(EnergyAsia, July 5, Thursday) — Antarctica New Zealand said it plans to tap the southern continent’s massive wind resources to provide power for its operations. The agency wants to reduce fossil fuel consumption at Scott Base by 20% by using alternative energy sources. Wind would be the most obvious as the Antarctica is blown by strong...
(EnergyAsia, July 5, Thursd) — Hong Kong’s busy airport may see service levels impacted if it is forced to choose an alternative site for an aviation fuel storage facility, said Hong Kong Economic Development & Labor Secretary Stephen Ip. Planners have been looking for years at the Tuen Mun Area 38 near the airport, as...
(EnergyAsia, July 4, Wednesday) — Singapore’s Swiber Holdings Limited, an integrated offshore engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commission (EPCIC) contractor, said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Swiber Offshore Construction Pte Ltd, has signed a Letter of Intent with a Malaysian group, worth approximately US$31 million, to provide offshore installation works for the Puteri Wellhead platform in Malaysia....
(EnergyAsia, July 4, Wednesday) — The Chinese government is expected to stop licensing new coal-to-liquid (CTL) and ethanol projects due to fears over their high environmental and investment costs. Coal liquefaction projects require a lot of water and energy and produce carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, lead and mercury at a time when China is under...
(EnergyAsia, July 4, Wednesday) — Nasdaq-listed Fuel Tech, Inc and Itochu Hong Kong Ltd, a subsidiary of Japan’s Itochu Corp, said they have signed an exclusive teaming agreement for the purpose of performing at least one FUEL CHEM® program on a combustion unit in the territory comprising China, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR)...
(EnergyAsia, July 4, Wednesday) — Private equity investor Warburg Pincus has completed its US$175 million investment into Hongkong-listed Titan Petrochemicals Group Limited. At a special general meeting in Hong Kong last month, Titan’s shareholders passed the resolution to approve terms of the subscription agreement sent out in a circular on May 25. The conditions for...
(EnergyAsia, July 4, Wednesday) — BP and D1 Oils plc said they plan to form an equal joint venture called D1-BP Fuel Crops Ltd to accelerate the planting of jatropha curcas – a drought resistant, inedible oilseed bearing tree which does not compete with food crops for good agricultural land or adversely impact the rainforest...
(EnergyAsia, July 4, Wednesday) — Planners in Abu Dhabi are building what they claim will become the world’s greenest city that will not add to the world’s carbon dioxide emissions or waste. Within a six-sq km community in the city centre, the Abu Dhabi government’s Masdar Intitute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will unveil...
(EnergyAsia, July 4, Wednesday) — China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC)’s recent Jidong Nanpu oilfield discovery in Bohai Bay will have only a relatively small impact on the country’s growing energy needs, said a Chinese energy expert. Niu Li, an analyst with the State Information Centre, said China would need to press on with conservation efforts...
(EnergyAsia, July 4, Wednesday) — China Power International plans to venture into the wind, biomass and hydropower sectors as part of its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. By 2010, China’s fifth-largest electricity producer aims to build up a total of 1,000 MW in renewable energy-power generation capacity. This...
(EnergyAsia, July 4, Wednesday) — State-owned Gas Authority of India Ltd (Gail) will push ahead with its plans to import natural gas from Myanmar despite recent unspecified difficulties. GAIL plans to import 3.5 million tonnes/year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as well as build a 1,500-km pipeline to import natural gas from its northeastern neighbour....
(EnergyAsia, July 4, Wednesday) — Keppel FELS Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Keppel Corporation Limited, said it has secured two rig contracts worth a total of US$534 million. The contracts are for the construction of a drilling-cum-production jackup rig and a deepwater drilling tender rig. Both rigs will be built to Keppel’s proprietary design....
(EnergyAsia, July 3, Tuesday) — French major Total said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Venezuela’s energy ministry to reduce its stake in operating company Sincor. The agreement is in line with the law of February 26, 2007, passed by presidential decree, on the ownership of strategic joint ventures in the Faja region,...
(EnergyAsia, July 3, Tuesay) — A campaign is underway in Australia to make Darwin in the Northern Territory a solar-powered city by 2010. According to the Northern Territory’s Environment Centre, the city authorities could make it mandatory for all new homes to have solar hot water systems for a start. Research has shown that mostly...
(EnergyAsia, July 3, Tuesday) — Australia’s New South Wales state expects to become the first in the country to mandate the use of ethanol in gasoline. From September 1, fuel supplied by wholesalers to fuel stations in the state must have a 2% ethanol content. Regional Development Minister Tony Kelly said the 2% mandate is...
(EnergyAsia, July 3, Tuesday) — Ethanol-blended gasoline is now available in 10 Indian states. The ethanol programme has been implemented, either in full or in part, in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Delhi, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. The government is planning to launch ethanol blends in the other...
(EnergyAsia, July 3, Tuesday) — Australia’s Tasmania state is planning a wind power project on Flinders Island with the aim of reducing its dependence on diesel fuel. Comprising 10 turbines, the wind farm could start up as early as 2009. If it goes to plan, the project could cut the island’s diesel use by some...
(EnergyAsia, July 3, Tuesday) — World oil reserves fell for the first time since 1990 as oil companies struggled with limited resources, rising costs and increasingly nationalistic government policies, said BP in its latest Statistical Review of World Energy. World oil reserves fell to 1,208.2 billion barrels at the end of 2006 from 1,209.5 billion...
(EnergyAsia, July 3, Tuesday) — A consortium comprising Suez Energy International, Gulf Investment Corp and the Arabian Company for Water & Power Projects recently completed limited recourse financing for the Marafiq Independent Water and Power Project (IWPP) in Jubail in Saudi Arabia. The Marafiq IWPP is a 23-year build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) contract...
(EnergyAsia, July 3, Tuesday) — Argent Energy said it will soon begin raising fund to build a NZ$70 million plant in Tauranga in New Zealand that will convert animal fat into biodiesel. Argent Energy New Zealand managing director Dickon Posnett said he hopes to complete the 75,000-tonne-per-year plant by 2009. (US$1=NZ$1.35). A feasibility study into...
(EnergyAsia, July 3, Tuesday) — A major natural gas find in the Persian Gulf by a group led by India’s leading upstream company ONGC could lead to increased energy cooperation with Iran, to the dismay of the US. The find of some 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, along with an estimated one billion...
(EnergyAsia, May 22) — Russia’s state-controlled oil giant Rosneft has claimed it owns proven reserves of just over 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent, making it one of the world’s largest. The estimated reserves include 16 billion barrels of oil and almost 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. But under the rules of the...
(EnergyAsia, July 2, Monday) — Under pressure from growing trade and budget deficits, the Sri Lankan government has called for the country’s oil consumption to be reduced by 10%. Central Bank governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal wants the public to use less oil so that Sri Lanka can reduce its petroleum import bill, which reached a...
(EnergyAsia, July 2, Monday) — Cambodia must avoid becoming dependent on its newfound oil wealth as a main source of state revenues. Ian Gary, an Oxfam America industry expert, said Phnom Penh should learn from the lessons of countries like Nigeria and Chad which had been afflicted with the so-called oil curse. Political and socio-economic...
(EnergyAsia, July 2, Monday) — China will continue to rely on fossil fuels even though it plans to expand the role of renewable energy such as biomass, wind and solar to meet the demands of its growing economy. By 2010, China will have built up crude oil stockpile enough to meet 30 days of consumption,...