(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...

sell off their equally owned North Queensland Gas Pipeline (NQGP) to Victorian Funds Management Corporation (VFMC) for a total of A$205 million. (US$1=A$1.02). AGL and Arrow said they will retain ownership of the gas processing and compression facility located at Moranbah, which will be integrated into their Moranbah gas project joint venture. They will continue...

has agreed with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to develop the Shah Gas Field in the Middle Eastern country. ADNOC will be holding a 60% interest in the project while ConocoPhillips will hold the remaining 40%. The two companies will share the ongoing cost of front-end engineering and design (FEED) and project mobilisation for...

said it has won a $9.3 million contract to design and manufacture 70 oil product storage tanks for Iraq’s State Company for Oil Projects (SCOP). The tanks will be installed in the Aumara region where a large oil products depot is being built. The project, BGR’s fourth for SCOP, will be completed by mid-2009. The...

fourth manufacturing plant in China and also made another sale of 400 wind turbine generators to the Longyuan Electric Power Group Corporation, a leading Chinese renewable energy company. With the start-up of the new Tianjin city plant, Gamesa said it is now equipped with an integrated production and assembly centre for wind turbine generators capable...

offshore industry, said it has successfully executed and completed the Mampak platform installation work for Brunei Shell Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd using its heavy derrick barge, the Dalihao which has a 2,500-MT lifting capacity. The project is part of Swiber’s landmark US$146.6 million contract with Brunei Shell announced in February 2007 which includes offshore work...

approved Petronas’ purchase of a 40% of its Gladstone LNG (GLNG) project first announced on May 29. Petronas, Malaysia’s state oil and gas company, will pay US$2.008 billion to become Santos’ partner in the development, operation and marketing of the project. Petronas will pay another US$500 million when the partners proceed to build a second...

will need to think seriously about what it does with its limited oil resources, according to independent analyst Peter Strachan. “As the oil price escalates, the global free market in oil trade will dissipate as those countries with oil become more selective in how they sell,” he said. “Oil could become unavailable at any price...

General Electric, have signed a pact to establish standards for compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) in an effort to rid the Asian market of shoddy energy-saving lights. Under the new agreement, lighting suppliers in Asia will develop performance levels to rate CFL quality, a system for product marking, and a regional database so consumers can identify...

(EnergyAsia, July 18, Friday) — India’s ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) said it would grant an incentive to independent power producers to use wind for generating power and feeding it into the national grid. Owners of the wind plants would bepaid an incentive of Rs0.50 per unit of electricity generated over a 10-year...

(EnergyAsia, July 18, Friday) — Solar Private, an Indo-Norwegian joint venture, plans to build a solar grade silicon plant in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The Rs15 billion plant will have a design capacity of about 5,400 tonnes per year of silicon. (US$1=Rs43). The project would run on a newly patented Norwegian technology to...

(EnergyAsia, July 18, Friday) — The Indian government has spelt out a key role for solar energy in the country’s energy and environmental plan under its newly released and much anticipated climate change policy. The plan calls for the government and solar energy companies to work together to boost solar energy production and use in...

(EnergyAsia, July 18, Friday) — Advanced Holdings Ltd, a Singappore-based supplier of proprietary process equipment and technologies, clean energy solutions and environmental technologies, said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Advanced Environmental Technologies Pte Ltd (AET), will be investing S$1.8 million to build the country’s first biogas plant for local poultry company N&N Agricultural Farm. (US$1=S$1.35). The investment...

(EnergyAsia, July 18, Friday) — Talisman Energy Inc, an independent upstream oil and gas company based in Alberta, Canada, said two of its wholly-owned subsidiaries have entered into agreements with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) within Iraq for interests in Blocks K44 and K39. Talisman will acquire a 40% interest in Block K44, with WesternZagros...

(EnergyAsia, July 18, Friday) — Yingli Green Energy, a China-based vertically integrated photovoltaic (PV) product manufacturer, said it has signed a contract to supply 10 MW of PV modules to Enfinity Management bvba, a renewable energy project developer based in Ghent, Belgium, from July to December 2008. Yingli Green Energy chairman and CEO Liansheng Miao...

(EnergyAsia, July 18, Friday) — Flordia, US-based Clean Coal Technologies Inc said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Sino-Mongolia International Railroad Systems Co Limited (SMIRSC) of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The MOU amends a previous agreement and provides for specific milestones to determine the suitability of CCTI’s technology to enhance some two...

combat climate change. The plan focuses on what the government calls the pillars of sustainable development including the promotion of solar energy and energy efficiency, creating a sustainable habitat, water conservation, preservation of the Himalayan ecosystem, and sustainable agriculture. So far, New Delhi has not disclosed how it proposes to fund the action plan. Critics...

protest against soaring diesel prices and high fuel taxes. They have threatened to extend the strike which could jeopardise the supply of vital foodstuff and commodities in many parts of India that rely mostly on trucks for their logistics. Any disruption will deepen India’s economic gloom brought on by slow growth and rising inflation. A...

Rs3 trillion this year as world oil prices continue to rise. (US$1=Rs43). Earlier estimates placed the subsidy cost at Rs2.4 trillion for the year, but that was based on an oil price of US$123 per barrel. Oil has since soared to well over US140. Bowing to economic pressure, the Indian government recently increased domestic fuel...

its customers throughout the country and Singapore after fire damaged one of its gas processing plants in Terengganu state early this month. Production was down for about two days at the plant in Kertih town, crippling the local power distribution system. Petronas Gas customers including manufacturers and power companies like Singapore’s Senoko Power and Malaysia’s...

of 26 gigawatts (GW) by 2015, generating well over $20 billion in revenues, said NanoMarkets, a US-based consulant. In a study, the company said this “extraordinary” growth rate is due in part to the rapid deployment of photovoltaics of all kinds to low cost, flexibility and manufacturing advantages associated with TFPV compared with the now...

solutions to the international energy industries, recently opened its new training centre in Sakhalin to be operated by its technical training business, PKT. Among the 150 guests welcomed by the centre general director, Malcolm Young were Alexander Kislicin, vice-governor of Sakhalin region and Evgeniy Safonof, head of Sakhalin’s department of education The Sakhalin Technical Training...

tariff-setting to ensure that power firms have the incentive to invest and upgrade their plants, an industry association said. The Asean Power Utilities/Authorities (Hapua) group said government restrictions on electricity rates were harming the financial strength of power utilities and deterring them from investing in much-needed new capacities. ASEAN stands for the 10-member Association of...