(EnergyAsia, December 17, Thursday) — China’s crude oil imports are expected to remain high at about 18 million tonnes or 4.3 million b/d for the fourth quarter as new storage tanks, pipelines and refineries start operations. The new oil-related infrastructure is seen to sustain crude oil throughput at around 33 million tonnes per month or...

(EnergyAsia, December 17, Thursday) — Australia-listed Cougar Energy Limited (ASX: CXY) said it has executed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Direct Invest Pte Ltd, the Singapore-based subsidiary of the Direct Invest Group, to establish Cougar Direct Invest China Limited (CDIC) to develop underground coal gasification (UCG) projects in China and Mongolia. CDIC will be...

(EnergyAsia, December 16, Wednesday) — Swiber Holdings Limited, a Singapore-based offshore oil and gas services company, said it has secured its first contract in Myanmar. It recently signed a letter of award with an unidentified Myanmar oil and gas company worth US$77 million. Swiber will provide offshore installation works for 150 kilometres of gas pipelines...

(EnergyAsia, December 16, Wednesday) — Indian state-owned power companies are switching away from fixed prices to index-linked pricing for their coal imports in an attempt to improve transparency. The National Thermal Power Corp now sets purchase prices based on a basket of coal indices—the API4 South African Index and the Newcastle Australian coal FOB index...

(EnergyAsia, December 16, Wednesday) — The Indian government said it will seek to cut the carbon intensity of its economy, or the amount of carbon dioxide for each unit of gross domestic product, to between 20% and 25% by 2020 from 2005 levels. The move by the world’s fourth largest carbon emitter to set an...

(EnergyAsia, December 16, Wednesday) — China’s investments in nuclear power and energy efficiency will substantially slow down the growth of the country’s carbon emissions, according to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA). China, which overtook the US as the world’s top carbon emitter in 2007, is projected to produce 7.1 gigatonnes of greenhouse...

(EnergyAsia, December 16, Wednesday) — Shell has delivered another world-scale project on schedule with last week’s official opening of its monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant on Singapore’s Jurong Island by Lim Hng Kiang, Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry and Ben van Beurden, Shell executive vice president for chemicals. The 750,000-tonne-per-year component of the Shell Eastern...

(EnergyAsia, December 16, Wednesday) — China and other Asian economies could suffer further export losses to the US if Congress approves legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, said the World Bank. The green provision, passed by the US House in June to tax import from countries that do not adequately curb carbon-dioxide emissions, follows last...

(EnergyAsia, December 15, Tuesday) — NTPC, India’s largest power company, plans to establish 1,000 MW of greenfield wind power capacity over the next few years to diversify its fuel mix.   The company plans to start by investing Rs25 billion in six new wind farms with a total power generation capacity of 500 MW in...

(EnergyAsia, December 15, Tuesday) — Huawei, a Chinese provider of next-generation telecommunications network solutions, said it has been selected by telecommunications service provider Grameenphone (GP) to deploy the solar-powered base transceiver stations (BTS) in the country.  Huawei said it will install its fourth-generation base stations, using a solar and diesel generator hybrid power solution to...

(EnergyAsia, December 15, Tuesday) — Vietnam-based infrastructure development company Cavico Corp said it has completed construction of the Buon Kuop hydropower plant and is in the process of transferring the project over to its owner, Electricity of Vietnam (EVN). Nasdaq-listed Cavico said the hydropower plant will have two 140 megawatt (MW) capacity units and is...

(EnergyAsia, December 15, Tuesday) — Climate Resources Exchange (CRX), a Singapore-based carbon advisor, and Standard Bank (SB) said they are jointly developing the country’s first carbon programme to serve a community of more than 100 buildings implementing energy efficiency measures by 2012. The ‘Climate Action Resource Enterprise’ for Energy Efficiency’ (CARE) programme aims to generate...

(EnergyAsia, December 15, Tuesday) — Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation said it will invest 200-billion yen in a 1,320MW coal-fired power generation project in central Vietnam’s Khanh Hoa Province. (US$1=90 yen). The supercritical plant, comprising two 660MW boiler turbine generator units, is expected to begin supplying electricity to state Electricity of Vietnam in 2015 under a 25-year...

(EnergyAsia, December 15, Tuesday) — Rig builder Keppel Offshore & Marine said it expects to finalise a contract for the construction of a US$200 million semi-submersible drilling rig. The award-winning KFELS SSDT 3600E design rig is expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2011. Developed by Keppel O&M’s Deepwater Technology Group (DTG), the...

(EnergyAsia, December 15, Tuesday) — The Australian government has unveiled its vision for biomass innovation, describing it as a significant opportunity to address energy security.   Addressing a recent bioenergy workshop, Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said biomass is an important part of the nation’s energy mix. The government has unveiled seven successful applicants...

(EnergyAsia, December 14, Monday) — Australia’s largest scientific research agency CSIRO said the staff of Victoria state energy distributor SP AusNet has been using a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle since October at work as part of a three-month joint trial. CSIRO said its engineers have modified the EVs to carry a 30Ah NiMH battery which...

(EnergyAsia, December 14, Monday) — Foster Wheeler AG, a Nasdaq-listed engineering firm said its global engineering and construction group has signed a memorandum of understanding with PetroAlgae to help oil refineries to produce biomass fuels. Foster Wheeler will combine its engineering services with PetroAlgae’s micro-crop biomass technology to enable customers to undertake large-scale production of...

(EnergyAsia, December 14, Monday) — Hong Kong Energy (Holdings) Limited said it has agreed with its parent company, HKC (Holdings) Limited, to acquire a 25% stake in HKE (Danjinghe) Wind Power Limited for RMB73.5 million. (US$1=RMB6.83). HKE (Danjinghe) Wind Power Limited previously held a 40% equity interest in the company that operated the Danjinghe wind...

(EnergyAsia, December 14, Monday) — China Longyuan Power Group Corporation Limited, the country’s largest wind power company, said it raised more than HK$17.53 billion through an initial public offering to Hong Kong and international investors. (US$1=HK$7.75). The company said its Hong Kong offer at HK$8.16 per H Share was over-subscribed by around 235 times while...

(EnergyAsia, December 14, Monday) — Marine capture fisheries already facing multiple challenges due to overfishing, habitat loss and weak management will have to deal with new problems stemming from climate change, said a new study by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation. Small island developing states, which depend on fisheries and aquaculture for at least...

(EnergyAsia, December 14, Monday) — With more than one billion people in the Asia Pacific region expected to join the urban population in the next 20 years, economic development will not be possible without sustainable urbanisation, said a senior official at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In his speech at the recent Regional Workshop on...

(EnergyAsia, December 11, Friday) — The cost of solar energy will fall by 50% this year from last year due mainly to the decline in solar panel prices, London-based New Energy Finance said in a research note. The ‘levelised’ cost for solar electricity or the lifetime cost per kilowatt hour before government subsidies fell to...

(EnergyAsia, December 11, Friday)  — The Chinese government has announced that it will cut the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product in 2020 by between 40% and 45% from 2005 levels, the first time the country has declared an emissions target. “This is a voluntary action taken by the Chinese...