(EnergyAsia, March 16) — Qatargas Operating Company Ltd and Emerson Process Management have announced a long-term alliance, naming Emerson the preferred supplier of digital automation solutions and Qatargas a preferred customer for the company’s oil, gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities.   The alliance will continue to improve and sustain operational excellence for Qatargas,...

(EnergyAsia, March 16) — More than 700 key decision-makers will gather at the 2007 Asian Energy in Bangkok, Thailand next month.   The conference at the Imperial Queenspark Hotel will focus on strategic issues such as technology, and trends shaping future electric, water and gas utilities. Speakers will also discuss issues on power transmission, distribution,...

(EnergyAsia, March 16) — The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said it will maintain its official 25.8 million b/d production quota for now with world oil prices holding steady in the US$58-$62 a barrel range the last few weeks.   At its 144th ordinary meeting in Vienna, Austria yesterday, the 12-member cartel decided...

(EnergyAsia, March 16) — Indonesia’s PT Apexindo Pratama Duta Tbk last week launched its newest jack-up rig at a ceremony attended by Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, the company’s senior executives and clients. The ceremony was held at the PPL Shipyard in Singapore where it was built.   The ‘Soehanah’ is a super premium jack up...

(EnergyAsia, March 16) — Following on the success of Suntech Power, Trina, Solarfun, JA Solar and others, another three Chinese solar cell makers are seeking a listing on New York’s Nasdaq exchange.             Riding on current investors’ enthusiasm for renewable energy and China, Tianwei Yingli New Energy Resources, LDK Solar Hi-Tech Co and CEEG (Nanjing)...

(EnergyAsia, March 16) — American Superconductor Corporation, a leading US energy technologies company, said its wholly owned subsidiary, Windtecª, has signed a multi-million-dollar wind energy system joint development contract with China’s Sinovel Wind Corporation Limited. AMSC also has a prior delivery right to sell future electrical components under the same conditions as other suppliers to...

(EnergyAsia, March 16) — Philippine National Oil Company-Energy Development Corporation (PNOC-EDC), a unit of state PNOC, is planning to build a 30-megawatt (MW) geothermal plant.   The US$75 million plant will be located in Burgos in the northern part of the country.   It is part of Manila’s strategy to boost renewable energy and reduce...

(EnergyAsia, March 16) — The global liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry will continue to rely on long-term take-or-pay contracts to develop and ensure the viability of new projects, Woodside Petroleum CEO Don Voelte said at a recent conference.             Mr Voelte said that Australia’s Northwest Shelf (NWS) LNG could not have been developed without the...

(EnergyAsia, March 16) — The world’s clean-energy markets are poised to quadruple in the next decade, from $55.4 billion in revenues in 2006 to more than $226.5 billion by 2016 for four benchmark technologies, according to the sixth annual Clean Energy Trends report. The report is produced by clean-tech research and publishing firm Clean Edge...

(EnergyAsia, March 15) — China’s central government will have to play a more active policymaking and coordination role if the nation’s bioethanol and biofuels industry is to develop into an internationally competitive force, said the Institute of Energy Economics Japan (IEEJ).   Citing recommendations by the powerful planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission...

(EnergyAsia, March 15) — India’s Maharashtra state is stepping up efforts to increase the use of renewable energy sources in its total power mix from 0.7% to 6% by 2010. Mahesh Zagade, the director-general of the Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (MEDA), said it would require a total investment of Rs270 billion to achieve the target....

(EnergyAsia, March 15) — Foster Wheeler Ltd said its subsidiary, Foster Wheeler USA Corporation, has been awarded a contract by Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) to provide a licence and basic engineering package for a new delayed coker. The 3.7 million-tonnes-per-year delayed coker, which will be based on Foster Wheeler’s Selective Yield Delayed Coking (SYDEC(SM))...

