(EnergyAsia, August 20 2010, Friday) — Asia may account for a fourth of the global solar energy capacity in five years, overtaking the US, according to the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA). The EPIA forecasts the region’s solar market to grow nearly nine times to 7,500 megawatts by 2014. Last year, its biggest solar markets...
(EnergyAsia, August 20 2010, Friday) — Clean Coal Technologies Inc, a Florida, US-based a clean energy technology company, said it has signed a consulting agreement with MMB Global Advisors (MMB). MMB will provide various strategic consulting services, including redefining CCTI’s global corporate structure, and re-aligning the company to attract key personnel while facilitating the development...
(EnergyAsia, August 19 2010, Thursday) — US upstream company Anadarko Petroleum Corporation said it and its joint venture partners have made “another significant discovery” of light crude oil at the Owo prospect in the deepwater Tano block off the coast of Ghana. The company said it encountered approximately 174 net feet of high-quality oil pay...
(EnergyAsia, August 19 2010, Thursday) — The global photovoltaic (PV) market will continue to expand next year as falling prices make solar energy more attractive, more than offsetting the negative impact from governments reducing incentives and subsidies for PV installations, according to US consulting firm iSuppli Corp. The firm predicts global PV system installations to...
(EnergyAsia, August 19 2010, Thursday) — Norwegian firm SN Power is eyeing expansion opportunities in the Philippines with the Aboitiz group, a partner in existing hydropower projects. Their joint venture firm, SN Aboitiz Power Inc. (SNAP), has already invested US$1.2 billion in various projects including the 360-megawatt Magat and 175-MW Ambuklao-Binga hydropower facilities, said SN...
(EnergyAsia, August 19 2010, Thursday) — Jurong Aromatics Corp (JAC) has again delayed the start-up of its proposed aromatics complex in Singapore as the company struggles to raise financing for the troubled US$2 billion project. The Jurong Island project, which has a large number of shareholders, will now likely start up in the first quarter...
(EnergyAsia, August 19 2010, Thursday) — OPEC’s shrinking spare production capacity, the focus of increasing global concern, could exacerbate oil price swings in the coming years. Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ 12 members are under growing pressure to raise production to meet record global demand as a result of growth in China and India, and...
(EnergyAsia, August 19 2010, Thursday) — Despite its intense recent efforts, analysts said Russia is likely to fall behind in the race to supply the world’s natural gas market, in particular Asia’s, due to lengthy delays in the start-up of Gazprom’s projects in the Arctic Ocean and Sakhalin while rivals in the Middle East, Norway,...
(EnergyAsia, August 19 2010, Thursday) — The World Resources Institute (WRI) said that it and the Energy Research Institute at Shanghai Jiao Tong University have launched a joint initiative to help industrial facilities in China’s Shanghai city become more energy efficient. The project, if successful, could reduce energy emissions by 60,000 tons per year and...
(EnergyAsia, August 18 2010, Wednesday) — The world now has 1,092 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vessels with another 166 ships on the orderbook awaiting construction, according to LPG World Shipping journal. “Although the LPG fleet, like all sectors of shipping, has been impacted by the economic recession, contracts for new gas carriers have begun to...
(EnergyAsia, August 18 2010, Wednesday) — Foster Wheeler AG said a subsidiary of its global power group has been awarded a contract by Daewoo Engineering Company to design and supply two coal-fired circulating fluidised-bed (CFB) steam generators to Indonesia’s PT Merak Energi. Located in Banten Province on the western part of Java Island in Indonesia,...
(EnergyAsia, August 18 2010, Wednesday) — The US Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) has forecast global oil supply to grow by a mere 0.6% per year between 2011 and 2020. The forecast, contained in the recently released International Energy Outlook 2010, stands in sharp contrast to a forecast in 2007 when EIA said oil...
