(EnergyAsia, March 4, Wednesday) — The government of India’s Orissa state said it is planning to sign MoUs with the National Hydro Power Corp (NHPC) to set up 12 medium- sized hydro power projects worth a total of Rs 100 billion. (US$1=Rs51). Orissa’s energy minister, Surjya Narayan Patro, said the new plants to be sited...

(EnergyAsia, March 4, Wednesday) — MF Global Ltd, a NYSE-listed intermediary of global cash, derivatives and related markets, said it has expanded its over-the-counter energy brokerage in Singapore as well as its equity derivatives team in Hong Kong. Mikal Boe, formerly with Imarex, is head of MF Global’s commodities unit including energy. The company said...

(EnergyAsia, March 4, Wednesday) — Chinese state oil firm CNOOC said it expects to start up a 60,000-tonn-per-year jatropha-powered biodiesel plant on Hainan island in May. Scientists will use the plant to conduct research to develop commercially viable biodiesel. CNOOC has also set aside land to develop jatropha seed and plant the crop in several...

(EnergyAsia, March 3, Tuesday) — Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric Corp said it has improved its world’s highest conversion efficiency rate for a 150 x 150 millimeter practical-size multi-crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cell by 0.3 points from 18.6% to achieve a new world record of 18.9%. The efficiency is measured in terms of solar light energy converted...

(EnergyAsia, March 3, Tuesday) — US energy research firm Energy Security Analysis Inc (ESAI) has predicted that there will be a “substantial increase” in the gasoline crack in the coming six months, much higher than the negative margins seen at the end of 2008. The culprit is zealous refining run cuts in the face of...

(EnergyAsia, March 3, Tuesday) — China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) said it has started construction work on a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Shenzhen port in southern China. The project is a venture between CNPC and partners CLP Holdings Limited and Shenzhen Gas Corp. CNPC has a 51% majority stake while its partners...

(EnergyAsia, March 3, Tuesday) — China has started construction work at the eastern section of its second major West-East gas pipeline. The work got underway in Shenzhen City in Guangdong province where the eastern segment of the line will end. Work on the western section started last year. Comprising one trunk line and eight sub-lines,...

(EnergyAsia, March 3, Tuesday) — China wants a stake in Indonesia’s Natuna D-Alpha natural gas block in exchange for agreeing to pay a higher price than previously agreed for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) it is importing from the Tangguh project in Papua province. Indonesia has been trying to renegotiate a 25-year LNG supply contract...

(EnergyAsia, March 3, Tuesday) — Golar LNG Ltd said it has signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA) with Australia’s Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (LNG Ltd) covering the joint development of a US$500 million project to produce LNG from coal seam gas (CSG) in the Australian port of Gladstone. The agreement formalises Golar’s participation in the...

(EnergyAsia, March 3, Tuesday) — SunPower Corp said it has completed construction on a 305-kilowatt solar power system atop the roof of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Alice Springs in Australia’s Northern Territory state. Invest North Pty Ltd is the owner of the project, which said to be the largest roof-mounted solar power system in...

(EnergyAsia, March 2, Monday) — Signs of oil demand, supply cuts and credit flows are keeping oil prices supported strongly at the $40 per barrel level basis US WTI.While US, European and Japanese oil demand have plummeted, the emerging countries are still showing growth. Government efforts to unfreeze the credit markets could show results later...

 (EnergyAsia, March 2, Monday) — China’s Suntech Power recently announced that its PV cell and module production capacity in Wux city has exceeded 1GW. The company also opened its new headquarters in the city that incorporates a 1MW grid-connected building integrated solar facade, said to be the largest in the world.“We are very proud to...

(EnergyAsia, March 2, Monday) — Japan’s Kyocera Corp said it has begun building a new solar module manufacturing plant in Tianjin city in China that will boost the group’s solar cells production capacity to 650MW by March 2012.The production capacity of subsidiary Kyocera (Tianjin) Solar Energy Co Ltd will be raised to 240MW by 2011,...

(EnergyAsia, March 2, Monday) — Meiya Power Company Limited (MPC) said that it has acquired a hydro power project in Shangri-la in China’s Yunnan province through its joint venture investment holding company, Xiangtou International.MPC’s JV unit bought a 90% interest in Shangri-la Minhe Hydropower Development Co Ltd established to develop small hydro clusters in the...

(EnergyAsia, March 2, Monday) — In the space of a few weeks, China’s globe-trotting leaders unveiled  several multi-billion-dollar deals  to secure long-term oil and gas supplies from major producing countries around the world. The deals contrasted starkly against a backdrop of gloom over the state of the world economy as the US and Europe were...

 (EnergyAsia, March 2, Monday) — Suzlon Energy Limited, India’s largest wind turbine maker, said its subsidiary, Suzlon Energy Australia Pty Ltd, has landed a large order to supply 54 units of its S88 2.1MW wind turbine generators to AGL Energy of Australia this year. To be deployed on AGL’s wind farms, the generators have a...

(EnergyAsia, February 27, Friday) — The QingLanShan crude oil terminal serving the joint venture Fujian oil refinery in China was inaugurated last week at a ceremony marking the arrival of the first cargo of Saudi crude oil. The 900,000-barrel cargo of Arabian Extra Light was delivered by the tanker Cosbright Lake from Ras Tanura to...

(EnergyAsia, February 27, Friday) — KTL Global Limited, a Singapore-based supplier of rigging equipment to the offshore oil and gas sector, has reported a 37.4% year-on-year increase in net profit to S$3 million for the half-year ended December 31 2008. (US$1=S$1.5). Group revenue increased 37.7% to S$37.4 million, boosted by strong demand for its products...

(EnergyAsia, February 27, Friday) — China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) is planning to buy oil refiner and aromatics producer Zhejiang Zhoushan Hebang Chemical. CNOOC is pursuing the takeover of Zhejiang Zhoushan Hebang, which has a production capacity of 250,000 tonnes per year, through its affiliate, CNOOC Ningbo Daxie Petrochemical Ltd, a fuel oil producer....

(EnergyAsia, February 27, Friday) — China’s oil consumption growth is set to slow this year but experts do not fully agree on the extent of the slowdown. The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects 2009 demand to grow by 1.1%, the lowest growth rate since 2001, and down sharply from last year’s 4.4%. The Paris-based agency...

(EnergyAsia, February 27, Friday) — In light of Taiwan’s dominance in the global market for notebook PCs, US-based Boston-Power Inc, a globally well-known supplier of lithium rechargeable batteries, said it is going to set up an R&D centre on the island. It also plans to ally with local notebook PC manufacturers to compete against Japanese...

(EnergyAsia, February 27, Friday) — State-owned CNOOC has started work on a new 40,000-cubic metre oil products storage tank in the coastal city of Shaoguan in southern China shortly after it completed the construction of a much larger terminal in another part of Guangdong province. The 80-million-yuan terminal will help store and distribute oil products...