(EnergyAsia, June 27, Wednesday) — Australia’s leading resources company BHP Billiton has unveiled a new A$300 million four-pronged approach to climate change. (US$1=A$1.2). In its revised climate change policy, BHP Billiton said it believed accelerated action was required to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at levels guided by the research of the Intergovernmental...
(EnergyAsia, June 27, Wednesday) — May) The installed capacity of hydropower projects in rural areas in China rose by six million kilowatts (kw) to 50 million kw last year. This now accounts for about 37% of the country’s total hydropower capacity. The Ministry of Water Resources plans to raise China’s hydropower capacity in the rural...
(EnergyAsia, June 27, Wednesday) — The world’s largest solar power plant could be operating in South Korea by the end of next year, said the Dongyang Engineering & Construction Corp. The 20MW plant is under construction in Sinan town in southwestern South Korea, about 400 km southwest of Seoul. Germany’s Suntechnics is helping to build...
(EnergyAsia, June 27, Wednesday) —- ExxonMobil’s top executive said his company is committed to addressing the challenge of climate change at the same time that it is working to meet the world’s growing energy demand. The world’s largest listed oil company has become the favourite target for environmental groups as well its own shareholders for...
(EnergyAsia, June 27, Wednesday) — Following a massive growth in the sector, China has raised the target for its windpower capacity to more than double the original five gigawatt level by 2010. According to experts from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), the bar could be raised to between 10 and 12 GW. After exceeding...
(EnergyAsia, June 26, Tuesday) —The US Department of Energy (DOE) recently awarded $22.7 million for basic research projects aimed at improving the capture, conversion and use of solar energy. The research will help increase the amount of solar power in the nation’s energy supply. “These projects are part of our aggressive basic research in the...
(EnergyAsia, June 26, Tuesday) — State-owned PetroChina will soon expand its crude oil storage capacity in several provinces as part of its plan to enhance energy supply security. Its storage capacity in Dalian city will be increased by six times to 3.24 million cubic metres next year, almost equal to the national strategic oil reserve...
(EnergyAsia, June 26, Tuesday) — India’s domestic airlines may soon be given financial relief in the form of lower taxes and permission to import jet fuel in bulk. Responding to complaints from businesses and the aviation industry, the Indian government plans to implement the two decisions to enable airlines to reduce operating costs and pass...
(EnergyAsia, June 26, Tuesday) — The Indian government has finally given the greenlight to UK-based steel baron Lakshmi Mittal to take up a 49% in Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd’s proposed Bhatinda refinery in Punjab state. Cabinet approval was needed, as there is an existing 26% cap on foreign investors taking a stake in state-run companies....
(EnergyAsia, June 26, Tuesday) — Philippines’ Eastern Petroleum Corporation (EPC) is seeking partners to help it build a small refinery in Mindanao island. The proposed 30,000 b/d plant will be completed in 18 months, said chairman Fernando Martinez. A new refinery would help cut down prices of fuel for consumers in Visayas and Mindanao provinces...
(EnergyAsia, June 26, Tuesday) — Saudi Aramco will likely proceed to build a giant refinery with the capacity to process up to 400,000 b/d of Arabian heavy crude. The plant will augment the existing 550,000 b/d oil refinery in Ras Tanura and could cost up to $8 billion. The state oil company has also drawn...
(EnergyAsia, June 26) — Qatar’s energy ministry has called for tenders to build a 250,000 b/d oil refinery that will export the bulk of its products output. The plant is targeted to come onstream in 2011. Energy Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said the country’s existing 24,000 b/d refinery at Messaid is so small it...
(EnergyAsia, June 26, Tuesday) — BP and TNK-BP said they have signed a memorandum of understanding to create a strategic alliance with Russian gas giant Gazprom to invest jointly in major long-term energy projects or swap assets around the world. In a move designed to extend Gazprom’s access to international markets and deepen BP and...
