(EnergyAsia, September 20, Thursday) — Australian upstream company Woodside Petroleum said its operated Otway Gas plant near Port Campbell in Victoria state has started exporting natural gas. The commissioning and start-up of the plant has been completed and gas production is expected to increase in the coming weeks. Woodside plans to then start production and...

(EnergyAsia, September 20, Thursday) — US-based Cemtrex Inc has announced plans to set up a 20 MW wind farm project in southern India.The proposed wind farm project will have 13 wind turbines of 1.6 MW capacity each and will generate 18,000 carbon credits per year. Cemtrex will set up an Indian subsidiary to develop this...

(EnergyAsia, September 20, Thursday) — Japan’s Kyocera Corp said it has signed on as the sole supplier of photovoltaic (PV) modules for a super-large-scale solar electric generating system in Salamanca, Spain, that will meet the needs of about 5,000 private households. The facility, known as Planta Solar de Salamanca, incorporates about 70,000 Kyocera PV modules...

(EnergyAsia, September 20, Thursday) — Alberta province’s Premier Ed Stelmach said his government will make a formal response by mid-October to a much-awaited panel report’s call for a sharp hike in oilsands royalty. The government-appointed panel led by resource veteran Bill Hunter has recommended that the Canadian province raise its total revenue take from the...

(EnergyAsia, September 20, Thursday) — The Manila Police District (MPD) has set up two special forces to protect the US Embassy and the oil terminal in Pandacan and Santa Ana in response to intelligence reports of possible terrorist attacks in the city. MPD acting director Danilo Abarzosa has appointed two senior officers to lead each...

(EnergyAsia, September 19, Wednesday) — Singapore-listed Tiong Woon Corporation Holding Ltd said its wholly owned subsidiary, Tiong Woon Oil & Gas Services Pte Ltd (TWOG), has signed a S$64.8 million contract to build a derrick pipelay barge to be delivered in December 2008. (US$1=S$1.52). TWOG will be responsible for building the hull and major sections...

(EnergyAsia, September 19, Wednesday) — Calgary lawyer William Tilleman is expected to bring in sweeping changes to Alberta’s Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) following his appointment as chair at the scandal-tainted agency. The old EUB board has been accused of breaking the law when it hired private investigators to spy on opponents of a proposed...

By Rolando Ossowski, Mauricio Villafuerte, Paulo Medas and Theo Thomas * (EnergyAsia, September 19, Wednesday) — Consumers around the world may cheer when the price of gasoline to fill their cars falls even slightly. But the frequently sharp changes in the price of oil and related foreign exchange inflows, together with the non-renewable nature of...

(EnergyAsia, September 19, Wednesday) — Kinder Morgan Canada has begun construction of the $443 million Anchor Loop project, the second phase of the Trans Mountain pipeline system expansion that will increase its crude oil capacity from 260,000 to 300,000 barrels per day (b/d). The project is expected to be completed in November 2008. Kinder Morgan...

(EnergyAsia, September 19, Wednesday) — The Indian government is planning to triple the nation’s strategic crude oil stockpile to 15 million tons, said Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinsha Patel. It had earlier approved plans for a five-million ton stockpile to provide buffer against short-term disruptions. In a written reply to a...

(EnergyAsia, September 19, Wednesday) — Leading Canadian bank CIBC said Canada’s oil sands will help meet the world’s growing need for energy especially in light of declining supply from traditional oil suppliers. CIBC said the world’s leading oil-producing nations could see their export capacity drop by some 2.5 million barrels a day by the end...

(EnergyAsia, September 19, Wednesday) –– Titan Quanzhou Shipyard Co Ltd, a ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore engineering company in China’s Fujian province, has launched its second vessel, Titan Spirit. The 6,500 ton double-hulled bunker tanker is the second of 22 vessels already currently on order at the shipyard, representing an order book totalling US$210 million....

(EnergyAsia, September 19, Wednesday) — Hong Kong-listed Titan Petrochemicals Group Limited said its 2007 profit attributable to shareholders increased 132% to HK$152 million. (US$1=HK$7.76). Its revenue for the half year to June 2007 was HK$7,695 million, an increase of 19% over the same period in 2006.  Earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose...

