Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd, has clinched three contracts worth a total of S$110 million, including owner furnished equipment, to build eight tugs. The first contract is secured from Smit Internationale Beheer BV to build two 90-tonne bollard pull offshore support tugs. It will have anchor handling, diving support, and fire fighting capabilities. Delivery...

develop and construct the biomass power projects through its subsidiary, China Power Inc, in Hebei province in China. China Holdings Inc, a global diversified holdings company, said its subsidiaries engage in multiple China-focused business activities including pharmaceutical, real estate, utilities, energy, renewable energy and finance. The biomass projects will have an annual power generating capacity...

silicon wafers from wafer manufacturer ReneSola Ltd over a four-year period beginning next January. “We are very pleased to announce this expanded relationship with our long time supplier ReneSola, a rapidly growing producer of high quality silicon wafers,” said Zhengrong Shi, Suntech’s chairman and CEO. “This agreement demonstrates Suntech’s ability to continue to secure a...

biofuels has led to an increase in food prices. It said the current boom in energy, commodity and metal prices have spread to food, partly due to the rising demand for biofuels. In turn, food price hikes have contributed to inflation, hitting developing countries particularly hard. Despite the recent financial turmoil that has dampened the...

latest study, “International Coal Trade – Supply, Demand and Prices to 2025”. The study identifies the major trends in the international coal trade and looks at the outlook for coal demand and supply and coal prices out to 2025. Daniel Walton of Hill & Associates said: “Looking at the long term, from 2016 to 2025,...

(GCC) countries will reach 6.3 million b/d by 2010, up 45.5% from today’s level, according to a bank study. The Emirates Industrial Bank (EIB) predicts the expansion will come from new projects and upgrades in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Oman. Bahrain is the sixth member. The region currently has 20 refineries in...

Singapore’s four oil retailers have raised gasoline and diesel prices to their highest levels. At S$2.147 a litre before discount, Shell’s premium grade is now the most expensive gasoline in Singapore. (US$1=S$1.46). The major, together with Singapore Petroleum Co and ExxonMobil, followed Caltex which had raised pump prices by five cents a litre on October...

year ago helped its latest third-quarter net profit jump 330% to S$99.85 million. (US$1=S$1.46). For the same period last year, SPC had a net profit of S$23.2 million after a S$71 million inventory write-down. The integrated oil company, 45% owned by another Singapore-listed company, Keppel Corp, said it expects to see healthy refining margins and...

(EnergyAsia, October 25, Thursday) — Lim Hwee Hua, Singapore’s Minister of State for Finance and Transport, will be the guest-of-honour at today’s opening of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers conference in Singapore. The two-day event will be held at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel at 392 Havelock Road. Richard Sayer, President of the Institute of Chartered...

Singapore Pte Ltd, has signed a joint venture agreement with Success Blossom Environment Vietnam Joint  Stock  Company (SBEV)  to  invest  US$10.5 million to build a used  oil recycling plant near Hanoi city in Vietnam. The plant will process used oil into high-grade base oil for sale in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. EFLUX and SBEV will...

“aggressive approach” to leveraging private sector capital and innovation against climate change at the World Bank-IMF annual meetings. IFC management and representatives from donor countries agreed that the private sector can play a greater role to mitigate the impact of climate change. The IFC said it can catalyse this potential by supporting market-based solutions, encouraging...

wafers, said it has signed a contract to supply multicrystalline solar wafers to China-based Solarfun Power Holdings Co Ltd. LDK Solar said it will deliver RMB2 billion worth of multicrystalline solar wafers starting early 2008 through to 2010. The pricing is fixed for the entire contract period. “This supply agreement with Solarfun demonstrates our continued...

increased investor interest in biofuel projects in the country. Secretary Arthur C. Yap said investors plan to set up plants in the Ilocos region, Cagayan Valley, Western Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern and Central Mindanao, and the Davao region either through straight purchases, lease arrangements, contract growing or joint ventures. He added that the DA expects...

new record price to lock in 20 years of liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply from Australia’s Gorgon project. The Gorgon deal was reportedly priced at US$10 per million British thermal unit (mbtu). India’s Petronet, a buyer of LNG, will now have to match this price for its future purchases. Analysts said that Indian consumers will...

 extended the country’s subsidies for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene to 2010. Despite rising oil prices on the world markets, the government has set the subsidy at Rs22.80 per LPG cylinder and Rs0.83/litre of kerosene through to March 2010. (US$1=Rs39). The country’s state oil companies will be told to bear part of the subsidy...

 successful as the country’s famed information technology and pharmaceuticals sectors. A recent decision by the government to offer fiscal incentives to solar cell and photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers has helped triggered a new wave of investments. Leading investors include Moser Baer and US firms Signet Solar and Solar Semiconductor. Moser Baer is planning to build a...

selling fuel on the black market, critics charge. The regime is facing a fierce internal revolt after it sharply raised fuel prices, bringing more misery on its largely impoverished population. Compressed natural gas (CNG) went up 500%, diesel 100% and gasoline prices were raised by over 60% in August. The unexpected price increases have sparked...

Singapore refinery following an outage early this month. To meet its requirements, Shell had to draw on its gasoline inventories and buy spot cargoes. The outage occurred in the refinery’s long residue catalytic cracker (LRCC) on Bukom Island....

(EnergyAsia, October 24, Wednesday) — The recent credit markets crisis has slowed world growth and exposed weaknesses in the global financial infrastructure that need to be addressed, IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato told the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings. In his final speech to the gathering October 22 before leaving office at the end of...

(EnergyAsia, October 23, Tuesday) — Energy media Platts foresees growing oil supply shortage for the rest of the decade as companies under-invest in field development around the world. Platts chief economist Larry Chorn revealed this finding in a study based on an analysis world oil field development activities during 2005. Major oil fields require a...

construction of its 580,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery in Gujarat state is now more than 70% completed and should be ready for commissioning by December 2008. To date, the company, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), said it has spent more than Rs220 billion on the project in Jamnagar city. US major Chevron Corp owns a...

in a 1.9-million-barrel oil products storage facility now under construction in China’s Guangdong province. Developer China National Aviation Fuel Holdings (CNAF) is open to having Kuwait as a partner in the RMB300 million project which is expected to be ready by mid-2009. (US$1=RMB7.5). CNAF has a near monopoly on supplying China’s 260,000-b/d jet fuel market....

grow its economy by 9% a year through the decade. US crude oil futures reached a record US$90.07 last Friday, with analysts warning prices could exceed US$100 next year on supply uncertainties around the world. If oil crosses the triple-digit figure, economists fear hyperinflation could set in, hurting the country’s largely poor population as well...

prices, according to the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The crude oil price surged to a record US$90.07 a barrel last Friday, with analysts warning that US$100 to $150 now look increasingly possible. Despite this dire outlook, the RBI has ruled out setting up a sovereign wealth fund to help buffer...

four million b/d by 2020. The kingdom’s divided parliament has been blamed for stalling plans for “Project Kuwait” aimed at expanding its crude output from the current level of 2.8 million b/d. Even if the project was cleared today, analysts said Kuwait is unlikely to meet its 2020 target. Politicians have demanded that any production...