(EnergyAsia, June 26, Tuesday) — Singapore’s Keppel FELS Limited said it is on course to deliver another KFELS Super B Class jackup drilling rig to repeat customer, Sinvest AS, a subsidiary of Aban Singapore Pte Ltd on time and within budget. The rig is the third of five KFELS Super B Class rigs that Keppel...
(EnergyAsia, June 26, Tuesday) — Singapore’s Rotary Engineering Limited said it has landed three oil and gas contracts worth a total of S$150 million for work to be undertaken in Singapore and Indonesia. (US$1=S$1.52). Two contracts with a total value of S$76 million were awarded from Shell Eastern Petroleum (Pte) Ltd for the new Shell...
(EnergyAsia, June 25, Monday) — US refiners are failing to produce enough gasoline to meet demand, forcing them to draw from stockpiles, said energy broker Fimat. In the Gulf Coast, the heartland of US refining, crude runs plummeted last week by an eye-popping 476,000 b/d even as Gulf Coast crude imports soared to an all-time high...
(EnergyAsia, June 25, Monday) — Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas and US ConocoPhillips are looking to expand their jointly-owned 130,000 b/d oil refinery in Malacca state. Petronas, with a 53% stake in the plant, said it could be expanded to 175,000 b/d. ConocoPhillips James Mulva has sounded positive on enhancing the company’s only oil refinery in Asia....
(EnergyAsia, June 25, Monday) — Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas has yet to decide if it should invest in an oil refinery in the troubled African nation of Sudan, said CEO Hassan Marican. The company had agreed in August 2005 that it would help build a 100,000 b/d refinery in Port Sudan. The plant’s capacity has since...
(EnergyAsia, June 25, Monday) — Fujairah plans to build 16 offshore berths to handle increased oil traffic from new storage terminals being built to help oil producers reduce shipping through the Straits of Hormuz. Fujairah port authorities expect to invest some $200 million on the new berths to facilitate the flow of an additional 80...
(EnergyAsia, June 25, Monday) — Caltex Australia Limited said it expects to report after-tax profit in the range of A$235 million to A$255 million on a replacement cost of sales operating profit (RCOP) basis for the first half of 2007. (US$1=A$1.2). This compares with A$174.7 million for the first half of 2006, which was a...
(EnergyAsia, June 25, Monday) — Australian-Canadian Oil Royalties Ltd (ACOR) said has secured A$160 million to fund the development of the Longtom gas project in the Gippsland Basin. Longtom is expected to begin producing 11,000 (BOE) barrels of oil equivalent per day from the third quarter of 2008. As operator, it has also submitted its Longtom...
(EnergyAsia, June 25, Monday) — Dubai-headquartered Gulf Energy Maritime (GEM), the Middle East’s largest independent commercial product tanker operator, has taken delivery of its ninth double-hulled tanker worth US$55 million. The third of 13 tankers on order with Korea’s Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD), and the second tanker to be received this year, the IMO II...
(EnergyAsia, June 25, Monday) — The Indian government is looking to expand the first phase capacity of its planned strategic crude stockpile by more than 30% to 1.3 million tonnes. Swedish consultant Sweco said the additional storage will enhance the country’s energy supply security at a slight incremental cost. By end-2010, the stockpile would have...
(EnergyAsia, June 25, Monday) — Korea’s S-Oil Corp is using ExxonMobil’s PxMax technology at its Onsan refinery and chemical complex. ExxonMobil Chemical Technology Licensing LLC said it the PxMax process has been licensed by ExxonMobil and implemented at the Onsan refinery to replace a non-selective toluene disproportionation (TDP) process that produced equilibrium mixed xylenes. The...
(EnergyAsia, June 25, Monday) — Succumbing to cost pressures, South Korean energy major S-Oil has decided to delay plans to build a giant 480,000 b/d refinery project. Originally budgeted at 3.6 trillion won, the project has fallen victim to runaway costs as company executives admitted they were powerless to contain the worldwide inflation in engineering, equipment...