subsidiary, BG LNG Trading, has agreed to supply Hong Kong-based Castle Peak Power Company (CAPCO) one million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year for up to 20 years. BG LNG Trading will begin delivering the LNG, sourced from various parts of the world, to Hong Kong’s planned import terminal on South Soko Island...
JAPAN: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries receives orders for gas-turbine power plants from China and Korea
for blast-furnace-gas (BFG) fired gas turbine combined-cycle (GTCC) power generation plants from China and Korea. The two purchases will contribute to better air quality in the two countries. Qian’an Iron and Steel Works, part of Chinese steelmaker Shougang Group, has ordered a 150 megawatt (MW) plant while Korea’s largest independent power producer, POSCO Power Corp,...
KAZAKHSTAN: World Bank to jointly finance $2.5 billion upgrade of trade route
road project with Kazakhstan to upgrade the trade route linking Asian countries with Russia and Europe. The project is expected to boost Kazakhstan’s competitiveness and to bring significant economic benefits to the country and the broader Central Asia region. The World Bank is expected to finance and rehabilitate a 1,025 km stretch of road between...
MARKET: Biomass projects to be worth $1.5 billion by 2012, says US-based consultant
market by 2012, said US-based information provider for the global forest products industry. In its ‘International Woodfiber Report (IWR)’, RISI said the market’s explosive growth is not only due to multi-billion investments from private equity firms and Fortune 500 corporations but is also a result of numerous legislative initiatives including the new Farm Bill. The...
NEW ZEALAND: National air carrier joins newly formed Algal Biomass Organisation (ABO)
which include Continental and Virgin Atlantic Airways LLC, in the newly formed Algal Biomass Organisation (ABO). They will be the first wave of aviation-related members to join the organisation along with biofuel technology developer UOP LLC. The airlines together with Boeing, which co-chairs the ABO, are advocating the development of new generations of fuel sources...
PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Wartsila to supply two power plants with combined output 90 MWe
(EnergyAsia, July 1, Tuesday) — Finland-based Wärtsilä said it has been awarded contracts to supply two power plants of combined output of 90 MWe to Papua New Guinea. The orders were made by China ENFI Engineering Corporation. The power plants will be installed at the Ramu nickel mine and the nickel refinery in the port (more…)
AUSTRALIA: Caltex completes million-litre ethanol upgrade at Sydney terminal
it has completed a major upgrade of its Banksmeadow fuel distribution terminal to handle 10% ethanol-blended fuel and serve the markets in Sydney and the New South Wales markets. Minister for Lands, Rural Affairs and Regional Development Tony Kelly launched the new ethanol facilities as fuel tankers lined up to load Bio E10 unleaded gasoline...
CHINA: Vestas Wind Systems receives orders for 50 units of wind turbine
each consisting of 25 units of the V80-2.0 MW wind turbine for the Danianzi I and the Bolike II windfarm projects in China. Both projects are located 150 km northeast of Chifeng in Inner Mongolia in the northern part of China. The contracts include supply of the turbines including towers, the VestasOnline Business SCADA solution...
JAPAN: IBM and Tokyo Ohka Kogyo co-operate on thin film development for solar energy products
are collaborating to develop new, low-cost methods for bringing the next generation of solar energy products to market. The companies said the new products will be more affordable and easier to install than those available today. Specifically, TOK and IBM have agreed to jointly develop processes, materials, and equipment suitable for the production of copper-indium-gallium-selenide...
QATAR: GE Energy lands multi-million-dollar agreement to service RasGas LNG and gas complex
agreement with Qatar’s RasGas Company Limited covering two liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains and Al-Khaleej Gas (AKG) Plant-2 at RasGas’ complex in Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar. The project supports Qatar’s strategy to become the world’s leading supplier of LNG. An LNG train is a chain of equipment, including a gas turbine, which...
PAKISTAN: Appeals to Saudi Arabia to help build up oil stockpile
stockpile and stockpiling infrastructure. Pakistan has been hard hit by the recent surge in oil prices, raising its crude import bill by 40% over the past 10 months. It imports some 250,000 b/d of crude oil from Saudi Arabia. According to Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairman of Pakistan’s ruling PPP party, Saudi Arabia has indicated it...
QATAR: Diesel distributor blamed for causing shortages
have disrupted traffic, trade and goods distribution in its capital city of Doha. State-owned Woqod, the city’s only diesel distributor, is unable to meet demand, forcing truckers to idle their vehicles as they line up for hours to fill up at fuel stations. Truckers said Woqod has failed to deliver the supplies ordered by diesel...
