THAILAND: PTT opens country’s first “solar cell” retail fuel station

(EnergyAsia, August 31, Friday) — Thai state energy company PTT has opened the country’s first and largest solar-cell retail fuel station in Samutprakarn province. Metta Banturngsuk, director-general in the Energy Business Department of the Energy Ministry, Prasert Bunsumpun, PTT’s President, and Suchat Singyou, Assistant Governor of the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA), officiated at the opening...

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AUSTRALIA: Woodside signs Pluto export deal with Tokyo Gas and Kansai Electric

(EnergyAsia, August 31, Friday) — Australian upstream company Woodside Petroleum said it has signed a multi-billion dollar deal to export Australian liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Japan. Woodside CEO Don Voelte signed the sale and purchase agreements with representatives of Tokyo Gas and Kansai Electric of Japan. The agreement provides for the supply of up...

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INDONESIA: China Petrotech Holdings signs MOU with Pertamina to provide technical oilfield services

(EnergyAsia, August 31, Friday) – Singapore-listed China Petrotech Holdings Limited said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Petroservice Engineering Inc (PEI), will provide Indonesian state oil company Pertamina technical oilfield services at its producing oil fields. PEI signed a MOU with Pertamina to deploy its technical staff to conduct the first trial programme at the Indonesian firm’s Pendopo...

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KOREA: POSCO signs fuel cell market development pact with KEPCO

(EnergyAsia, August 31, Friday) — FuelCell Energy Inc, a Nasdaq-listed manufacturer of secure ultra-clean power plants using a variety of fuels for commercial, industrial and utility customers, said its alliance partner POSCO has teamed up with Korean Electric Power Company (KEPCO), to develop and jointly market power plants incorporating fuel cell stack modules manufactured by...

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MALAYSIA: Technip awarded contract for the Cili Padi gas field development

(EnergyAsia, August 31, Friday) – France’s Technip said it has been awarded a contract for the Cili Padi gas field development by Shell Oil and Gas Malaysia LLC. Shell, a production sharing contract (PSC) contractor to Malsysian state energy company Petronas, is the operator for the field, with Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd and Nippon Oil...

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MARKETS: US gasoline inventories at new low, but strength may not last

(EnergyAsia, August 31, Friday) — Gasoline futures soared on news that US inventories for the week ending August 24 had fallen to new low even as demand had crashed. US gasoline inventories for the week were down by 3.7 million barrels, significantly faster than the average 2.1 million barrel drop posted for that week in...

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MARKETS: Oil prices surge on lower US inventories, US-Iran tensions, reduced effect of subprime cris

(EnergyAsia, August 31, Friday) — World oil prices surged this week on declining US oil inventories, renewed tensions between the US and Iran, and concern that the US subprime crisis may not make a huge dent on oil demand growth. The spark came on Wednesday when US weekly crude and gasoline inventories slumped sharply, sending...

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RUSSIA: Moscow wants Sakhalin-1 natural gas for domestic market

(EnergyAsia, August 31, Friday) — The Russian government wants natural gas from the Sakhalin-1 project to be supplied to the country’s Far Eastern region rather than exported to China or other Asian countries. Sakhalin is Russia’s main source of gas for the Far East. At a special government commission meeting on August 2, the Russian...

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SINGAPORE: ASL Marine reports 74.5% rise in FY2007 profit to S$40.2 million

(EnergyAsia, August 31, Friday) — ASL Marine Holdings Ltd, a Singapore-listed integrated marine company offering shipbuilding, ship-repair and ship-chartering services, has said its net profit surged 74.5% to S$40.2 million for the financial year ended June 30 (FY2007). ASL Marine, which also owns shipyards in Singapore, Batam (Indonesia) and Guangdong (China), said its revenue rose...

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INDONESIA: Investing in coal upgrading and new coal technologies

(EnergyAsia, August 31, Friday) — Key industry players will gather in Jakarta, Indonesia on November 14-15 to exchange information and updates on issues and technologies pertaining to coal upgrading, coalbed methane, coal gasification, coal mine methane, coal conversion and coal-to-liquids processes. As competition for energy supply across the world rages on, Asia’s low quality coal...

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DUBAI: Chemical storage at Jebel Ali hit by fire

(EnergyAsia, August 30, Thursday) — Fire damaged a chemical storage depot in Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port on Monday, causing more than US$4 million worth of damage. There was no report of serious injury. The second fire damaged a depot for storing hazardous chemicals, according to owner Chemstore, the joint venture of Horizon Terminals and Modern...

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ASIA: ASEAN Energy Ministers covered nuclear energy, oil security and power grid at 25th meeting

(EnergyAsia, August 30, Thursday) — The 25th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM) was held in Singapore last week. S. Iswaran, Singapore’s Minister of State for Trade and Industry, chaired the meeting, with Piyasvasti Amranand, Thailand’s Energy Minister as vice-chair. ASEAN members include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The...

