Changzhou, China, said it has entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with Q-Cells AG, the largest independent solar cell manufacturer in the world.   Trina Solar said it will supply Germany’s Q-Cells with at least 18MW of...

(EnergyAsia, February 12) — Against stiff competition from leading French, Austrian and German multinational giants, India’s Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has secured a major contract to build a 520 MW (4×130 MW) hydro electric project (HEP) in Himachal Pradesh state.   The Rs4 billion contract to build the Parbati HEP Stage-III project was awarded...

(EnergyAsia, February 12) — Australian engineering firm WorleyParsons said it is paying A$1.13 billion to take over Colt Companies, a leading Canadian design and project services business. The acquisition creates a market leader in the high growth Canadian hydrocarbons market and provides a springboard for the next phase of WorleyParsons growth. (US$1=A$1.3).   The acquisition...

(EnergyAsia, February 12) — Singapore-listed Chemoil Energy Limited, a leading supplier of marine fuel products globally, has signed an agreement with Gulf Petrol Supplies LLC (GPS) to jointly invest in a company to develop and operate an oil storage terminal in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates (UAE). GPS will hold a 60% stake and Chemoil the...

(EnergyAsia, February 12) — Over the last few years, a combination of market and policy changes in the major export and domestic markets has shifted Russian oil companies’ priorities from crude production expansion to refinery upgrades. Most of the leading integrated players in the energy sector are undertaking extensive modernisation programmes, said US energy consultant...

(EnergyAsia, February 9) — A joint venture bewteen France’s Technip and UK’s Subsea 7 has been awarded a contract by New Zealand Overseas Petroleum Limited for the Tui Area development, located approximately 50 km off New Zealand’s Taranaki coastline in a water depth of 125 meters. The US$30 million contract includes the project management, engineering,...

(EnergyAsia, February 9) — UK energy major BP has selected the University of California Berkeley and its partners the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to join in a $500 million research programme that will explore how bioscience can be used to increase energy production and reduce the impact of energy...

(EnergyAsia, February 9) — Tiger Ethanol International (TGEI) said it has been chosen to build an ethanol plant in Hami in Xinjiang Province in western China. The plant, Xinjiang’s first, will have access to abundant supply of raw materials in an area of high quality farmland ready for further expansion.   The availability of skilled...

(EnergyAsia, February 9) — US-based CMS Energy said it has agreed to sell its subsidiary, CMS Generation Company, to the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) for US$900 million. Subject to consents, the deal is expected to close in the middle of 2007. Proceeds from the sale will be used to retire part of CMS...

 (EnergyAsia, February 9) — Singapore-based upstream company PEARL Energy Limited said production at the Jasmine oil field in Block B 5/27 in the Gulf of Thailand has exceeded 20,000 barrels of oil per day following the successful start up of the Jasmine B platform.   Output at the platform, which started production last month at...

(EnergyAsia, February 9) — Only 5% of US motorists use biofuels, according to a recent survey by Pavilion Technologies, which makes software used in the ethanol manufacture software.   Ethanol, the main biofuel in the US, is far from becoming a mainstream fuel despite the rapid build-up in new US ethanol capacities, the survey executed...

(EnergyAsia, February 9) — Western Australia Premier Alan Carpenter has unveiled his state government’s campaign to tackle climate change. At the recent World Renewable Energy Network 2007 International Conference in Perth, he announced his government would purchase 20% of its electricity requirements from renewable energy sources by 2010. Mr Carpenter also challenged the Federal Government,...

(EnergyAsia, February 9) — Brunei is planning a US$263 million biodiesel complex with two plants that will produce 100,000 tonnes/year of product in a first phase, later to be expanded to 400,000 tonnes/year.             Construction will take some 12 months.   The project will be overseen by Malaysia’s HDZ Corp, a company focused on biodiesel...

(EnergyAsia, February 9) — The fall in petroleum diesel prices is threatening the viability of India’s emerging biodiesel sector.             In many states, petroleum diesel is about Rs6/litre cheaper than biodiesel, reflecting the recent slide in world oil prices (US$1 = Rs44).   Biodiesel is also made uncompetitive by the high cost of feedstocks such...

(EnergyAsia, February 9) — Tunnelling work has begun at the construction site of Singapore’s first underground rock cavern for hydrocarbon storage Ð the Jurong Rock Cavern (JRC).   State agency JTC Corporation (JTC) held a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday to mark the start of this milestone project, with Lim Hng Kiang, Minister for Trade and Industry,...

(EnergyAsia, February 8) — American Superconductor Corporation, an energy technologies company, said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Windtec(TM), has sold a licence for its Model WT1650 wind energy system to China’s Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Research Institute (ZELRI), a division of China-Southern-Loric.   The licence includes an upfront fee of approximately $2 million to AMSC as well as...

(EnergyAsia, February 8) — A new A$14 million capital raising and float of uranium exploration assets will be launched next month after shareholders in Southern Gold Limited (ASX: SAU) voted to spin-off the company’s uranium interests into a new Australia Stock Exchange (ASX)-listed entity. (US$1=A$1.3)   The assets cover all of Southern Gold’s 20 uranium...

(EnergyAsia, February 8) — Australia’s Origin Energy Limited said it has completed the acquisition of Sun Retail Pty Ltd from the Queensland state government for A$1,202 million. (US$1=A$1.3). Sun Retail is the largest incumbent electricity supplier in the south-east Queensland growth corridor, supplying some 840,000 electricity customer accounts and 55,000 LPG customers. The acquisition brings...