SAUDI ARABIA: Jizan oil refinery project in doubt
likely to be shelved due to spiralling construction costs. Authorities recently delayed a tender for bids on the project for a third time. Apart from rising engineering, steel and materials costs, analysts said the project’s location in the country’s far south away from the crude production sites puts it at a cost disadvantage. The...
THAILAND: Costly fuel subsidies will hit PTT profit
least 14 billion baht this year from subsidising domestic fuel prices on the order of the government. (US$1=33 baht). Crude oil prices have risen more than 40% since the start of 2008. In the first four month of this year, PTT said it incurred a loss of 0.32 baht on each litre of diesel it...
THAILAND: Growing protests against soaring fuel prices
farmers, truck drivers and bus owners protesting against rising fuel costs. Bangkok has been the scene of frequent protests that have added to the city’s notorious traffic jams. The protests are taking place despite government promises to continue subsidising fuel against the advice of oil companies which are chalking up huge losses. The government has...
CHINA: Titan Petrochemicals to focus on storage and shipyard business
to focus on its oil storage and shipyard business, and scale down its trading and supply activities. With crude oil at more than $140 a barrel and still rising, the company said the trading business is capital intensive and increasingly exposed to market risks and market volatility. The company said it “will consider suitable opportunities...
ENERGY: CIBC predicts Americans will pull 10 million vehicles off roads by 2012
issued another gloomy prediction, with gasoline hitting US$7 per gallon as impoverished Americans withdraw 10 million vehicles off the roads by 2012. The report forecasts that continued growing global demand combined with ongoing supply challenges will see oil prices continue to rise and hit $200 per barrel in 2010. This will translate into further pain...
PAKISTAN: Lahore city gripped by fuel supply shortage
supply shortage that has idled the bulk of its public and private vehicles the past few weeks. Officials said that as much as 80% of Lahore’s urban transportation system and half its inter-city connections have shut down due to the scarcity of gasoline and diesel supplies. They warn that the province’s transportation system will completely...
MALAYSIA: Power company Tenaga hikes tariffs
for industrial and commercial customers by an average 26% effective 1 July. However, Tenaga said the increases were still not enough to fully recoup rising feedstock costs for fuel, gas and coal. In response to rising energy costs on the world markets, the government has sharply raised domestic gasoline, diesel, gas and power prices and...
MARKETS: British Airways reducing capacity to fight rising fuel costs
year as the rising cost of jet fuel is making many routes commercially unviable. The company plans start to grounding its older, least fuel-efficient Boeing 747s, 767s and 737s aircraft. Jet fuel have soared well above US$170 a barrel and does not look like slowing down any time soon. With more analysts forecasting higher oil...
MARKETS: US EIA predicts world energy use to grow 50% between 2005 and 2030
2005 and 2030, driven by robust economic growth and expanding populations in the world’s developing countries, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). In its latest International Energy Outlook 2008 report, the EIA said it based its prediction on 2007 oil prices, which are nearly double the 2003 prices in real terms. The report does...
FUNDS: FTSE Group launches ‘Environmental Opportunities All-Share Index’
Environmental Opportunities All-Share Index’, which is made up of over 450 constituents covering the alternative energy, water and waste management companies. The constituents are taken from the ‘FTSE Global Equity Index Series’ and are included in the index if a minimum of 20% of their revenue comes from environmental markets or technologies, which are of...
CHINA: Hydropower damage from Sichuan quake could lead to blackouts
due to the damage to its hydropower dams caused by the massive earthquake last month in Sichuan province. Officals said the 8 magnitude earthquake, which killed more than 80,000 people, damaged dozens of dams and cut coal production. The timing could not be worse as China is already struggling to cope with massive power supply...
AUSTRALIA: SEAOOC 2008 in Darwin
(EnergyAsia, June 27, Friday) — Australia has entered its biggest ever era of petroleum exploration as energy prices and demands for liquid natural gas escalate. “We are in a unique position to reap enormous rewards from our resources,” says APPEA CEO Belinda Robinson, who will chair the first day of SEAAOC, northern Australia’s largest and (more…)
INDONESIA: Power conference in Jakarta from August 27 to 28
(EnergyAsia, June 27, Friday) — ‘Indonesia Power Conference 2008’ will be held at the Hotel Mulia Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia from August 27 to 28. The conference will feature a keynote address from Indonesia’s director general for electricity and energy utilisation in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. Indonesia has a large base of (more…)