(EnergyAsia, April 1 2010, Thursday) — This article was written by Dr John C.K. Daly for Oilprice.com. The tragic news of the March 29 twin suicide bombings of two Moscow Metro stations during the morning rush hour has produced outrage worldwide, with the Kremlin quickly adding that the attacks were carried out by the Caucasus...

(EnergyAsia, April 1 2010, Thursday) — GC China Turbine Corporation (GCHT), a Wuhan city-based manufacturer of two-bladed wind turbines, said it recently signed a cooperation agreement with Jilin Province’s Baicheng municipal government covering three wind development projects as part of its five-year development strategy. Construction of the first project, a 200MW wind farm in Sijianfang...

(EnergyAsia, April 1 2010, Tuesday)— The UAE state-owned oil refiner Emirates National Oil Co (ENOC) plans to expand into the upstream oil business to diversify its revenues amidst lower refining margins. ENOC chief financial officer Petri Pentti said the company was still focused on establishing itself as a vertically integrated company despite having to abandon...

(EnergyAsia, April 5 2010, Monday) — Expanding its Asian presence, Spanish sustainable energy specialist Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologica SA (Gamesa) has launched its Indian subsidiary, Gamesa Wind Turbines Pvt Ltd, in Chennai city. The 31st of Gamesa’s production centres spread across Europe, Asia and the US, the Chennai plant will produce G58-850 kW wind turbines customised...

(EnergyAsia, April 5 2010, Monday) — Singapore has started work on building its S$1.5-billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on Jurong Island, said to be Asia’s first open-access multi-user terminal, capable of importing and re-exporting LNG from multiple suppliers. (US$1=S$1.4). The terminal is expected to start up in early 2013 with an initial capacity to...

(EnergyAsia, April 5 2010, Monday) — China WindPower Group (CWG) said its subsidiary Fuxin WindPower has started up operations at its express operations and maintenance centre in Fuxin city in China’s northeastern Liaoning province. The centre’s wind turbine repair and assembly plant has been leased to Xinjiang Goldwind Science &Technology Co Ltd, which recently assembled...

(EnergyAsia, April 5 2010, Monday) — Singapore-based Flextronics has dedicated one million square feet to create a ‘clean tech supersite’ established at its facility in Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) in the southern Malaysian state of Johor. Flextronics said the new facility strengthens its position as a global leader in the manufacturing of solar modules...

(EnergyAsia, April 5 2010, Monday) — Mission NewEnergy Limited, an Australia-based biodiesel refiner and a world-leading jatropha plantation company, said the Indian government has approved its plan to increase capital investment into its Indian feedstock business. The company said it will also be allowed to continue with its original plan for contract farming of the...

(EnergyAsia, April 5 2010, Monday) — Japanese heavy industries firm Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding said it has secured from Inbicon, the Danish pioneer of cellulosic ethanol technology, the right to build biomass refineries in Southeast Asia using Inbicon’s proprietary technology. Mitsui plans to use the technology in the palm oil industry to convert waste from...

(EnergyAsia, April 5 2010, Monday) — GC China Turbine Corp, a US-listed Chinese manufacturer of twin blade wind turbines, said it recently signed an agreement to develop three wind farm projects with the Baicheng municipal government in China’s Jilin province. The company said it expects to start construction of the projects with a combined installed...

(EnergyAsia, March 31 2010, Wednesday) — Japan’s Panasonic Corporation recently completed the development of two new 18650-type (18 mm in diameter, 65 mm in height) high-capacity lithium-ion battery cells for use in laptop computers and environmentally-friendly energy technologies. The said it company boosted the capacity of 18650-type battery cells by improving electrode materials. The newly-developed...

(EnergyAsia, March 31 2010, Wednesday) — Indonesia has indicated that it will use Argus prices in its domestic pricing formulas for ethanol and palm-based biodiesel, the UK energy media group has said. Indonesia aims to boost the use of the two biofuels from the limited uptake achieved so far under its two-year-old blending mandate. Argus...

(EnergyAsia, March 31 2010, Wednesday) — PetroChina Co, the nation’s largest oil producer, has agreed to buy middle distillates from Asian refineries in line with its ambitions to become a major international trading player. The Chinese firm recently signed contracts to lift as much as 5.4 million barrels of gasoil and up to 9.6 million...

(EnergyAsia, March 31 2010, Wednesday) — UK-based electronic trading systems specialists Trayport Exchange Systems said it has added new oil contracts for rack fix, float and swap to the J-Oil Exchange (JOX). Trayport has worked with JOX since 2007, supplying the bourse with its flagship product, the GlobalVision Exchange Trading System. The added contracts have...

(EnergyAsia, March 31 2010, Wednesday) — American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC), a NASDAQ-listed global power technologies company, said it has secured a $10 million order for wind turbine core electrical components from China’s CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Research Institute Co Ltd (CSR-ZELRI). This latest core component order is the fifth that CSR-ZELRI has booked with Massachusetts,...

(EnergyAsia, March 30 2010, Tuesday) — The Republic of Singapore Navy and Police Coast guard have warned of possible attacks on tankers at the Malacca Strait, raising concern of oil and gas supply disruptions to the economies of East Asia. The busy passageway handles more than 70% of the region’s oil supplies, as well as...

(EnergyAsia, March 30 2010, Tuesday) — Royal Dutch Shell said it successfully started up a new ethylene cracker at its Shell Eastern Petrochemicals Complex (SEPC) project in Singapore on March 22. The 100% Shell-owned plant has the capacity to produce of 800,000 tonnes of ethylene per year and 230,000 tonnes of benzene.  These olefins and...

(EnergyAsia, March 30 2010, Tuesday) — Oil companies are considering permanently closing down their refineries in the US and Europe in a desperate move to reduce excess capacity and improve profit margins. Chevron Corp is selling its Wales refinery and is considering what to do with one in Hawaii. It is also overhauling its fuel-making...

(EnergyAsia, March 30 2010, Tuesday) – Russia will look increasingly to sell its natural gas to Asia as it faces “an extremely challenging” environment in the short-to-medium term, with both prices and market share coming under pressure, said UK consultant Wood Mackenzie. In a study of the future outlook for Russian gas, Wood Mackenzie said...

(EnergyAsia, March 30 2010, Tuesday) — China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Royal Dutch Shell plc have announced plans to jointly develop and produce natural gas in China’s Sichuan basin. The companies have submitted a production sharing contract to the Chinese central government for approval. Under the 30-year contract, Shell and CNPC would appraise and...

(EnergyAsia, March 30 2010, Tuesday) — US major Exxon Mobil Corp said that additions to its proved reserves in 2009 totalled two billion oil-equivalent barrels (boe), replacing 133% of production. Excluding the impact of asset sales, reserves additions replaced 134% of production, a development that could help dampen concerns that the largest US oil and...

(EnergyAsia, March 30 2010, Tuesday) — US power company AES Corp said it has successfully closed a 15% equity sale worth US$1.58 billion to a wholly owned investment subsidiary of the China Investment Corporation (CIC). The deal, first announced last November 6, involved CIC acquiring 125.5 million shares of AES stock for $12.60 per share....

(EnergyAsia, March 29 2010, Monday) — A subsidiary of state PetroVietnam has been awarded a licence to build and operate a 600,000-cubic metre underground fuel storage terminal in Vietnam’s south central province of Quang Ngai. The province located on the coast of South China Sea is home to the country’s first oil refinery on the...