(EnergyAsia, August 18 2010, Wednesday) — Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Malaysia’s largest power company, is expected to bid for a RM7-billion government contract to upgrade the country’s power plants to help meet rising electricity demand. (US$1=RM3.22). It will face competition for the project from rivals MMC Corp, Malaysia’s second-biggest generator, and independent power company Jimah Energy...
(EnergyAsia, August 18 2010, Wednesday) — A government minister has warned that unless Malaysia could face a debt crisis similar to Greece’s unless it cuts price subsidies for fuel, food, electricity and other staples. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Idris Jala, who had earlier warned the economy was far too dependent on its depleting...
(EnergyAsia, August 18 2010, Wednesday) — As part of a national plan to avert a potential power supply shortage, Malaysia’s MMC Corp said it may invest as much as US$1.2 billion to expand its coal-fired power plant. Malaysia is under threat of brownouts following warnings from the government that the Bakun hydroelectric dam on Borneo...
(EnergyAsia, August 18 2010, Wednesday) — The Indian government has approved the sale of a 10% stake in state-owned Coal India Ltd as part of its efforts to raise revenues for infrastructure projects. The sale of the government’s stake in Coal India will be attempted through an initial public offering or backdoor listing. There are...
(EnergyAsia, August 17 2010, Tuesday) — Into its fourth year of operations, the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) said it has achieved several trading records for its flagship Dubai Oman crude oil contracts. The exchange’s total open interest in the contract reached a record of 20,160 contracts while open interest held by market participants has exceeded...
(EnergyAsia, August 17 2010, Tuesday)—Complete energy self-sufficiency is beyond the reach of Singapore, said founding father Lee Kuan Yew, citing the city state’s lack of natural resources. Singapore imports natural gas from Indonesia to generate 80% of its electricity. But plans by Indonesia and other suppliers in the region to raise prices have prompted the...
(EnergyAsia, August 17 2010, Tuesday) — Saudi Arabia’s oil export capacity will begin to wane in the coming years because of an increase in domestic demand and a drop in spare production capacity, according to national oil company Saudi Aramco’s CEO. If Saudi Arabia does not improve its energy efficiency, its surplus capacity for export...
(EnergyAsia, August 17 2010, Tuesday) — The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has forecast higher oil prices to boost OPEC’s oil export revenue by 31.7% this year to US$752 billion, and by a further 9.2% to a new high US$821 billion in 2011. The cartel’s export revenues reached US$276 billion for the first seven months...
(EnergyAsia, August 17 2010, Tuesday) — PetroChina plans to start up operations of a 200,000 b/d refinery in southwestern Guanxi province next month. The company is working to expand the navigation channel and an oil terminal for the refinery in Qinzhou, which will process crude from Sudan. Earlier, PetroChina launched a 1.2-million cubic metre terminal...
(EnergyAsia, August 17 2010, Tuesday) — The International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA), the trade association for the global bunker industry, will be highlighting a debate on greenhouse gases at its seventh annual convention in Stamford city in the US state of Connecticut on September 20-24 2010. Two key speakers will be presenting their views to...
(EnergyAsia, August 17 2010, Tuesday) — Notwithstanding global concerns about carbon emissions, the coal business offers strong long-term returns on capital as a result of the boom in demand in Asia and fears of reserves depletion. In India, 31 of the 81 power plants monitored by the country’s Central Electricity Authority are facing ‘critical’ shortages...
(EnergyAsia, August 16 2010, Monday) — Abu Dhabi’s state investment agency, Mubadala Development Co, has expressed interest in buying BP Plc’s assets, although no direct discussions have taken place. BP’s outgoing CEO, Tony Hayward, has also expressed a desire for Abu Dhabi to acquire a 10% stake in the UK oil major. BP has promised...
(EnergyAsia, August 16 2010, Monday) – Thai coal importer Asia Green Energy Plc (AGE) is looking to switch to exporting coal to China, which is facing a growing shortage of the product. Managing director Panom Kuansataporn said the company expects to start exporting 30,000 and 40,000 tons of coal per month to China later this...