(EnergyAsia, May 4, Friday) — Fire killed two workers and forced the shutdown of an ExxonMobil oil refinery on Jurong Island in Singapore yesterday. The 115,000 b/d plant on Pulau Ayer Chawan will stay idled until it is deemed to resume operations, said the company. Its other crude distillation unit on Jurong Island, an...
(EnergyAsia, May 4, Friday) — Life for an estimated 100,000 people in poverty-stricken rural India has been improved dramatically by several hours of reliable solar-powered lighting every night, made available by a UN-led pilot project to facilitate household financing for solar home systems. The $1.5 million pilot, managed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),...
(EnergyAsia, May 4, Friday) — Iran has told India it will have to pay more for its liquefied natural gas and disregard the contract signed in June 2005. Iran had agreed to supply India with five million tonnes of LNG annually for 25 years from 2009 with an option for another 2.5 million tonnes per...
(EnergyAsia, May 4, Friday) — NYSE-listed Evergreen Energy Inc, a leading provider of cost-effective pre-combustion cleaner coal solutions for electric and industrial power generation, said subsidiary Evergreen Energy Asia-Pacific (EEAP) has formed its first significant international business corporation. Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation has agreed to be a strategic partner and will leverage its substantial energy...
(EnergyAsia, May 4, Friday) — Around 3,500 delegates are now in Japan’s Kyoto International Conference Center attending the Asia Development Bank’s (ADB’s) 40th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors. The meeting brings together senior officials from across Asia and the Pacific to discuss ways to effectively address poverty and ensure sustainable economic growth...
(EnergyAsia, May 3, Thursday) — Australia’s Xstrata and Rio Tinto have achieved record prices for the supply of thermal coal to 10 Japanese power utilities for the contract year starting April 1, 2007. The Japanese utilities source 60% of their 90 million tonnes in annual coal consumption from Australia. The new contract prices of...
(EnergyAsia, May 3, Thursday) — Thai state upstream company PTTEP said its fully owned subsidiary, PTTEP International Limited (PTTEPI), plans to raise its stake in an offshore block in the Gulf of Thailand from 15% to 21.375%. Its partners in Petroleum Concession No. 4/2546/61 or Block G4/43 are Chevron Offshore (Thailand) Ltd and Mitsui Oil...
(EnergyAsia, May 3, Thursday) — Asia Development Bank (ADB) has launched a fund to provide capital to buy carbon credits at the outset of clean energy projects. Commitments from participants to the Asia Pacific Carbon Fund, part of ADB’s broader Carbon Market Initiative, have now exceeded the US$80 million needed for launch. Participants who...
(EnergyAsia, May 3, Thursday) — Australian upstream company Santos said it welcomes the decision by the South Australia state government to initiate a review of the 15% shareholding restriction that has been in place since 1979. Santos said the review is in response to a request made by Santos to the government of Premier...
(EnergyAsia, May 3, Thursday) — Norway’s Statoil ASA will make an all-cash offer to acquire all shares of TSX-listed-North American Oil Sands Corporation (NAOSC) at C$20 per share in a deal worth C$2.2 billion, the two companies announced last week. Established in 2001, NAOSC operates 257,200 acres (1,110 square kilometres) of oil sands leases...
(EnergyAsia, May 3, Thursday) —- Singapore’s Keppel Corp, the world’s largest builder of offshore drilling rigs, said its quarterly profit rose 48% on continued strong demand from the exploration and production companies, and the excellent performance of its subsidiaries. The company has cornered about a third of the rigs construction business worldwide, said its...
(EnergyAsia, May 3, Thursday) — Chardan South China Acquisition Corporation (CSCA) said it has signed an agreement to acquire Head Dragon Holdings Limited, the Hong Kong company that owns 100% of Liaoning GaoKe Energy Group. GaoKe is the largest private Chinese engineering company providing design, construction, installation, and operating expertise for distributed power generation and...
