(EnergyAsia, January 21, Wednesday) — Mitsubishi Corp and Canada’s Kitimat LNG Inc said they have signed a heads of agreement under which the Japanese trading house will acquire terminal capacity and a 30% equity stake in the proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in western Canada. Under the agreement, Mitsubishi Corp will commit to...

(EnergyAsia, January 21, Wednesday) — SunPower Corporation has agreed to build a 505-kilowatt solar power installation for Horizon Power, a government-owned company providing power to remote and regional communities and resource operations in Western Australia. The ground-mounted installation will be located on two sites in Marble Bar and Nullagine, in the east Pilbara region of...

(EnergyAsia, January 21, Wednesday) — Australia’s Origin Energy said it has started up its 640MW gas-fired Uranquinty power station, boosting electricity supply to New South Wales state last week. The peaking power station in the state’s south-west started up in time to help New South Wales meet extreme summer temperatures and record demand conditions. Last...

(EnergyAsia, January 21, Wednesday) — The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology has become the founding public member of the US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative (MITEI). MITEI said the collaboration will support ongoing research and development of alternative and renewable energy technologies and solutions, and will pursue new opportunities to help meet the...

sets of contracts to add more than 16.8 million barrels of crude oil to the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve (SPR). In the first set, winners Shell Trading and Vitol will deliver a total of 10.683 million barrels of crude oil at a cost of $553 million to the SPR from February to April 2009. The...

PetroChina, has begun use of its new 100,000-ton crude oil terminal at the Qingzhou Port in China’s southeastern Guanxi provice. The terminal was developed to serve PetroChina’s 10-million-ton-per-year oil refinery, which will process imported crude oil when it starts up later this year. The terminal is supported by two 100,000-tonne crude berths and two oil...

refinery early this month, barely two weeks after the start up of the 580,000-b/d plant. The cause of the accident was not known. Reliance Petroleum Limited (RPL) said the refinery at Jamnagar in the western state of Gujarat continued to operate and was not shut down. The plant, in which US major Chevron has a...

tonne-per-year oil refinery at Panipat in the northern state of Haryana this year. The refinery will be expanded by 25% to 15 million tonnes per year. The expansion follows IOC’s statement of intent to start producing high-quality fuels that meet Europe’s Euro-IV standard after April 2010.   The company is also preparing to commission a...

Indonesia is pressing China to pay more for its liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from the Tangguh field in Papua province.   Under an earlier 25-year deal, China had signed on to pay US$2.40 per million British thermal units (mBtu).  When oil prices rose sharply last year, the Indonesian government demanded that all its contracts...

extend its contracts to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Japan beyond 2011. Pertamina would ship three million tonnes of LNG a year from its Bontang plant in Papua province to end users in Japan. In return, Japan will not seek compensation for Indonesia’s failure to meet contractual obligations to supply 90 LNG cargoes from...

a third of the country’s GDP to become its main economic sector. In the first nine months of 2008, the sector accounted for about 49% of Qatar’s overall GDP growth of about 59%. The gas sector grew by 108% compared with the nine-month period the year before. Its rapid growth has enabled it to surge...

certification and technical consultancy, said it has acquired International Refinery Services Pte Ltd (IRS ), a Singapore-based risk engineering and inspection management company. The acquisition will add to Germanischer Lloyd’s portfolio of services for the oil and gas sector, with Singapore a key area for future growth. The value of the acquisition was not disclosed....

advantage of the recent large decline in crude oil prices to purchase approximately 12 million barrels of crude oil for the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The new stocks will replenish supplies sold following hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. The US crude oil price has plunged from a record high of more than $147...

planning to build an oil storage terminal to serve the country’s first oil refinery due to start up next month. PV Oil said it will invest about US$250 million to store and distribute products from the 140,000-b/d oil refinery in Dung Quat. The terminal, which will be used to serve 2,000 retail outlets initially, is...

to expand a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in China’s Fujian province. The contract, awarded by CNOOC Fujian LNG Co Ltd, covers work for engineering, procurement and construction of two additional 160,000 cubic meter full containment LNG storage tanks. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2011. “This award follows CB&I’s successful completion...

Turkmenistan sometime this year once it completes the construction of a mammoth pipeline project.   Last month, state CNPC began construction of the 2,477-km eastern section of the pipeline linking Zhongwei county in the country’s western Ningxia region to the coastal city port of Guangdong. The project has been delayed by at least three months...

Wanzhou in landlocked southwestern Chongqing municipality will be the site for China’s next strategic oil storage terminals.   The Chinese government has started filling the four terminals under the first phase storage programme. The four terminals along the country’s eastern and northern coast are located at the ports of Dalian, Zhenhai, Zhoushan and Qingdao, and...

high-performance electric motor system technology, said it has completed a US$1 million financing round from a private investment group. The company will use the fund to further develop its high-frequency, low RPM, transmissionless motor system designed to increase the speed and efficiency of electric vehicles. KLD Energy Technologies said its motor system uses an innovative...

Kharg Island to boost the country’s crude oil storage capacity by 25%.   It needs to store surplus oil in tanks as world demand has slumped sharply in recent months on account of the world financial crisis. Any attempts to sell the oil on the spot market will further weaken prices. Oil-dependent Iran is under...

agreement on for a total of 75 billion yen from a syndicate of Japanese banks. (US$1=90 yen). The syndicate comprises Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Mizuho Corporate Bank (Mizuho), and Banco de Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd (BTMU). The loan is insured by Japan’s Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI). Petrobras said the loan will finance the...

needs as part of its stockpile obligations for 2009 under International Energy Agency (IEA) rules. New Zealand’s total 90 days obligation for 2009 is one million tonnes, down from 1.4 million tonnes in 2007 and 1.2 million tonnes in 2008). The bulk of these reserves are commercial stocks held by oil companies. Minister of Energy...