(EnergyAsia, March 15) — Germany’sSiemens said its Siemens Power Generation (PG) unit has received orders to supply compressor trains for the oil and gas industry in Qatar and Nigeria worth a total of 120 million Euro. (US$1=Euro 0.75).   It said that Denmark’s Maersk Oil Qatar ordered five gas turbine-driven compressor trains while Daewoo E&C...

(EnergyAsia, March 15) — Indonesia’s Apexindo Pratama Duta Tbk said it has new contract and extension confirmations for several land rigs projects worth a total of US$22.5 million. The company earned contract extensions for two land rigs from Vico for drilling projects in East Kalimantan. The total value of both contracts is about US$13.9 million...

(EnergyAsia, March 15) — Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) said it and Marubeni Corp have received an order for an M251S gas turbine from Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Group) Co Ltd (TISCO), one of China’s leading steelmakers. The gas turbine will serve as a core component of a blast-furnace-gas (BFG) fired gas turbine combined-cycle...

(EnergyAsia, March 15) — Security forces are maintaining tight security around the energy infrastructure of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and PTT Plc including power plants and oil refineries following warnings of more terrorist attacks in the wake of the New Year’s Eve bombings in Bangkok.   Police have increased the number of...

(EnergyAsia, March 15) — Ethanol producers in Thailand want the government to curb sales of octane-95 gasoline as they seek to alleviate the problem of oversupply of fuel ethanol.   The Thai Ethanol Manufacturing Association has been critical of the government for abandoning the previous Thaksin regime’s plans to replace octane-95 with gasohol-95, which has...

(EnergyAsia, March 15) — Malaysia’s exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and refined petroleum products chalked up double digit growth in 2006, according to the country’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).             LNG sales rose by 12% to account for 29.4% of the country’s total exports of minerals and mineral fuels. Nearly 57%...

(EnergyAsia, March 15) — Teco Group, a leading Taiwanese manufacturer of heavy electric products, is teaming up with Composite Technology Corporation (CTC) of the US to set up wind-turbine assembly plants in the US and China. Last November, Teco and CTC subsidiary, Teco-Westinghouse Motor Company, signed a strategic-alliance agreement to tap into the world’s growing...

(EnergyAsia, March 14) — Two Chinese firms, China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC) and China Geo-Engineering Corporation (CGC), has been awarded the contract to build the US$1.4 billion Mambilla plateau Hydro Power Station in Nigeria’s Taraba state.   Speaking to the media in Abuja, Nigeria’s Energy Minister Edmund Daukoru said construction on the project would soon...

(EnergyAsia, March 14) — South Korea’s LML has proposed to start-up a jatropha curcas plantation to produce biodiesel for power generation in a village in Indonesia’s Maluku island.   Chairman Choi Seung In said Oma village was found to have suitable soil and climate conditions to grow the crop on a large scale. The project...

(EnergyAsia, March 14) — The Abu Dhabi government within the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is embarking on a green energy initiative. Criticised for its high per capita energy use, Abu Dhabi is also keen to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.   The government has teamed up with the US Massachusetts Institute of Technology to...

(EnergyAsia, March 14) — Australia’s largest natural resources company, BHP Billiton, said it has merged its iron ore, manganese and metallurgical coal businesses.   The new unit will report to Dave Murray, former president of metallurgical coal, who now becomes head of the coal unit with responsibility for both the metallurgical coal and energy coal...

(EnergyAsia, March 14) — The US Department of Energy (DOE) said it will invest a total of US$553 million in cellulosic ethanol and solar energy projects through the rest of the decade.   The bulk, or US$385 million, will be invested in six biorefineries over the next four years as part of President Bush’s plan...

(EnergyAsia, March 14) — Petrosetco, a subsidiary of PetroVietnam, and Japan’s Itochu Corp, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to form a joint venture to build Vietnam’s first bioethanol plant. The proposed $100 million plant will produce 99.8%-pure ethanol to be mixed with gasoline to create biofuel.   The 100 million-litre-per-year plant, to be...