(EnergyAsia, May 13, Tuesday) — US chemicals giant DuPont said it will soon begin building a research center in Hong Kong and a manufacturing facility in Shenzhen to support the rapidly growing photovoltaic (PV) solar energy industry in China. The company expects growth in the photovoltaic market to exceed 30% per year over the next...
(EnergyAsia, May 13, Tuesday) — With demand for energy in Asia soaring, governments urgently need to create the right environment to attract investments in clean energy, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said at a recent climate change seminar in Madrid, Spain. Asia’s share of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions has tripled since 1973 and it is expected...
(EnergyAsia, May 13, Tuesday) — Asia-Pacific countries recently agreed at a UN meeting in Bangkok to boost their collaboration on developing renewable energy to decrease their reliance on fossil fuels and enhance their long-term energy security. The decision to share experiences and disseminate developing renewable energy technologies was taken at the annual session of the...
(EnergyAsia, May 13, Tuesday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is extending 800 million yuan in a partial credit guarantee program to support small and medium sized private sector energy-efficient projects in China. (US$1=7 yuan). ADB has selected Standard Chartered Bank as the first partner financial institution in the pilot programme that will initially target...
(EnergyAsia, May 13, Tuesday) — An environmental group has launched a campaign to stop the World Bank from setting up what it says are funds that contribute to global warming and pollution. Friends of the Earth (FOE) said the World Bank should not be in control of funds that it says promotes extractive industries and (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — Scotland’s oil and gas subsea services specialist TS Marine has opened its first Asian base in Singapore. Headquartered in Aberdeen, TSMarine which recently secured £53 million investment from 3i and ABN AMRO Merchant Banking, has established itself as a leading global player in the niche subsea rigless intervention and decommissioning (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corporation Ltd said its net profit for the first quarter surged 60% to US$9 million over the corresponding period last year. It attributed the rise to interest savings as a result of full repayment of deferred debt, higher volume of jet fuel procured, an increase in...
(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — Amid growing controversy over reports of world food price inflation and famines, the European Union (EU) has decided not to push ahead with plans to enforce a 10% biofuels blend in the region’s gasoline and diesel by 2010. The EU’s executive body, the Commission, has come under intense pressure from...
(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) vice chairman and CEO, Mohamed Al-Mady, gave the keynote speech at the Financial Times China-Middle East Summit, held in Riyadh last week. Speaking on the subject of “Saudi Arabia and China: Natural Partners in the Global Economy,” he said that Saudi Arabia’s large hydrocarbon resources...
(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — Canada’s Day4 Energy Inc, a leading manufacturer of high performance, cost-effective solar electric modules, said it has supplied its 48MC solar modules to Tokyo-based Mitsui & Co Ltd for an installation sponsored by the Japanese government’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). Operated by NTT Facilities Inc, the...
(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corporation Ltd (CAO) has named a non-executive board director, Meng Fanqiu, as CEO with effect from last Friday. The company also announced that it had disbanded the Senior Officers Meeting immediately. Zhang Zhenqi, CAO’s executive director and general manager, has been re-designated executive director and general (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will invest US$15 billion to help electricity generated from alternative low-carbon sources compete with conventional oil and gas-based power. Under the Masdar Initiative, the UAE will subsidise power prices from a planned solar power plant and a hydrogen project. The proposed 100 MW solar thermal...
(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — US HyPower Fuel aims to deploy its biodiesel process technologies in plants in Southeast Asia. Under an agreement with an unnamed Hong-Kong business development firm, three biofuels plants could be built in the region employing HyPower’s processes, the company said. HyPower’s processes to make biodiesel were more competitive than conventional...
(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — Biofuels should not become a political scapegoat for gasoline and diesel price increases, said the New Zealand Biofuel Manufacturers Association (NZBMA). The suggestion that biofuels will add 7 NZ cents litre to the cost of fuel comes only from an oil company submission to the Biofuels Bill. The NZ manufacturers...
(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is establishing a new fund to slow the onset of climate change and to help the Asia-Pacific region adapt to the expected devastating impact of global warming. ADB will provide an initial $40 million to the Climate Change Fund, which will be open for further...
(EnergyAsia, May 9, Friday) — The government of Malaysia’s Terengganu state wants to gain full control over its oil royalty which are now the responsibility of the federal government in Kuala Lumpur. At stake are an estimated RM1 billion per year (US$1=RM3.17). The federal finance ministry, which manages the oil royalty, said it channels the...
(EnergyAsia, May 9, Friday) — India’s Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has been cleared to build a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage system at its oil refinery in Visakhapatnam. The environment ministry has certified HPCL’s proprietary “mounded system” as safer than conventional storage methods. The Rs1.2 billion storage system will play a major part in...
(EnergyAsia, May 9, Friday) — China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has agreed to build a new 100,000 b/d oil refinery in Syria by 2011. The plant would be located in the Abu Khashab oil region where Syria is apparently also planning a nuclear reactor. The site was bombed by the Israeli Air Force last year....
(EnergyAsia, May 9, Friday) — A new report has predicted that the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry is “a bubble that’s primed to burst.” “Solar State of the Market Q1 2008: The End of the Beginning,” published by Lux Research, argues that a combination of solar module oversupply, polysilicon shortages, the ramping down of government incentives...
(EnergyAsia, May 9, Friday) — Canada’s South Gobi Energy Resources has signed a joint venture agreement with Score Resources Ltd to explore and develop the Mamahak coal project in Indonesia. The agreement allows for SouthGobi to earn into a 56% ownership position by spending US$14.5 million to develop the project. Provisions are included in the...
(EnergyAsia, May 9, Friday) — Titan Petrochemicals Group Limited, a leading integrated oil logistics provider in Asia, said that it has agreed to sell two of its Very Large Crude Carriers, Titan Leo and Titan Venus, to Avin International SA for a total of US$59 million. “The sales will generate more cash for the Group,”...
(EnergyAsia, May 9, Friday) — US chemicals giant DuPont will soon begin building a research center in Hong Kong and a manufacturing facility in Shenzhen to support the rapidly growing photovoltaic (PV) solar energy industry in China. The company expects growth in the photovoltaic market to exceed 30% in each of the next several years. ...
(EnergyAsia, May 9, Friday) — The Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said they are teaming up to support the preservation of the region’s Coral Triangle, with the GEF committing $63 million to fund conservation of this area known as “the Amazon of the seas.” The Coral Triangle, which crosses Indonesia,...
(EnergyAsia, May 9, Friday) — Australia-listed Mission Biofuels Limited has provided an update of its business operations. During the commissioning phase, its plant produced 3,500 tonnes of biodiesel and sold approximately 2,500 tonnes. The plant also produced almost 350 tonnes of crude glycerine, all of which has been converted and sold as pharmaceutical grade (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 9, Friday) — NYSE-listed Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited, a leading vertically integrated photovoltaic (PV) product manufacturers, said it has signed a contract to supply PV to Eiko Trading Corporation for projects in Germany. Eiko, which develops and installs PV systems in Japan, also consults, trades and invests in renewable energy projects (more…)