(EnergyAsia, September 19, Wednesday) — China Nuvo Solar Energy, Inc said it has executed a binding term sheet with Pioneer Materials Inc (PMI) of Torrance, California, to establish a pilot development and manufacturing operation in PMI’s Sichuan, China facility located in Chengdu city’s West High Tech development zone. The agreement with PMI has the objective...

(EnergyAsia, September 19, Wednesday) — Kanto Kagaku Singapore, a unit of Japan’s Kanto Chemical Co Inc, last week began construction on its $20 million plant in Singapore’s Pioneer Walk Extension. (US$1=S$1.52). Kanto Chemical is a world leader in developing and manufacturing highly-purified chemicals for semiconductor production processes. The new plant will primarily serve the Southeast...

(EnergyAsia, September 18, Tuesday) — Singapore’s Swiber Holdings Limited, an integrated offshore engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commission (EPCIC) contractor, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Brunei’s Rahaman Sendirian Berhad to establish a 51/49 joint venture company in Negara Brunei Darussalam. Swiber, which operates a complementary business in the supply of marine support...

(EnergyAsia, September 18, Tuesday) — EOC Limited, recently approved to traded on Norway’s Oslo BØrs, said that major shareholder Ezra Holdings Limited intends to place out up to 44.5 million of its EOC shares to international institutional and professional investors. The indicative, non-binding price range is NOK22 to 24 per EOC share. (US$1=NOK5.6). The share...

(EnergyAsia, September 18, Tuesday) — Developing Asian economies will register solid economic growth in 2007, driven by fast growth in China and India, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) says in a new major report. {mosbanner} China and India, which together account for 55.3% of the total gross domestic product (GDP) in developing Asia, recorded their...

(EnergyAsia, September 18, Tuesday) — The gathering of leaders from the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group early this month yielded one clear conclusion: there in no leadership and little agreement on a host of pressing energy, climate and economic issues facing the world today. A power vacuum is developing rapidly, setting the stage...

(EnergyAsia, September 18, Tuesday) — If there’s a silver lining in US$80 oil, it would be the pressure on society to conserve and better use scarce energy resources. As oil surged to yet another record high on September 12, with the magic $100 a barrel mark now on the horizon, the renewable energy sector has...

(EnergyAsia, September 18, Tuesday) — Australian upstream company Origin Energy has welcomed the Owen Report recommendations, saying it was a wide-ranging inquiry that has outlined a robust blueprint for meeting the future energy needs of New South Wales state. Origin notes the following findings by Professor Owen: • The National Electricity Market (NEM) is working...

(EnergyAsia, September 18, Tuesday) — China’s state-owned CNPC and Russia’s OAO LUKOIL recently signed a strategic partnership agreement in Beijing. Jiang Jiemin, CNPC President, and Vagit Alekperov, LUKOIL President, signed the strategic partnership agreement in Beijing. They are teaming up in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to undertake oil and gas projects, and have also agreed to...

(EnergyAsia, September 18, Tuesday) — Sino Gas International Holdings Inc and its subsidiary, Beijing Zhong Ran Wei Ye Gas Co Ltd, said they have signed a Securities Purchase Agreement with a group of institutional investors for the private placement of Sino Gas’s common stock for $18.8 million in gross proceeds. Sino Gas said 8.34 million...

(EnergyAsia, September 18, Tuesday) — Indonesia’s state energy company Pertamina and Russian energy giant LUKOIL have signed an agreement to jointly study several prospective oil and gas blocks in Indonesia. The agreement was signed earlier this month in Jakarta as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the Southeast Asian country. The agreement covers...

(EnergyAsia, September 18, Tuesday) — Canada’s Red Hill Energy said it has signed an agreement to purchase the entire exploratory drilling operations on the 37,000-hectare Chandgana Khavtgai coal exploration property in the Nyalga Coal Basin in southeast central Mongolia. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based company said its geologists believe Chandgana Khavtgai may contain a significant sized...