(EnergyAsia, July 18, Wednesday) — Australia’s Alinta Limited has announced a major expansion of the Queensland Gas Pipeline to help deliver additional load of coal seam gas to an aluminum refinery. Alinta said it will invest A$112 million on compression and looping for the pipeline to provide additional capacity to meet the gas needs of...
(EnergyAsia, July 18, Wednesday) — China expects to start up the last two of four planned strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs) within 12 months. One of the bases at Huangdao in Shandong province could start up by the end of this year, said Sinopec, which will operate the facility. The other facility at Dalian, to be...
(EnergyAsia, July 18, Wednesday) — ExxonMobil Chemical said it will add 130,000 tons per year of capacity to its ExxsolTM hydrocarbon fluids plant in Jurong Island, Singapore, bringing production to over 500,000 tons per year. Commercial quantities of the product from the new facility are expected to be available in the fourth quarter 2008. The...
(EnergyAsia, July 18, Wednesday) — India has not shown any commitment to fighting climate change as it has failed to state a clear policy on global warming and has not attempted to curb its greenhouse gas emissions. Critics said that despite frequent government announcements on developing and adopting clean energy technologies, India is lagging behind...
(EnergyAsia, July 18, Wednesday) — China’s crude oil imports rose by 9.6% to 67 million tonnes for the five months of 2007, compared with the year-earlier period. Crude imports reached 67 million tonnes while exports dropped 37% to 1.6 million tonnes, widening China’s energy import dependency. World oil prices have held above US$70 a barrel...
(EnergyAsia, July 18, Wednesday) — Renewable energy is now serious business, with investments into the sector surging 25% last year to top $100 billion for the first time, according to a joint report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The report covered the dollar view of the current status of sustainable energy development including...
(EnergyAsia, July 18, Wednesday) — Finland’s Wärtsilä said it recently signed contracts to supply three gas-fired power plants totalling 84.6 MWe in capacity to Bangladesh. The plants are worth a total of 22.5 million euros. (US$1=0.7 euro). The first contract signed in May is for a 6 MWe electrical power plant to be supplied to...
(EnergyAsia, July 18, Wednesday) — BP Indonesia said the Tangguh liquefied gas plant in Indonesia’s Papua province is due to start up in late 2008. Drilling of the underlying reserves estimated at more than 14 billion cu ft started in June just as the plant enters its final phase of construction. BP Indonesia president director...
(EnergyAsia, July 18, Wednesday) — US energy company ConocoPhillips said it will establish a Water Sustainability Centre in Qatar to examine ways to treat and use by-product water from oil production and refining operations, as well as other projects relating to industrial and municipal water sustainability. The centre will be located in Qatar Science &...
(EnergyAsia, July 18, Wednesday) — The Oxford Princeton Programme will be making its debut in China with a training course entitled “Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Technology”, next month. Course director Roger Hutcheson will lead the course giving an introduction to gasoline and diesel fuel technology. His lecture will cover topics on refining, blending, specifications, performance,...
(EnergyAsia, July 17, Tuesday) — Energy Solutions International, Inc, the Houston, US-based provider of oil and gas pipeline management software, said it has signed two new contracts with engineering firms in India to deploy the company’s PipelineStudio(R) simulation software for pipeline design and engineering analysis. EnergySolutions said it received contracts from Bangalore-based Valdel Engineers &...
(EnergyAsia, July 17, Tuesday) — New Zealand coal company Solid Energy has expanded its renewables portfolio with the acquisition of a solar heating specialist, Sensible Heat. The acquired firm will form the basis of a new business and consultancy service, Switch, which will supply equipment, provide advice and design integrated heating systems for homes, businesses,...
(EnergyAsia, July 19, Tuesday) — Singapore’s Ezra Holdings Limited, a leading services provider in Southeast Asia’s offshore oil and gas industry, said it has signed 10 new charters contracts worth US$127 million. Managing director Lionel Lee said: “Our latest charters at improved rates reflect the continued strength of the offshore oil & gas sector globally...
(EnergyAsia, July 17, Tuesday) — French major Total said the Dolphin gas project is now producing natural gas from Qatar and is exporting it to neighbouring United Arab Emirates. The project’s owner, Dolphin Energy Limited, is owned by Total (24.5%), Mubadala Development Company, on behalf of the government of Abu Dhabi (51%), and Occidental Petroleum...
(EnergyAsia, July 17, Monday) — UK insurer Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS) said it is taking a second look at the viability and sustainability of biofuel investments by some of its clients. The insurance firm said some biofuel projects carried long-term risks that could seriously harm the environment, and lose the support of the public and...
(EnergyAsia, July 17, Tuesday) — Energy major Shell is planning to set up liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in the extreme conditions of the Arctic Circle, the latest frontier for competition for increasingly scarce natural resources. At a recent media briefing in Malaysia, Shell’s Asia Pacific Gas and Power executive vice-president Jon Chadwick said the...
(EnergyAsia, July 17, Tuesday) — The Indian government has approved the sale of 39 coal blocks to state-run and private-run companies including National Thermal Power Corp, Tata Power, Essar and Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. Ten blocks with coal reserves estimated at more than 6 billion tons were auctioned off to government-controlled companies, while another...
(EnergyAsia, July 17, Tuesday) — US carmaker Ford has set up a new 1.1-billion peso plant to produce auto engines capable of using both regular gasoline and ethanol. (US$1=45 peso). The “flex fuel” engine plant in Santa Rosa in Laguna is the first of its kind in Asia. By 2012, the plant will be able...
(EnergyAsia, July 17, Tuesday) — Singapore is offering tax breaks to encourage companies to start trading spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes and carbon emission credits in an effort to become a more complete energy trading hub in Asia. As an incentive, the government said it will extend to these traders a special tax rate...
(EnergyAsia, July 17, Tuesday) — The Energy Supply Association of Australia (ESAA) wants the government to stop regulating the country’s retail electricity and gas prices and to completely open the markets to competition. Representing the views of 44 electricity and downstream natural gas companies, the ESAA said that state controls over the price of electricity...
(EnergyAsia, July 16, Wednesday) — Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) said its subsidiary, PTTEP Offshore Investment Company Limited, and the consortia comprising OMV New Zealand Limited (OMV) and Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Limited have been confirmed by Crown Minerals, the Department of Economic Development of New Zealand, as successful bidders of...
(EnergyAsia, July 16, Monday) — The Indian state of Punjab has been promised loans totaling Rs9 billion by several private lenders to support the development of renewable energy projects. (US$1=Rs41). In addition, the Japan Bank of International Cooperation has pledged Rs8 billion to the state government to add another 200 MW of renewable energy-fired power...
(EnergyAsia, July 16, Monday) — AGL Energy Limited (AGL) said it has signed a foundation gas transportation agreement with Epic Energy which will allow the construction of a A$140 million gas pipeline to complete the final link between the Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales gas markets. This will be achieved through the construction...
(EnergyAsia, July 16, Monday) — The Middle East’s largest independent commercial product tanker operator, Gulf Energy Maritime (GEM), has received delivery of the fourth of 13 tankers on order with Korea’s Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD). The US$55 million Gulf Mews is an IMO II N2 type, 37,000 dwt multi-purpose (M-Class) vessel, will help the Dubai-headquartered...
(EnergyAsia, July 16, Monday) — Imarex NOS ASA said its second quarter trades in tanker, freight, fuel oil and dry bulk futures contracts reached a record $3.458 billion in the quarter. This represented an increase of 210% over the second quarter of 2006. The Norway-based exchange said it handled 96,688 lots in the quarter, up...