(EnergyAsia, September 17, Monday) — New Zealand’s Contact Energy has reported making a profit of NZ$231.2 million for the 12 months ended June 30 2007, compared with NZ$241.6 million the previous year. (US$1=NZ$1.4). Its earnings before net interest expense, income tax, depreciation, amortisation and financial instruments (EBITDAF) was NZ$543.7 million compared with NZ$557 million previously....

(EnergyAsia, September 17, Monday) — China Technology Development Group Corp (CTDGC) said it is venturing into the solar energy business. The new business has received the CTDGC board’s approval and endorsement from main shareholder China Merchants Group, which is one of the major Chinese state-owned conglomerate enterprises and a leading player in Hong Kong. CTDGC...

(EnergyAsia, September 17, Monday) — South Korea’s STX Energy Co. Ltd wants to build Azerbaijan’s first wind power farm. In a meeting with Azerbaijan’s Industry and Energy Minister Natig Aliyev, STX Energy President Lee Sang-ok said his company has identified a location in Gobustan to build the farm by 2009. Mr Lee said said Gobustan,...

(EnergyAsia, September 17, Monday) — Australia’s power producers have warned that electricity supplies could be affected if drought conditions and weather continue. More than half the country’s electricity production depends on generators which use fresh water to cool the power stations. Although this comprises only 1.4% of national water use, it is vital to Australia’s...

(EnergyAsia, September 17, Monday) — A consortium led by French heavy engineering group Alstom has been awarded a 2,000MW power plant contract worth a combined 1.85 billion euros. (US$1=0.72 euro). The consortium won a contract worth 1.6 billion euro to build a 2,000 megawatt power desalination plant in the UAE, with Alstom’s share worth 1...

(EnergyAsia, September 17, Monday) — Australian upstream company Woodside Energy Ltd has signed an agreement to supply up to three million tonnes a year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to PetroChina for between 15 and 20 years. The LNG will be supplied from  the Woodside-operated Browse LNG Development. Woodside said the key terms form a...

(EnergyAsia, September 17, Monday) — Prasert Bunsumpun has been appointed to another four-year term as President of state-owned PTT Public Company Limited from 2007. His re-appointment was announced by Pornchai Rujiprapa, Permanent Secretary in Thailand’s Energy Ministry and chairman of state-owned PTT. Mr Pornchai said the board had unanimously agreed to the re-appointment in view...

(EnergyAsia, September 17, Monday) — China-based petrochemical maker and supplier Sinostar PEC Holdings hopes to raise S$61 million through an initial public offering (IPO) in Singapore. (US$1=S$1.52). The Shandong-based company is offering to sell 150 million new shares, including five million to the public, and 10.4 million vendor shares at S$0.38 each. The combined 160.4...

(EnergyAsia, September 17, Monday) — US engineering firm Fluor Corp said it has been awarded a contract to provide front-end engineering and design (FEED) and engineering, procurement and construction-management (EPCM) services for a polysilicon plant for LDK Solar Co Ltd in Xinyu City in China. The total contract is in excess of $1 billion, with...

(EnergyAsia, September 17, Monday) — The World Bank has approved a US$400 million loan to an Indian state-owned power company, Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVN), to develop a run-of-river hydropower plant on the river Satluj that will provide renewable, low carbon energy to the country’s over-stretched Northern Electricity Grid. The 412 MW Rampur Hydropower...

(EnergyAsia, September 14, Friday) — The Philippine National Oil Company-Alternative Fuels Corporation (PNOC-AFC), the biofuels arm of state-owned PNOC, said it is proceeding to jointly develop a biodesel venture with UK’s Natural Resources Group (NRG) Chemical Engineering Pte Ltd. Talks have met with difficulties, but PNOC-AFC insists they are on track with the proposed $1.3...

(EnergyAsia, September 14, Friday) — China has set aside as much as two trillion yuan to invest in renewable energy projects through 2020. The investments, mostly from private companies, will help the country cut its reliance on heavily-polluting coal energy, said the powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Large hydroelectric dams will comprise more...

