JAPAN: Renewables sector could attract Abu Dhabi investment

(EnergyAsia, February 11, Wednesday) — Abu Dhabi’s Masdar Clean Tech Fund and Japan’s SBI Holdings Inc are planning to form a joint venture that will invest up to US$300 million in Japan’s renewable energy sector. The money would help finance Japanese start-up companies producing solar, wind and other renewable sources of energy. The partners will...

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INDIA: Wind power firm Suzlon reports third quarter loss

(EnergyAsia, February 11, Wednesday) — India’s wind power turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy has blamed foreign exchange losses for its fiscal third quarter net loss of Rs589.7 million. (US$1=Rs50). The company added that payments to replace faulty equipment and a number of technical problems contributed to the dismal performance for the quarter ended December 31. It...

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INDIA: Mission Biofuels to invest in biodiesel plant in Orissa state

(EnergyAsia, February 11, Wednesday) — Mission Biofuels India is planning to invest Rs35 million in a biodiesel plant in India’s Orissa state. The company, a unit of Australia’s Mission Newenergy, is now scouting around for a suitable site in the port cities of Paradip, Gopalpur or Dhamra. It will likely use jatropha as feedstock for...

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CHINA: Ecos joins US-linked non-profit alliance to promote energy efficiency

(EnergyAsia, February 11, Wednesday) — Energy efficiency solutions provider Ecos said it has become a partner in the China-US Energy Efficiency Alliance. The California-based non-profit organisation is focused on assisting China to implement demand-side management (DSM) programmes to reduce energy use and lower greenhouse gas emissions. DSM programmes and policies are designed to lower the...

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TAIWAN: Stiff local opposition delays wind farm project

(EnergyAsia, February 11, Wednesday) — Residents of Hsinwu Township in Taiwain’s Taoyuan county have succeeded in at least delaying the implementation of a proposed wind farm project by a German company. More than 300 villagers have delayed for months the proposed construction of 13 wind turbines along Hsinwu coast. German wind power supplier InfraVest Gmbh...

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MALAYSIA: Gas subsidies distort market, may crimp supplies

are a growing burden for supplier Petronas. Under existing market rules, state oil and gas company Petronas has to sell gas to industrial users at sharply discounted prices. Last year, that discount hit RM55 reached million British thermal unit (m Btu). (US$1 = RM3.6). In supplying to the power sector, which accounts for more than...

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VIETNAM: Japan’s MHI to capture CO2 from flue gas, increase urea output at fertiliser plant

signed an agreement to license its carbon dioxide (CO2) recovery technology to South Korea’s Samsung Engineering Co Ltd for use in Vietnam. Samsung Engineering will use MHI’s proprietary KM-CDR Process technology for carbon dioxide recovery at the Phu My fertiliser plant of state-owned PetroVietnam Fertilizer and Chemicals Corporation (PVFCCo). The carbon dioxide recovery facility, to...

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AUSTRALIA: Mission NewEnergy says 250,000 t/y biofuel refinery to start up in March

(EnergyAsia, February 10, Tuesday) — Australia’s Mission NewEnergy Limited said it will start up its second biofuel refinery in Kuantan city in Malaysia next month. The 250,000-tonne-per-year plant, located near an existing 100,000 t/y refinery, will require debt funding for completion.   The Australian Stock Exchange-listed company said it expects to operate profitably in 2009 (more…)

AUSTRALIA: Climate change conference in Pert next month

research and strategies to deal with climate and energy options at the nation’s leading climate change science conference, GREENHOUSE 2009, in Perth on March 23 to 26. The conference will cover a range of issues from the latest Australian and international climate change science to examples of how industry and government are tackling climate change....

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INDIA: Ecofin acquires 10% stake in Suzlon subsidiary Hansen Transmissions

than 67 million shares (10% equity) in Hansen Transmissions International NV, a London-listed global gearbox designer, manufacturer and supplier with a leading position in the wind turbine gearbox market, to funds managed by Ecofin Limited, a London-based specialised investment firm. AERH is a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of India’s largest wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy...

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SOUTH KOREA: HHI to invest 105.7-billion won wind turbine manufacturing plant

memorandum of understanding (MOU) to invest 105.7 billion won in a wind turbine manufacturing plant in Gunsan city. (US$1=1,375 won). Sited on a 132,000-sq m plot, the factory will be capable of producing 1.65MW-class wind turbines when it starts up by September. It will have an annual production capacity of 600MW which will be expanded...

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CHINA: No rush to import oil despite higher December figure

December, up by 7.6% from November but down 17% from the year’s peak in March.   Analysts said these trends did not fully support speculation that the country was rushing to fill up its strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs) to take advantage of low oil prices. The slow pace of import increase reflected slower domestic demand...

