in the offshore industry, said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Kreuz Engineering Limited, has entered into agreements for the sale and leaseback of five vessels in a deal worth US$225 million. Swiber said the move will enable it to finance its fleet expansion plan, particularly deepwater and subsea vessels, without straining its balance sheet and improve its...

by the first quarter of next year. Local officials said construction of the 130,000 b/d refinery is more than 97% completed. PetroVietnam deputy general director Truong Van Tuyen told local reporters that the plant will begin producing fuel as early as February, and eventually will help meet up to one third of the needs of...

will help avert a meltdown in the world’s financial system but will inflict higher inflation and higher interest rates on the economy, said Canada’s CIBC World Markets. “While the cost of taking another path will never be known, the cost of the one chosen is clear enough,” said Jeff Rubin, chief economist and chief strategist...

cracking unit at its 220,000 b/d Chiba refinery near Tokyo. (US$1=107 yen). The upgrade, to be completed by 2011, will boost the refinery’s naphtha and propylene output by 260,000 kilolitres per year at the expense of heavy fuel for which demand has declined. The refinery’s fluid catalytic cracking unit has a capacity of 45,000 b/d....

Sonatrach, with an extension to May 2011. The arrangement is for the stockpiling 4.6 million barrels of crude oil. Under the deal, South Korea has first rights to buy the stockpiled crude oil in the event of an emergency leading to an oil shortage. The country has joint stockpile deals with a number of other...

southern port of Yeosu to six million barrels by 2011. The project is aimed at positioning South Korea as a major oil storage hub in Northeast Asia. The joint venture partners include run Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC), refiner SK Energy, GS-Caltex, Oiltanking Asia Pacific and Glencore Singapore. KNOC, which holds a 29% stake, plans...

2015 if all expansion projects are realised, consultants Proleads said in a new study. According to the research firm, world oil production could hit 108 million b/d by 2015, up from 87 million b/d now, with about half of the incremental production coming from the GCC region. Prolead’s analysis is based on tracking nearly 300...

would jointly build two new oil refineries with Chinese companies in China as it looks to step up ties with the world’s second largest oil consumer. Speaking at the start of his visit to Beijing, Mr Chavez said the refineries would use heavy Venezuelan crude oil that will be shipped in by a new joint...

impact assessment (DEIA) and environmental protection plan (EPP) for its Ulaan Ovoo coal project in that country. The approval by the Ministry of Nature and the Environment is required under Mongolia’s 2006 Minerals Law and 1995 Environmental Protection Law, said the Vancouver, British Columbia-based company. Red Hill Energy said Ulaan Ovoo contains 208.8 million tonnes...

(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) — Sunwell, a wholly owned subsidiary of Taiwan’s CMC Magnetics, has started mass production at its Taiwan-based thin film PV plant. Over the past month, more than 10,000 solar panels were produced with an Oerlikon Solar end-to-end fabrication solution. All contract parameters for SOP (start of production) were met nearly one...

(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) — Law firm Latham & Watkins said it advised an international consortium, Lion Power Holdings, on its successful bid for Singapore’s largest power company, Senoko Power Limited. Early this month, Lion Power, led by Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp, signed a share purchase agreement with Singapore’s Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited for...

(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) — China is the world leader in installed renewable energy capacity, according to a report by non-profit Climate Group. The country’s installed renewable power capacity has reached 152 gigawatts (GW), due mainly to its large hydroelectric and wind power plants. This compares with around 101 GW of renewable energy capacity in...

(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) — Worsening shortages of coal, which accounts for 78% of China’s electricity generation, could cause major electricity blackouts in China this year. The country’s power plants have coal reserves for only 11 days of operations, China’s State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) said in a report. Another issue affecting operations at power...

(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) —Australian upstream company Woodside Petroleum plans to pass on the country’s new tax on condensates to its customers in Western Australia state. Canberra expects to raise an estimated A$2.5 billion from the new tax over the coming four years. (US$1 = A$1.20). The government’s recent budget in May surprised everyone with...

(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) — Iraq’s Oil Ministry and a wholly owned affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell plc have signed a Heads of Agreement to establish a joint venture between the South Gas Company and Shell to  process and market all associated natural gas produced in the Basra in southern Iraq, an area covering some...

(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) — Singapore’s Wilmar International Limited said it and Star Medal, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kerry Holdings Limited belonging to Kuok Group in Hong Kong, will each invest US$36 million for a 15% stake in Fortune Gas Investment Holdings Limited. Fortune Gas is the newly created gas subsidiary of Hong Kong’s Fortune...

(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) — China’s Trina Solar said its subsidiary, Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co Ltd, has signed a supplemental agreement to the long-term polysilicon supply agreement with a subsidiary of GCL Silicon Technology. Together with the original supply agreement announced in April, GCL Silicon Technology will supply Trina Solar with virgin polysilicon and...

(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) — Singapore Petroleum Company Limited (SPC) said it has officially opened an upstream branch office in China to operate and manage its growing operations in that country. SPC E&P (China) Pte Ltd is based in Shekou port in Guangdong province.SPC holds interests in three acreages in China, namely Block 26/18 in...

secured a US$43.9 million time-charter contract for the newly constructed lift boat, KS Titan 1, to support offshore wind power operations in the North Sea. The KS Titan 1, owned by Casadilla Group Pte Ltd, a joint venture company between KS Energy Services Limited and Ezra Holdings Limited, will be chartered to Siemens Wind Power...

terminal in the western province of British Columbia to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the energy-hungry markets of Asia. The terminal will be sited near Kitimat port in on the Calgary-based company’s existing site at Bish Cove. Rising natural gas demand in Asia and recent increases in supply throughout North America – including in...

agreements with experts in academic institutions across the world. They are part of a growing programme of agreements to complement Shell’s own biofuels research and development, and to accelerate results. The research programme investigates new raw materials and new biofuels production processes, with a focus on improving efficiencies and lowering costs.  The agreements will last...

owned subsidiary of Keppel Integrated Engineering Limited (KIE), has signed a framework agreement with China’s Guangdong GuangYe Environmental Protection Industrial Group Co Ltd for the joint development and investment of environmental infrastructure projects in Guangdong province. The agreement outlines the collaboration of the two companies for the development of a near-term pipeline of water and...

(PV) cell production facility in Yangzhou in China’s Jiangsu province. Suntech said it intends to complete the facility with a PV cell production capacity of 300MW by end-2009, expanding its total capacity to 1.4GW by end-2009 and 2GW by end-2010. The new plant is located near Suntech’s strategic silicon supply partner, Shunda Holdings Co Ltd,...

project in Fuente Alamo, Murcia, in southeastern Spain. Using PV modules mostly manufactured by Trina Solar, the project was installed by Gestamp Asetym Solar SA, a Spanish provider of solar system solutions. Trina Solar supplied 20 MW of mono and multicrystalline solar modules of the total 26 MW required for this key project as part...

issued a call to cooperate with China, South Korea and Japan on a scheme for joint oil stockpiling. As a first step, the nations’ energy ministers will set up a joint working group. The move comes amid high oil prices and tight supplies which have put the focus on energy security. Association of Southeast Asian...