(EnergyAsia, May 3, Thursday) — Ezra Holdings Limited, a Singapore-based offshore support and marine services provider for Southeast Asia’s offshore oil and gas industry, said its wholly-owned production and construction subsidiary, EOC Limited, will be listed on the OTC of the Oslo Stock Exchange, with plans for an upgrade to the main board before end-2007....
(EnergyAsia, May 3, Thursday) — France’s AREVA said its Transmission and Distribution (T&D) division has won a contract with the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) worth over 100 million euros, to build a new high-voltage gas-insulated substation and to refurbish 15 remote substations in the Jubail area in Saudi Arabia. (US$1=0.75 euro). The contract is part...
(EnergyAsia, May 3, Thursday) — Record cash flows have pushed deal activity in the world oil and gas industry to levels rivalling the mega merger highs of 1998, said consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). “O&G Deals” – the first annual analysis by PwC of M&A activity in the oil and gas sector – reports that average...
(EnergyAsia, May 2, Wednesday) — Vietnam is continuing to build up its hydroelectricity generation capacity. Construction of a 190MW plant in the central province of Quang Nam has begun while Czech firm Miseco has received approval to build a 2.8-MW hydro power plant in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong. The VND4.5 trillion...
(EnergyAsia, May 2, Wednesday) — China will stop approving new building of coal-fired power plants with generating capacities of less than 300,000 kilowatts (kW). The plants must also be equipped with upgrading units to desulphurise emissions and reduce soot output. The powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) recently announced the new rules as part...
(EnergyAsia, May 2, Wednesday) — University of Hong Kong’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and a private company, Motorwave, have developed a micro-wind turbine that will allow companies or industries to generate their own electricity at wind speeds as low as one meter per second. The university’s wind-tunnel tests have shown that the micro-turbines placed within...
(EnergyAsia, May 2, Wednesday) — India’s Emmvee Solar Systems, with an eye on selling its products to the world markets, has sold a 50% stake to Danish company SolarCAP for an undisclosed sum. Bangalore-based Emmvee produces the Solarizer brand of solar heaters for the domestic Indian market and is hoping to expand its range...
(EnergyAsia, May 2, Wednesday) — China’s Gezhouba Group said it has clinched a US$1.46 billion contract to build a 2,600-megawatt hydroelectric power station in Nigeria. The deal, which involves the construction of a dam by end-2013, will be the largest hydroelectric project for a Chinese firm in Africa. The Gezhouba Group, based in...
(EnergyAsia, May 2, Wednesday) — India’s state National Hydroelectric Power Corp hopes to raise up to 25 billion rupees in what will be the Mumbai stock exchange’s biggest new stock listing this year. (US$1=42 rupees). The company plans to use funds raised from the sale of a 13.6% stake to finance six projects that...
(EnergyAsia, May 2, Wednesday) — The UAE government has awarded a contract to the German firm ILF to build an oil pipeline that would allow the country to bypass the Strait of Hormuz for its crude exports. The 320-km pipeline will link up the Habshan oilfield in Abu Dhabi with the port of Fujairah....
(EnergyAsia, May 2, Wednesday) — Gas-rich Brunei is bidding to widen its industrial base with plans to build the country’s first petrochemical plant, a 850,000 metric tons methanol production facility. Construction of the US$400 million plant, a joint venture between state-owned PB Petrochemical Co, Japan’s Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co and Itochu Corp, is due...
(EnergyAsia, May 2, Wednesday) — Hongkong-listed gas operator Xinao Gas Holdings Limited said its 2006 profit rose 40.1% to RMB379.6 million while revenue surged 65.1% to RMB3,396.5 million over the previous year. (US$1=RMB7.72). Earnings per share increased by 32.8% to RMB 40.5 cents. The board has recommended the payment of a final dividend HK$7.75...
(EnergyAsia, May 2, Wednesday) — Stockbroking house Aseambankers has tipped the stock of Malaysian power company Tenaga Nasional as a ‘buy’. Aseambankers described Tenaga’s first half net profit of RM2,801.1 million to March 31 as ‘impressive’. The 181.5% year-on-year rise was due mostly to a forex gain of RM598 million and a deferred tax...