(EnergyAsia, September 14, Friday) — US crude oil futures touched another all-time high of $80.20 a barrel in New York trading on Thursday, a day after it had broken through the US$80 barrier. Hours earlier on Thursday, North Sea Brent had closed at $77.51. Traders said prices remained strong on fresh supply worries that Hurricane...

(EnergyAsia, September 14, Friday) — LDK Solar, a manufacturer of multicrystalline solar wafers, last month began construction of a polysilicon production plant in Xinyu city in China’s Jiangxi Province. The event was hosted by founding chairman and CEO Xiaofeng Peng. The guests in attendance included Jiangxi Province governor Xinxiong Wu, government officials and business partners...

(EnergyAsia, September 14, Friday) — Sri Lanka’s oil imports fell by about 8% in the first six months of 2007, helping the country to narrow its trade deficit. Overall exports rose 12.9% to US$3.56 billion while imports were up only 3.9%, resulting in a reduction in the trade deficit to US$1.58 billion, from US$1.79 billion...

(EnergyAsia, September 14, Friday) — ExxonMobil Chemical Company said it will proceed to build its second world-scale petrochemical cracker complex in Singapore. The complex, to be ready by early 2011, will include a world-scale, one million tons-per-year ethylene steam cracker, two 650,000-ton-per-year polyethylene units, a 450,000-t/y polypropylene unit, a 300,000-t/y specialty elastomers unit, an aromatics...

(EnergyAsia, September 14, Friday) — The state government of South Australia has released its solar “feed-in” legislation – which will see homeowners with solar panels receive double-credit for power they feed-in to the grid. Amendments to the Electricity Act 1996 will be introduced to create a scheme that will reward owners of residential solar photovoltaic...

(EnergyAsia, September 14, Friday) — Emerson Process Management said it has been selected to digitally automate the Fujian Refining and Ethylene JV project in Quanzhou City in China’s Fujian province. When it starts up in 2009, it will be the largest integrated refining and petrochemicals project ever undertaken in China. The complex is a joint...

(EnergyAsia, September 14, Friday) — China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), Nucleoeléctrica Argentina S.A. (NASA) and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) last week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to conduct a joint study of the potential for cooperation in design, manufacture, construction and operation of CANDU nuclear power plants on future projects in the...

(EnergyAsia, September 14, Friday) — Climate change is emerging as a key challenge and a major threat to world food security, said the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). Abnormal changes in air temperature and rainfall and the increasing frequency and intensity of drought and floods have long-term implications for the viability and productivity of...

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(EnergyAsia, September 13, Thursday) — Vietnam’s Bien Hoa Sugar has teamed up with Singapore’s Fair Energy Asia to build a 50,000-tonne per year fuel ethanol plant in Vietnam’s southwestern Tay Ninh province. The project, to be sited in Chau Thanh district, will use sugarcane and cassava as feedstock. Vietnam offers huge opportunities for ethanol production...

Farmers could earn more money by cutting China’s coal consumption By Dr Marianne Osterkorn  (EnergyAsia, September 13, Thursday) — Shandong, a province of Eastern China, is richly endowed. Three new nuclear power plants are planned for the province, while China Light and Power, a major Hong Kong-based energy company, owns a wind farm and numerous...

(EnergyAsia, September 13, Thursday) — Japan’s Toppan Forms Co Ltd and US Kornaka Technologies Inc have signed an agreement to jointly accelerate the development, manufacturing and commercialisation of polymer-based organic photovoltaic (OPV) technologies for consumer and electronic applications. The two companies have pledged to bring Konarka’s organic photovoltaic material, Power Plastic®, to market. Organic photovoltaic...

(EnergyAsia, September 13, Thursday) — New York oil futures appear ready to break the US$80 a barrel barrier despite OPEC’s latest decision to raise output by 500,000 b/d from November 1. Not even the threat of a US recession brought on by the subprime real estate crisis has been sufficient to threaten the oil markets....