Palawan islands. Galoc’s 20,000 b/d production will feed the domestic market, helping reduce the country’s dependence on imported oil. The oil field, located about 60 km west of Culion Island, could meet up to six percent of Philippine oil requirements. The Philippines now relies on imports to meet over 95% of its oil needs. Galoc,...

on Singapore’s Jurong Island despite facing significant regulatory delays from both Singapore and Indonesia, company officials said. (US$1 = S$1.47). Also complicating issues is a change in ownership at its parent, US Intergen. Singapore regulatory agency Energy Market Authority (EMA) said it wants the company to secure a new natural gas supply deal after an...

technology for the solar power industry, said its subsidiary, GT Solar Incorporated, has signed a sales contract with Top Green Energy Technologies Inc, a Taiwan-based producer of high-quality solar cells. The $46.8 million contract is GT Solar’s most comprehensive polysilicon production equipment and services agreement to-date, and the company’s first sale of its products to...

gas engine business has announced the opening of a new regional engine packaging operation at its manufacturing centre in Hangzhou in China’s Zhejiang province. The new packaging operation will help support GE Energy’s customers in China and Asia that are working to address their energy and environmental challenges. The fuel-flexibility of GE Energy’s Jenbacher engines...

  taken an equity stake in the exchange. J.P. Morgan joins a number of other leading global financial institutions and energy trading firms including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Vitol, Concord Energy, Casa Energy Trading and a Shell Group company, who were announced as strategic investors in the DME in early August. DME’s board has approved...

enabled state-owned PetroChina to improve its exploration methods and reduce the risk of drilling dry wells. CSIRO said it developed the quantitative grain fluorescence (QGF) and quantitative grain fluorescence on extract (QGF-E) techniques for detecting oil zones and oil migration pathways. These in-house techniques provide information on the presence and types of hydrocarbons, enabling researchers...

world leading vertically integrated photovoltaic (PV) product manufacturer, said its Chinese subsidiary, Baoding Tianwei Yingli New Energy Resources Co Ltd, will supply 1.5MW of PV modules to China Mobile Communications Corp, the country’s largest mobile phone operator. The bid accounted for over 31% of China Mobile’s total recent PV module procurement. Tianwei Yingli expects to...

euro order from India for the supply of four steam turbine generators. The buyer is Indian utility Vadinar Power Company Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Essar Oil Ltd. The steam turbines and generators will be installed in a cogeneration plant in Vadinar in Gujarat province. Siemens said it will supply two steam turbines each...

jointly help develop a financing programme for a $240 million power transmission project that will enable Laos to export hydroelectric power to energy-short neighbouring Vietnam. The Japan Special Fund, through ADB, will provide a $1 million grant while the governments of Laos and Vietnam will each allot $150,000 to complete the funding requirement for the...

independent commercial product tanker operator, said it has taken delivery of the first of two tankers expected this year from South Korea’s Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD). With the delivery of the US$56 million Gulf Baynunah, Dubai-based GEM has increased its current fleet to 11, and further solidified its position as the region’s leading chemical transportation...

mix of biofuels in gasoline and diesel to 20% over the next 10 years.   The move runs counter to the trend in other countries which have reduced their drive for food-based fuels due to rising concerns over biofuels’ impact on global food supplies and costs. India, on the other hand, is anxious to reduce...

(HPCL) has teamed up with Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd to build a sugar mill for ethanol production in Maharashtra state. Ethanol will form around 75% of the mill’s output and sugar the remainder. The project plans allows the partners to switch between ethanol and sugar production according to market needs. The project will likely have...

electric power projects in Myanmar. Under the agreement between the two governments, India’s state-owned National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd will join Myanmar’s State Hydroelectric Power Department to build a 600MW and 1,200MW hydropower plants. Financial terms were not disclosed.   India joins Myanmar’s neighbours Thailand, China and Bangladesh to invest in its hydropower potential. Thailand...

to the offshore industry, said it has signed a charter contract to committing one of its 5,000 BHP AHTS vessels, the Swiber Ada, to work in Vietnam. Starting this month, the US$7.3 million contract is for a duration of six months and includes options for two additional six-month extensions. As part of the contract, subsidiary...

subsidiary, Bina Marine Pte Ltd, has secured a S$74.5 million contract to build an 80-metre dynamically position (DP2) subsea operations vessel for UK’s Hallin Marine Subsea International Plc. (US$1=S$1.48). The S$20 million contract sum includes the procurement of saturation diving system and crane from Hallin Marine. The contract marks a new milestone for the group...

for the energy and power utility sectors, said it has secured a US$57.7 million contract to provide project management and procurement services for onshore oil and gas drilling and exploration works on seven wells. The contracts were secured through wholly-owned subsidiary Alton International (S) Pte Ltd, and Alton’s 65%-owned subsidiary, Geo Link Nusantara Pte Ltd....

firm. The money raised from the privatisation would be invested to help the company expand its downstream operations, officials said. Petrolimex holds an estimated 60% of the country’s domestic oil market share. The company owns and operates about 1,800 retail stations and 65 oil depots. Details and timelines for the privatisation were not disclosed. The...

its forecast for world oil demand for 2008 and 2009. The Paris-based agency said world oil demand is expected to rise by 240,000 b/d in 2008 and 440,000 b/d next year. World oil demand is expected to edge up 0.5% to 86.5 million b/d in 2008 and by 0.8% to 87.2 million b/d in 2009....

 Cook Islands and Vanuatu cope with high fuel prices and climate change by providing assistance to help reduce wasteful consumption of commercial energy and promote energy efficiency. The Clean Energy Fund, which is administered by ADB under the Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility (CEFPF), will provide $1.2 million in technical assistance to the project. The...

ASL Shipyard Pte Ltd, has secured new shipbuilding and fabrication contracts worth a total of S$101 million. (US$1= S$ 1.48). The contracts include the building of a self-propelled cutter suction dredger and fabrication unit, outfitting and reinstatement works to a heavy transport vessel. ASL Marine said the shipbuilding contract for the dredger unit, secured from...

      its subsidiary, Swiber Offshore Construction Pte Ltd, has formed an equal joint venture with a leading Saudi Arabian company, Rawabi Holding Company Limited.   Based in the Saudi city of Al-Khobar, the joint venture firm, Rawabi Swiber Offshore Construction Company Limited, will provide offshore construction services and bid for engineering, procurement, construction,...

coal-fired power plants unless the projects are equipped with carbon capture and sequestration. Coal-fired power plants have been identified as a major producer of carbon dioxide (CO2), a harmful greenhouse gas. Still, carbon capture and sequestration technology is new and very expensive to install. The US recently halted a demonstration project. Mr Gore, in a...

the growing world market for photovoltaic solar cells next year. Analysts reckon that the two companies could deliver solar products with an annual energy generation capacity of 2.6 gigawatts (GW) by as early as 2013. The South Korean government is expanding its offering of incentives for domestic solar energy installations. Analysts say the solar energy...

  Quatar’s RasGas II liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. Under a 25-year deal, CPC will also be importing three million tonnes of LNG per year from RasGas II. Deliveries will likely begin later this year. CPC is working hard to secure supplies to meet Taiwan’s rising domestic LNG demand, which is forecast to reach 16...