jackup drilling rig 49 days ahead of schedule to Discovery Drilling, a joint-venture of Jindal Drilling & Industries (JDIL). (US$1=S$1.42). The rig DISCOVERY I has also achieved a safety record of more than 2.2 million manhours work without incidents. Choo Chiau Beng, chairman and CEO of Keppel Offshore & Marine, the parent company of Keppel...

development proposals to develop roof-mounted solar energy harvesting devices and systems for the tropical region under its S$50 milion Clean Energy Research Programme (CERP). (US$1=S$1.42). CEPO said that there is a lack of solar systems designed and optimised for hot and humid conditions in tropical climates. Most solar systems today operate under temperate climates in...

power plant as part of a S$2 billion multi-utilities complex comprising a desalination plant and a waste water treatment facility on Jurong Island by 2011. Low-ash and low-sulphur coal will form 80% of the plant’s feedstock with biomass the rest. (US$1=S$1.4). Using the best clean coal technology, Tuas Power said it will be able to...

country’s emergency stockpile in the wake of fuel supply shortages caused by hurricanes Gustav and Ike, said the US Energy Department. The department sent 200,000 barrels of crude oil to ConocoPhillips’ Wood River refinery in Illinois through the Capline pipeline, while Placid Oil’s Port Allen refinery in Louisiana received 109,000 barrels through a Shell pipeline....

      East and India, and has established a new office in Singapore to increase its presence in the Far East. Tropicana Liquid Storage Private Limited, the company’s Indian subsidiary, has been expanding its presence in India. At the port of Karwar in Karnataka state on India’s west coast, it owns and operates a...

eight-million-tonnes per year Mathura oil refinery in Uttar Pradesh state once it clears all environmental approvals. IOC aims to raise Mathura’s capacity to 11 million tonnes per year as well as boost its ability to process more high-sulphur crude. Mathura currently processes a mix of low and high sulphur crude oil. India’s largest refining company...

strong resistance from residents to its plans to relocate an oil depot in Orissa state. IOC wants to shift the depot in Berhampur in southern Orissa to Jatni. The plan is being opposed by workers and families in Berhampur who rely on the depot for their livelihood. Local businesses in the nearby Ganjam district are...

much needed giant oil refinery worth around US$15 billion. The government has referred the project to the country’s audit bureau to investigate alleged irregularities in contract awards to a consortium of Japanese and South Korean firms and US engineering firm Fluor. Opposition politicians want contract bidding for the project to be handled by an independent...

to submit plans for a listing on the Manila stock exchange, subject to some details being sorted out. Under Philippine law, oil refiners have to list at least 10% of their stock on the Philippine Stock Exchange as spelt out under the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998. However, officials said it is unlikely...

bunker storage terminal in Colombo. The terminal requires repairs and replacements of parts and equipment. The port authority is taking over the terminal from Lanka Marine Services following a ruling by Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court to promote competition in bunker supplies and terminal operations in Colombo. Following the takeover by Sri Lanka Ports Authority, the...

to 10% a year through to 2010. Vietnam expects to start up a new 140,000 b/d refinery, the country’s first, early next year to meet about 40% of domestic consumption. State PetroVietnam is also planning to build another two refineries. Southeast Asia’s third largest producer of crude oil has no refinery and imports all its...

stake in Finnish wind turbine manufacturer WinWinD Oy as part of its strategy to expand into renewable energy. Helsinki-based WinWinD is a manufacturer active in the design, development and assembly of technologically advanced one and three megawatt wind turbines. The company has corporate offices in Oulu, Finland and Chennai, India and is now planning to...

13,400 solar PV modules to power the Atlantic City Convention Center in the US. The supply is a part of an agreement with general contractor American Capital Energy which is managing project integration and installation for Pepco Energy Services and the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority. The agreement provides for up to four additional...

Samuel has ruled that BG’s offer price to acquire Origin Energy sharply undervalued the Australian upstream company. The experts valued Origin at between A$28.55 and A$30.71 a share, way above BG’s offer of A$15.37. (US$1 = A$1.20).   Grant Samuel, in justifying its assessment, pointed to forecasts of much higher natural gas prices on Australia’s...

European oil trader Vitol, said it plans to invest up to RM1 billion in an oil storage terminal in the southern Malaysian state of Johor. (US$1=RM3.4). ATT has agreed to lease from Malaysia’s Seaport World Wide Sdn Bhd (SWW), a full-owned subsidiary of MMC Corporation Bhd, 120 acres of land at the rate of RM20...

demand to rise by 0.8% or 700,000 b/d this year to 86.8 million b/d, and by 1% or 900,000 b/d to 87.6 million b/d next year. In its previous forecast last month, the IEA had expected world oil demand to reach 86.9 million b/d this year and 88.1 million b/d. The Paris-based agency said it...

to average 86.8 million b/d, and by the same amount next year to reach 87.7 million b/d, said OPEC. The oil cartel said that non-OECD oil use will grow by 1.2 million b/d, providing all the world oil demand growth next year. It predicts the transport sector will see the largest oil demand growth in...

UltraBattery, will help the fight to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as it will soon be introduced and distributed around the world. CSIRO said Japan’s Furukawa Battery Company, which has begun production of the UltraBattery, and US manufacturer, East Penn, have signed an international commercialisation and distribution agreement for the technology. The UltraBattery combines an enhanced-power...

it has signed a sales contract with China National Automation Control System Corp (CACS) for the sale of five 2.7MW wind turbines. Delivery of the five units is planned to take place in the fourth quarter. These wind turbines will be the first to be produced at A-Power’s new wind turbine production facility in Shenyang...

of forged rolled rings to the wind power and other industries and industrial equipment to the textile and energy industries in China, said it has agreed to supply rolled rings to a wind power parts manufacturer and a heavy machinery company. It will supply gear-rim fabricator Wuxi Lida Gear Manufacturing Co Ltd rolled rings measuring...

integrated engineering and procurement specialist supporting the energy and utility sectors in Asia, said it has secured its first contract to sell coal through subsidiary Alton International Resources Pte Ltd (AIR). AIR recently signed a one-year coal contract with Swastik Coal Corporation Private Limited of India’s Swastik Group to provide 12 shipments of quality coal...

five-million euro contract to consult on the expansion of the Theun Hinboun hydropower project in central Laos. The project involves the construction of a 70-metre high roller compacted concrete dam, a six-km long tunnel, two power Stations (220 MW and 60 MW), two transmission lines, one connecting to the Thai grid and one connecting to...

venturing into the floating oil storage terminals business through the proposed acquisition of a 51% stake in Southport Freight Services Sdn Bhd. Baneng said it has signed a memorandum of agreement to buy over the stake from Southport shareholders. The purchase price would be determined once it had finalised a share sale agreement on or...

natural gas generated during oil production is estimated to be worth US$4 billion, said government officials in Baghdad. The Shell project, the first by a major since the US-led invasion began in 2003, will help Iraq use more than 21 million cubic metres of the gas for power generation and cooking instead of being flared...

traders for excise taxes that they have already paid before Bangkok’s decision to cut excise tax for ethanol-based gasoline and diesel effective July 25. The government has set aside 600 million baht to compensate the oil traders. The money will come from Thailand’s state oil fund which has cash reserves of 3 billion baht. (US$1=33...