Negara (PLN) has implemented rotating blackouts for Jakarta and Tangerang since the start of the month to prevent a complete collapse of power supply in some key cities.   The company said it is undertaking maintenance work at a number of plants on the Java-Bali power supply system.  The blackouts are expected to last through...

the offshore industry, has landed its first contract in Vietnam’s booming offshore oil and gas industry. It said that subsidiary Swiber Offshore Construction Pte Ltd has been awarded a substantial letter of intent by the state-owned company, Vietsovpetro (VSP) to transport and install offshore facilities for one of its offshore oil and gas customers. The...

the contractor for the proposed Queensland Curtis liquefied natural gas (LNG) project near Gladstone in Australia. The contract was awarded by an alliance between Australia’s Queensland Gas Company Limited (QGC) and UK’s BG Group which is jointly developing coal seam gas from the Surat Basin in Queensland state. Bechtel Oil, Gas and Chemicals Inc will...

month cost-plus order to supply one of the world’s leading oil trading companies with 60,000 to 84,000 tonnes of biodiesel starting January 2009. Mission did not name the company. In June, it said it sold and shipped approximately 4,500 tonnes using its export pipeline for the first time. Loading proceeded smoothly and product quality, as...

Foundation Partner of the country’s ‘Together’ campaign to help society reduce its carbon footprint. After a successful start in the UK and US, the Australian ‘Together’ campaign is designed to provide consumers with access to information and products which will help them to reduce their carbon footprint easily and affordably. Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard...

Kheng Hwa as CEO of its new Sustainable Development & Living Business Division from August 1. Mr Ko will be stepping down as managing director of the Economic Development Board (EDB) which he led for seven years. Leveraging existing platforms and competencies of the Keppel Group, he will lead the growth of the group’s businesses...

(EnergyAsia, July 23, Wednesday) — China’s Huaneng Power International Inc said it has raised the electricity tariffs it charges its customers. This follows a notice recently issued by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to raise the on-grid tariffs of power plants in most parts of China from July 1 to encourage production, reduce...

(EnergyAsia, July 23, Wednesday) — Lloyd’s Register, an independent risk management organisation, said the world’s largest LNG vessel — classed by Lloyd’s Register — ordered and to be operated by the Qatar Gas Transport Company (Nakilat), was recently named at Samsung Heavy Industry’s (SHI) shipyard on Geoje Island in South Korea. Mozah, the first ‘Q-Max’-sized...

(EnergyAsia, July 23, Wednesday) — Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) said it has landed two new orders for gas turbines from the Middle East, boosting its total from the region to 80 units. The turbines in the latest orders will be used in a large-scale power generation and desalination project by the Ras Laffan...

(EnergyAsia, July 23, Wednesday) — The Samajwadi Party (SP), which forms part of the coalition governing India, has accused petroleum and natural gas minister Murli Deora of mismanaging his portfolio. Specifically, he was wrong in not imposing a windfall profit tax on India’s privately owned oil refiners in the face of rising oil prices, said...

(EnergyAsia, July 23, Wednesday) — India could be facing a severe natural gas shortfall as its energy firms are struggling to secure liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes on the spot market, said the managing director of state-owned gas firm Petronet. India relies on the spot market for one third of its LNG supplies, with the...

(EnergyAsia, July 23, Wednesday) — Switzerland’s Zurich Financial Services group has opened a new office in Singapore partly to tap insurance opportunities in Asia’s growing oil, gas, petrochemical, power and energy industries.   The company, one of the world’s largest property and casualty insurers, will provide full services to corporate and commercial customers in South-east...

(EnergyAsia, July 23, Wednesday) — Singapore’s Keppel FELS Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Limited (Keppel O&M), said it has been contracted to build its proprietary DSS 38 deepwater semisubmersible rig for Scorpion Offshore Ltd. The US$405 million contract excludes owner-supplied drilling and subsea equipment. Upon its completion in the fourth...

(EnergyAsia, July 23, Wednesday) — World oil demand is expected to grow by 1.1% or 860,000 b/d to 87.7 million b/d in 2009, said the International Energy Agency. This would be slightly slower than this year’s demand growth by about 890,000 b/d growth. The Paris-based agency said high oil prices will lead to a contraction...

(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — The Kenyan government is still considering Essar Oil’s bid to buy up a 50% stake in Kenya Petroleum Refineries (KPRL). The government is also weighing a competing offer by Libyan oil firm Tamoil. The four-million-tonne per year KPRL plant at Mombasa is the only refinery in Eastern Africa. Earlier this...

(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — Dutch oil logistics firm Vopak and China’s State Development & Investment Communication Corp (SDIC) plan to build two 300,000-tonne crude oil terminals on China’s southernmost Hainan island. The Chinese firm said the complex, which will also include two 100,000-tonne berths for crude and oil products, will cost an estimated US$1...

(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — Australia’s AGL Energy Limited said it has signed a geothermal alliance agreement with Torrens Energy Limited to commercialise base load geothermal projects for the national electricity market. AGL said it would also be acquiring a 9.99% stake in Torrens Energy by way of a share placement at $0.40 per share...

(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — An equal alliance between Australia’s BHP Billiton and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp has agreed to fully acquire the New Saraji coal project from New Hope Corporation Limited for a total of US$2.4 billion (half in cash and the other half in BHP Billiton share). New Saraji is an undeveloped metallurgical coal...

(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — India will likely face a tight oil and gas market through 2012 amid soaring demand and greater competition for supplies on the international markets. Demand for the main oil products is set to rise to feed the energy demand of its fast-growing economy. Consumption is also being encouraged by the...

(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — The shares of Indian downstream oil firm Hindustan Petroleum Corporation hit a 52-week low of Rs165.60 in early July as crude oil soared to over US$144 per barrel. (US$1 = Rs42.60). This is a sharp decline from the Rs405.90 high the stock traded at the start of the year. Hindustan...

(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — ExxonMobil is threatening to shut down its Altona oil refinery near Melbourne in Victoria state if the Federal government insists on implementing a costly greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme. The company said the 130,000 b/d refinery, Australia’s largest, could become commercially unviable if it has to take on the cost...

(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — Australia’s Origin Energy has welcomed the release of the Federal government’s Green Paper on climate change. “Climate change poses particular risks for Australia. We strongly endorse the Government’s view that it is in our national interest to help forge an effective global response to climate change and to begin in...

(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — Plans for a fourth refinery in Kuwait have become the subject of a bitter quarrel among the country’s political factions. Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) had earlier awarded more than half the contracts for the US$15 billion project to one Japanese and four Korean companies. Some Members of Parliament are...