(EnergyAsia, June 18, Wednesday) — Singapore’s Keppel FELS Limited, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Limited (Keppel O&M), said it has secured a US$420 million contract to build two jackup drilling rigs for Seadrill Limited. To be delivered in the second and fourth quarter of 2010, the new rigs will be built to...

(EnergyAsia, June 18, Wednesday) — To the dismay of the aviation industry, Mobil said it plans to close its aircraft fuel depot at Milford Sound in the south west of New Zealand’s South Island soon. The company said it had advised stakeholders of its plan to demolish the depot. However, regional emergency services said the...

(EnergyAsia, June 18, Wednesday) — Amidst rising food and fuel prices, the World Bank has forecast that world economic growth will slow down to 2.7% in 2008 from 3.7% last year. The developing world will also register slower growth of 6.5% compared with 7.8% last year. Amidst the financial turmoil in the Western world, and...

(EnergyAsia, June 18, Tuesday) — Greenpeace has praised Japan’s energy policy as an example for the world to follow with its focus on developing renewable energy technology and energy efficiency. In a special report, “Energy (R)evolution – A Sustainable Japan Energy Outlook,” Greenpeace said Japan shows how a combination of renewable energy technologies and energy...

(EnergyAsia, June 18, Tuesday) — Santrol Oil and Gas Stimulation Products said it has launched a joint venture with the world’s third largest manufacturer of ceramic proppants to produce resin-coated proppants for Asia as well as the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Australia. A wholly owned subsidiary of U.S.-based Fairmount Minerals Ltd, Santrol is sharing...

(EnergyAsia, June 18, Wednesday) — UK’s TSMarine said it has successfully completed phase one of its rigless intervention activity on Woodside’s Vincent project, off the coast of Western Australia. This is the first fully integrated rigless subsea well intervention project in the Asia Pacific region. TSMarine said its Perth subsidiary operates a multiyear service contract...

(EnergyAsia, June 18, Wednesday) — Anglo Dutch major Shell has agreed to buy a stake in the coal seam gas (CSG) or coalbed methane (CBM) projects of Australia’s Arrow Energy, which is aspiring to become Asia’s leading CSG player. Arrow Energy CEO Nick Davies said Shell Exploration Company B.V. (Shell), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch...

(EnergyAsia, June 18, Wednesday) — Abu Dhabi has announced plans to invest more than $2 billion in developing thin-film PV technology and manufacturing. Through the Masdar Initiative, the emirate’s drive to create a sustainable society, Abu Dhabi said it will fund a three-phased manufacturing and expansion strategy to produce the latest generation of thin-film PV...

up in advance for their fuel supplies. The practice is spreading to Europe and Asia as jet fuel suppliers are becoming increasingly worried about the credit-worthiness and solvency of many airlines amid rising oil prices. Prepayment requirements add to the woes of airlines which have been among the sectors most directly and quickly weighed down...

supply two ejector systems and three surface condensers in four international oil refineries located in South Korea, China, Malaysia and Russia. The orders are worth a total of more than $10 million. The first order is for an ejector system to be installed in a South Korean oil refinery that is expanding its capacity to...

much more greenhouse gases processing Canada’s oilsands than if they used ‘traditional’ crude oil. The Washington DC-based Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) and Toronto-headquartered Environmental Defence Canada (EDC) said the emissions production increase would be the equivalent of 16 new refineries in the US. In a joint statement, they said: “Future oil refining in the US...

energy crops has been widely touted as a clean, renewable alternative to fossil fuels, but has huge limitations, say researchers with the Carnegie Institution for Science. Ironically, they conclude that deployed on a large scale, producing energy crops could even threaten food security and exacerbate climate change. Research is booming to improve energy crops and...

inevitable next move as the crude price  continues to march on after breaking through $135 a barrel last month. With $200 oil on the horizon according to authoritative forecasts, the blame game can only intensify. Already, a number of suspects has been identified for public lynching if there is no relief at the pumps: OPEC,...

out our dog-eat-dog instincts (some say, it’s already out), there will be more wars and conflicts on the horizon.  Let’s consider the not-so-common view based on the fact that conflict uses up a huge amount of resources. To go to war over natural resources, the initiator has to be sure that his country has ample...

last year, said BP in its annual ‘Statistical Review of World Energy 2008’ report. World oil production fell by 0.2%, or 130,000 b/d, the first decline since 2002, said BP. OPEC production dropped by 350,000 b/d due to the cumulative impact of production cuts implemented in November 2006 and February 2007. Increased output in Angola...

they have completed the NZ$110 million acquisition of Swift Energy’s New Zealand oil and gas operations. (US$1=NZ$1.25). As a result, Origin Energy will acquire two oil and gas producing areas in the Taranaki area, the Rimu and Waihapa production stations, oil and gas transmission pipelines from Waihapa to New Plymouth, two offshore Taranaki exploration permits,...

their production targets for the year, said the Directorate General of Oil and Gas. For the four months ended 30 April, the agency said 22 of the 37 oil companies operating in the country were behind target. If the trend persists, Indonesia could miss its 2008 production target of 977,000 b/d of oil. It praised...

projects, said it would miss its targeted 122 million tonnes of avoided carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions due to troubles at its biodiesel projects. Rising palm oil prices have made the use of palm oil for biodiesel production uneconomic. Several planned biodiesel projects have been cancelled or delayed while existing plants are not operating, the company...

(EnergyAsia, June 16, Monday) — The Thai government has warned it could evoke a national emergency law to reduce or curb the profit margins of the country’s oil refiners in an effort to keep oil prices down. Under the Energy Business Act, the country’s energy minister has the power to fix gross refinery margins in...

(EnergyAsia, June 16, Monday) — Taiwan’s new government has quickly implemented a decision to raise fuel prices in a bid to prevent hoarding by consumers. Prices for unleaded 92, 95 and 98 gasoline sold by state refiner CPC were raised by NT$3.9/litre, to NT$33.9, NT$34.6 and NT$36.1 per litre, respectively. (US$1 = NT$30). The price...

(EnergyAsia, June 16, Monday) — Concerned that it is unprepared to deal with an energy crisis, the Pakistani government is pressuring the country’s oil marketing companies to invest in new storage tanks. Officials are worried that smaller marketing firms, in particular, do not have storage facilities despite their promise to keep oil stockpiles. Pakistan has...

(EnergyAsia, June 16, Monday) — Tyco Fire & Security is hoping to sell its high-technology flame detector to Asia’s shipyards, marine companies and the energy sector. The detector uses an infrared array with 256 infrareds sensors and integrated CCTV, FLAME Vision FV 300, enabling it to identify flame incidents automatically and reliably, as well as...