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CHINA: First half energy consumption per unit of GDP down 2.78%

(EnergyAsia, August 30, Thursday) — China said its energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) fell 2.78% in the first half of the year. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, electricity consumption per unit of GDP rose 3.64% in the first half. Last year, that figure was down by 1.33%. China said...

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PHILIPPINES: Oil storage and retailing firm Phoenix’s first-half profit up 96%

(EnergyAsia, August 30, Thursday) — Philippine oil storage and retailing firm Phoenix Petroleum has reported a 95.8% rise in first-half net income to 62.63 million peso compared to the same period in 2006.(US$1=Ps46). Sales rose by 66% to 999 million peso. Phoenix, which went public last month raising 284 million peso, was the country’s first...

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SRI LANKA: CPC hedges refinery margins

(EnergyAsia, August 30, Thursday) — Sri Lanka’s only refiner, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), has signed a deal with Standard Chartered to hedge the margins for some of its diesel and kerosene production through December. CPC said it has agreed to fix the margin on 100,000 barrels of diesel and kerosene to protect itself against market...

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CHINA: New crops planned to feed biofuels projects

(EnergyAsia, August 30, Thursday) — The Chinese government is planning to mass cultivate sugarcane, sweet sorghum, cassava and rape to provide feedstock for biofuels projects. Under its newly announced “Agricultural Biofuel Industry Plan”, the government wants to reduce the use of ethanol and food grains for ethanol production. There have been growing complaints that the...

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CHINA: Tax breaks offered to promote natural gas infrastructure investment

(EnergyAsia, August 23) — China is planning to offer tax breaks to encourage investors to build up natural gas processing and pipeline infrastructure. International investors could enjoy two years of tax breaks and reduced tax rates after that. The objective is to attract foreign capital and technology into the natural gas sector. China badly needs...

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ASIA: Shanghai Cooperation Organisation steps up focus on energy issues

(EnergyAsia, August 30, Thursday) — The six-member Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), increasingly dubbed the “anti-NATO” group, has declared energy issues its top concern and has announced a vision to eventually create a unified energy market. At its latest summit in Kyrgyzstan’s capital city of Bishkek on August 16, the group, which includes China, Russia and...

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SRI LANKA: Lower oil imports helped reduce trade deficit in first half of 2007

(EnergyAsia, August  30, Thursday) — There was a silver lining in the high price of oil for Sri Lanka’s economy in the first half of this year. Its trade deficit shrank 12% as the country was forced to sharply cut back its oil import as prices stayed largely above US$70 a barrel. Sri Lanka’s Central...

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CHINA: Odfjell and Dalian Port (PDA) Co to jointly develop oil terminal

(EnergyAsia, August 30, Thursday) — Norway’s Odfjjell said it has signed an agreement with Hong Kong-listed Dalian Port (PDA) Co Ltd and Caofeidian Industry Zone (CFDIZ) to develop a “world class” tank terminal to store and handle oil and chemical products including chemical gases. Odfjell and Dalian Port will form a joint venture company to...

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THAILAND: Esso may launch IPO next April

(EnergyAsia, August 29, Wednesday) — Esso Thailand Plc may launch an initial public offering of its shares by next April, said Deputy Prime Minister Kosit Panpiemras as chair of the National Energy Policy Council. The company is expected to make the move after completing its debt restructuring and expanding its registered capital in the next...

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AUSTRALIA: AGL Energy reports net profit of A$410.5 million for FY2007

(EnergyAsia, August 29, Wednesday) — Australia’s largest integrated energy company AGL Energy Limited (AGL) has announced a net profit after tax of A$410.5 million in the first financial year of operations since its demerger. (US$1=A$1.22). AGL reported revenue of A$3,765.3 million, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of A$849.9 million and earnings per...

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AUSTRALIA: Woodside’s first half profit up 16.3% to A$610.1 million

(EnergyAsia, August 29, Wednesday) — Australian upstream company Woodside Petroleum said its first half net profit rose 16.3% to A$610.1 million compared with the first half of 2006. (US$1=A$1.2). Revenue surged 19.2% to A$1.87 billion. Its oil and gas production of 35 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) was up 17.1%. The increase in profit...

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CHINA: Sinopec expects to start up refinery with Aramco next year

(EnergyAsia, August 29, Wednesday) — Asia’s largest oil refining company Sinopec Corp said it expects to start up a new 200,000 b/d oil refinery in the coastal city of Qingdao in eastern China by early next year. President Wang Tianpu Wang told a press briefing that the 12.5-billion-yuan joint venture refinery with Saudi Aramco will...

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KAZAKHSTAN: KazMunaiGas oil company buys 75% of Romania’s Rompetrol

(EnergyAsia, August 29, Wednesday) — Kazakh state oil company KazMunaiGas said it has agreed to buy 75% Rompetrol Group NV, the holding company of Romania’s second-biggest oil group Rompetrol. The US$3.62 billion deal is aimed at giving Kazakhstan a foothold into the European market while doubling its refining capacity. Rompetrol owns the 3.7-million-tonne/year Petromidia refinery...

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