(EnergyAsia, April 16 2010, Friday) — The Chinese government is seeking to double its import of Russian crude oil through the newly launched Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline to 30 million tonnes annually from 15 million tonnes. China said the higher volume is needed to justify the construction of a joint venture oil refinery by...

(EnergyAsia, April 16 2010, Friday) — Major players in the global liquefied natural gas (LPNG) market are changing their strategies to prepare for long-term structural changes in market conditions and prospects.   At the recent CERA conference in Houston, US, Jean-Francois Cirelli, vice chairman of France’s GDF Suez, noted that the global LNG market will...

(EnergyAsia, April 16 2010, Friday) — Two UK-based industry bodies, Subsea UK and OPITO, are jointly developing a training programme to enhance the UK’s skills and expertise in the subsea sector. The programme is being structured as a six-module course within the OPITO Academy’s established Petroleum Open Learning (POL) programme, and is scheduled for completion...

(EnergyAsia, April 16 2010, Friday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korea Transport Institute (KOTI), South Korea’s national transport institute and one of the world’s leading transport research institutions, to enhance cooperation in support of low-carbon green initiatives in the transportation sector. The two...

(EnergyAsia, April 16 2010, Friday) — Finland’s Wartsila Corporation, a leader in complete lifecycle power solutions for the marine and energy markets, and South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) said they will jointly develop gas-fuelled merchant vessels to meet or exceed the demands of future environmental regulations. They will launch a joint study to focus...

(EnergyAsia, April 16 2010, Friday) — Australia’s oil production is expected to climb 6% to 29.5 billion litres or 508,000 b/d while its liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports may rise 4% in the coming fiscal year due to the start-up of new projects. The forecasts for the year ending 30 June 2011 were contained in...

(EnergyAsia, April 16 2010, Friday) — Australian authorities are battling to prevent a maritime disaster at the Great Barrier Reef where a stricken Chinese coal carrier continued to leak oil into the sea.   The grounded Shen Neng 1 vessel could potentially break apart and spill up to 1,000 tonnes of heavy oil and 70,000...

(EnergyAsia, April 15 2010, Thursday) — US-listed Clean Coal Technologies Inc (CCTI) said China’s Tianjin Tianning Coal Traders (TTCT) has agreed to purchase a technology licensing agreement for the construction of a clean coal facility in Inner Mongolia with an initial annual production capacity of 1.5 million metric tons. Under the terms of their memorandum...

(EnergyAsia, April 15 2010, Thursday) — Raser Technologies Inc, a NYSE-listed environmental energy technology company focused on geothermal power development and technology licensing, said it has been awarded a $934,308 grant by the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) to provide a feasibility study for a geothermal project in Indonesia. Raser has been appointed sole-source...

(EnergyAsia, April 15 2010, Thursday) — French engineering firm Technip said it has been awarded two contracts by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) for its diesel hydrotreater project in the Visakh refinery on the east coast of India. The two contracts, which are scheduled to be completed by the first half of 2012, will be...

(EnergyAsia, April 15 2010, Thursday) — Kishangarh hi-tech textile park (KHTP) said it has awarded a contract for a 8.4MW wind power project to India’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, Suzlon Energy Limited (SEL). The project will consist of four units of Suzlon’s S-88 2.1MW wind turbine generators to be installed at the Tejuwa wind farm...

(EnergyAsia, April 15 2010, Thursday) — India’s Reliance Industries said it has implemented and commissioned a 1 MW solar plant on the roof of the Thyagaraj Stadium in New Delhi. RIL’s solar group has also implemented power plants in the R K Khanna Tennis Complex and solar LED street lights and garden lights in the...

(EnergyAsia, April 15 2010, Thursday) — Singapore’s Keppel Energy is proceeding with plans to expand its 500-megawatt (MW) Keppel Merlimau cogeneration plant in Jurong Island. In 2006, the wholly-owned unit of Keppel Corp had revealed that it was looking to increase capacity by adding a 450 MW combined cycle plant in 2010 and a similar...

(EnergyAsia, April 15 2010, Thursday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that a hydropower project it is jointly supporting with the governments of Austria and Japan to enable Bhutan to export clean energy to India has been registered as the first cross-border initiative under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Aimed at encouraging developing nations...

(EnergyAsia, April 14 2010, Wednesday) — Electric vehicles are not emissions free according to new fuel efficiency rules to come into effect in Canada and the US from 2012, prompting objections from automakers. Under the new rules for 2012 to 206, each carmaker are allowed to include the first 200,000 electric vehicles it sells as...

(EnergyAsia, April 14 2010, Wednesday) — India’s Tata Power Company Ltd said it is teaming up with Indonesian firm PT Supraco to build the Sorik Merapi geothermal plant in northern Sumatra, the first of many energy projects being eyed by the Indian firm in the Southeast Asian nation.   The two firms plan to invest...

(EnergyAsia, April 14 2010, Wednesday) — Japan’s Nissan Motor Co has fired the first shot in a price war in the electric vehicle market.   The company announced its Leaf electric vehicle will sell for less than three million yen when a government electric vehicle purchase subsidy is taken into account. (US$1=93 yen). The move...

(EnergyAsia, April 14 2010, Wednesday) — The Singapore government favours a tax system to reduce carbon emissions rather than a cap-and-trade system considering the country has a small domestic market with only a few large energy consumers.  The Ministry of Finance (MOF) said that a tax system, wherein the government fixes the price per unit...

(EnergyAsia, April 14 2010, Wednesday) — Denmark’s wind technology company Vestas said it has received an order for a 50 megawatt (MW) wind energy project in China’s Heilongjiang province. The customer has requested that its name and the project’s exact location and details remain confidential. Vestas will supply and commission the wind turbines, instal a...

(EnergyAsia, April 14 2010, Wednesday) — Aerotec Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based marine industry veteran and subsidiary of the Union Group of Companies, has announced strategic partnership agreements with two China-based industry players – Jiangsu Josun Air Conditioner Co Ltd (Jiangsu Josun) and Hyundai Heavy Industries (China) Electric Co Ltd (HHI-CN). Aerotec engaged Jiangsu Josun, China’s...

(EnergyAsia, April 14 2010, Wednesday) — The first UNFCCC meeting since the failed Copenhagen Climate Change Summit closed this week, with countries agreeing to minimal measures on how to move forward, said Greenpeace. The environmental group said the meeting was “marred by a complete lack of the required sense of urgency” as many countries fell...

(EnergyAsia, April 13 2010, Tuesday) — Article by by Philip H. de Leon for Oilprice.com. Surfing the wave of the hype for renewable energy such as hydropower and the invitation by the US to many regional countries to get involved in the efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, Tajikistan is bringing back to the table the Rogun...

(EnergyAsia, April 13 2010, Thursday) — Global classification and certification leader Bureau Veritas said it has enhanced its maritime portal to make it more user-friendly to shipping industry members seeking information on statutory and class requirements. Claude Maillot, the company’s director for ships in service, said: “There is a torrent of information on changes to...

(EnergyAsia, April 13 2010, Tuesday) — US-listed, Florida-based Far East Wind Power Corp said it has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with China’s Wuhan Guoce Nordic New Energy Co Ltd to acquire certain rights to a number of development stage wind farm projects in Jilin province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Far East...

(EnergyAsia, April 13 2010, Tuesday) — Indonesia can be expected to almost double the size of its geothermal power capacity following the approval of a $400 million investment plan by the Trust Fund Committee of the multilateral Clean Technology Fund (CTF) to support state initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26% in 2020, said...