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INDONESIA: ExxonMobil plan for Natuna gas block turned down

major Exxon Mobil to develop the offshore Natuna D-Alpha natural gas block. Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro told local reporters that state oil and gas regulator, BPMigas, had rejected the plan, thus ending further speculation that the US major might have a role in developing the estimated 46-trillion of natural gas reserves in...

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INDONESIA: Japan’s Inpex gets approval for LNG plant

principle approval from Indonesian authorities to develop a US$20 billion floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. Inpex plans to deploy the LNG facility at the Abadi field in the Timor Sea. The company, which operates the field, could start up production in 2016, if everything goes to plan, said Evita Legowo, the oil and gas...

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INDONESIA: Energy and mining revenues up more than 50% in 2008

energy and mining sectors surged by nearly 54% to Rp346.35 trillion last year. (US$1=11,700 rupiah).  Oil and gas were expected to have contributed Rp 226.78 trillion while mining yielded Rp 43.15 trillion, keeping their position as the country’s two most important sources of revenue. In 2007, revenues from the two sectors reached Rp225.21 trillion. The...

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INDONESIA: PLN to open bids for new power plants

(PLN) will soon invite companies to bid to build the country’s largest coal-fired power project, a 2,000 megawatt (MW) plant in Pemalang, Central Java. The project is part of the government’s plan to build up 10,000 MW of power capacity by 2014. The winning bidder will act as an independent power producer (IPP) and supply...

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QATAR: LNG production to hit 62 million tonnes in 2010

production capacity to 62 million tonnes per year in 2010, up from around 38 million tonnes now.   The additional capacity will come from new LNG trains being set up by the country’s two state-owned companies RasGas and Qatargas. By end-2009, RasGas and Qatar gas will each have two new trains of annual capacity of...

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LAOS: Cavico unit awarded $6.2 million contract to expand Thuen HinBoun hydropower plant

Vietnam, said its wholly owned subsidiary, Cavico Bridge and Tunnel Construction, has been awarded a $6.2 million contract to undertake tunnel construction work at the Theun HinBoun hydropower project in Laos. The contract was awarded by by Cooperativa Muratori e Cementisti – CMC di Ravenna (CMC), an Italian construction company. Cavico Bridge and Tunnel will...

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ASIA: Climate change threaten the water supply of millions of people, said UN agency

among countries threaten some of the world’s greatest river basins which sustain around 750 million people. According to the findings of a new report, “Freshwater Under Threat: South  Asia,” by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), South Asia will be among the most affected. The report examined the state...

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CHINA: CNOOC Ltd aims to produce at least 225 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2009

225 and 231 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) this year, up from net production of 194 to 196 million BOE, with WTI at US$100.1/barrel) for 2008. For 2009, CNOOC Ltd, which is assuming the WTI price at US$60 barrel, said it plans to bring onstream 10 new projects. Eight of them will be located...

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INDIA: Proven Energy installs wind turbine in Goa for eventual use in the Antartica

said it has ventured into the renewable energy market in India. Proven Energy said that VASCO, the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), an autonomous research and development institution of the Department of Ocean Development (DOD), the Indian government, and the Ministry of Earth Sciences, have installed a Proven 6kW wind turbine at...

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INDONESIA: ExxonMobil said Cepu to produce 20,000 b/d of crude in early 2009

expected to produce 20,000 barrels a day of crude oil in the first half of 2009. The US major, which developed the block, brought the block onstream last December, and is planning to raise that to a peak of 165,000 b/d in the coming years. ExxonMobil and Pertamina each have a 45% stake in the...

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IRAN: Deputy minister said proposed oil pipeline threatens Caspian Sea

and Azerbaijan through the Caspian Sea will threaten the marine ecosystem. Its deputy oil minister for international affairs, Hossein Noqrekar-Shirazi, said the project could spill Kazakh oil into the ocean while its construction will harm the sensitive Caspian ecosystem. Mr Noqrekar-Shirazi added that Russian also opposed the project, but he did not offer any reason....

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SINGAPORE: Bunker sales volume grew 10.8% in 2008, but declined in December

tonnes last year, but there is concern that a decline is underway as the December data showed a 5.1% drop from the previous month and a decline of 0.06% from the same month in 2007. After several years of strong growth, Singapore’s bunker sales could flatten or even decline this year on account of the...

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RUSSIA: Gazprom agrees on gas supply terms with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

gas supplies from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for 2009. A supplementary agreement has been signed to the long-term gas purchase and sale contract. The document contemplates using a pricing formula based on European gas prices Russia and Turkmenistan signed a 25-year natural gas agreement on April 10, 2003 in which subsidiary Gazprom Export agreed to buy...

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