(EnergyAsia, March 25, Tuesday) --- Singapore’s Swiber Holdings Limited, a service provider to the offshore oil and gas industry, said it has been awarded a conditional Letter of Intent (LOI) from CUEL Limited (CUEL) to instal platforms and pipelines in the Gulf of Thailand for its clients for a period of five years. Swiber said its services are estimated to be worth US$50 million per year.

Swiber’s project scope includes installation engineering, transportation and installation of jackets, piles, topsides and pipelines for the offshore facilities. Swiber will also supply the personnel, equipment and services needed for the execution of the project work.

Swiber said the project work will start in the first quarter of 2009, with completion targeted for the fourth quarter. This cycle of work will be repeated through to 2013.

Raymond Goh, Swiber’s executive chairman and CEO, said: “This is a major award for Swiber, and we are honored to be selected as the contractor of choice from field contracting specialist, CUEL Limited. This project, along with our other first quarter 2008 bookings, will substantially improve Swiber’s order book and is a welcome addition to growing our business.

“The rapid pace of project wins we have announced since the beginning of 2008 serves to illustrate the market’s appetite for high quality offshore marine and EPCIC works. Oil prices and demand are hitting record highs, encouraging higher levels of capital expenditure by oil majors in the offshore exploration, development and production of oil and gas. This can only mean good things for us.”

(EnergyAsia, March 24, Monday) --- China International Electric Power & Electric Engineering Technology Exhibition (EPETEE), rebranded to China EPower, will be held at the Intex in Shanghai, China from April 22 to 24.

The rebranding effort is aimed at growing the event into an internationally recognised platform for the global power industry. It also celebrates a new partnership that will take the show into the next expansion phase.
  

These ambitious targets have created opportunities for the international power industry to grow in China. The country’s generation market represents over 10% of the world’s total energy consumption and total investments in the power grids are anticipated to exceed RMB 1 trillion by 2010.

Organised by MP Zhongmao International, China EPower 2008 will provide an ideal platform for international players to access the booming Chinese energy generation market. The event is expected to attract more than 450 local and foreign exhibitors and more than 20,000 visitors.

This event is supported by the State Electricity Grids Corporation of China, East China Electricity Grid Company Limited, China Datang Corporation, China Huadian Corporation, China Electrotechnical Society, Shanghai Electric Power Co., Ltd, China Southern Power Grid, Huaneng Power International Inc, China Guodian Corporation, The Chinese Institute of Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company and theEast China Electric Power Test & Research Institute.

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(EnergyAsia, March 24, Monday) --- The Oxford Princeton Programme will be offering a course on a new risk management tool, ‘Value-at-Risk: The Basics and Beyond’ in London on April 24 and in Singapore on May 22.

Value-at-Risk, a new benchmark for measuring and controlling market risk, is used by leading trading and marketing companies around the world to maximise profit opportunities and minimise mistakes. The programme will cover the important aspects of this risk management tool.

The workshop is ideal for traders, support staff, risk managers and senior management as the information presented is applicable to any energy commodity.

Delegates should already have attended Princeton Energy Programme’s ‘Fundamentals of Energy Futures’, ‘Options I - Fundamentals of Energy Options’, and ‘Energy Risk Management’ or posess equivalent experience.

As part of the blended learning package, PrincetonLive.com’s ‘Understanding the Value at Risk Concept’, is recommended as pre-classroom study. Delegates are advised to take the online study as close to the classroom date as possible to optimise their classroom learning experience.

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(EnergyAsia, March 20, Thursday) --- The latest edition of the ‘Handbook of Petroleum Refining Process’ offers detailed description of process chemistry and thermodynamics and product by-product specifications of plants, covers the latest technologies in the field of petroleum refining processes and contributors are drawn from largest petroleum producers in the world, including Chevron, Mobil, Shell, Exxon, UOP and Texaco.

The book delivers comprehensive coverage of how major players like UOP, KBR, STRATCO, Belco, Stone & Webster, Foster Wheeler, Chevron Lummus Global, ConocoPhillips, ChevronTexaco, and Shell, are taking these processes to new heights through technology.

Technologies covered include alkylation and polymerisation, base aromatics production processes, catalytic cracking, catalytic reforming, dehydrogenation, hydrogen production, hydrocracking, hydrotreating, isomerisation, separation processes, sulphfur compound extraction and sweetening, visbreaking and coking, oxygenates production technologies, hydrogen processing and gas to liquids technologies.

The book also discusses estimates of capital and operating costs along with information on the design of additions to existing refineries and the construction of new ones.

‘Handbook of Petroleum Refining Process’ author Robett A. Meyers was manager of Chemical Process Technology at TRW and is now President of RAMTECH Limited.

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(EnergyAsia, March 20, Wednesday) --- ‘Seafarers 2008’, an event by IBC Maritime, will be held at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront, Singapore from May 7 to 8.

The conference will focus on manning issues with an emphasis on the emerging sources of seafarers. It aims to present insights and strategies that will support operations, capital cost and management policies.

 Andrew J Airey (Thoresen Thai Agencies Public Company Limited), Charles Jay D ela Cruz (Del Rosario & Del Rosario), KN D eboo (Anglo Eastern Maritime Training Centre), Rajaish Bajpaee (Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement), Robert Drummond and Wendy Ng (Charles Taylor Mutual Management), Amit Pal (A.P Moller Singapore Pte Ltd), Vijay Rangroo (MTM Shipmanagement Pte Ltd) and Jesse W. Lewis (Admiralty Associates International).

A pre- conference workshop on ‘The Public Image of Shipping’ will be held on May 6. It will discuss approaches to help reshape the negative and dated image of the maritime industry.

With the current shortage of qualified crew, the ocean transportation industry requires more trained and experienced seafarers.

Jesse Lewis, course director and communications expert, will demonstrate ways to raise awareness and appeal of shipping as a career.

Topics that will be covered include public’s view of shipping, ways to improve the shipping image, perception of  shipping in comparison to other forms of transportation, making shipping a more attractive choice and engaging the media and public to enhance the maritime’s sector profile.

Jesse Lewis was a Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy for 10 years, where he lectured on the public image of the shipping industry and using public relations as an effective crisis management tool following major marine casualties.

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(EnergyAsia, March 20, Thursday) --- Singapore’s Keppel FELS Limited, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Limited, said it will build a third KFELS B Class jackup drilling rig worth about US$205 million for PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corp’s subsidiary PetroVietnam Drilling Investment Corp.

This latest unit and PVD Invest’s second rig PV Drilling II, which is already under construction at Keppel FELS, are scheduled for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2009 respectively.

“It is estimated that there will be some 900 exploration wells in Vietnam over the next 15 years. We want to position ourselves to capture this market for specialised oil and gas services with the support of a strong and reliable shipyard that can deliver projects punctually, on budget and without incidents,” said Do Van Khanh, CEO of PV Drilling and chairman of PVD Invest.

“We have found all these qualities in Keppel FELS. Having worked with them on several important projects, I am confident that they are the best people to help us build our highly specialised rig fleet.”

To meet the tight exploration schedule, PV Drilling intends to make capital investments of around VND 27.4 trillion (US$ 1.7 billion) from now till 2025 to build and operate an 11-strong fleet of offshore and onshore rigs.

“We have built an enduring partnership with the PV Drilling Group on mutual understanding, teamwork and trust. We are honoured that PVD Invest has chosen Keppel FELS time and again for their milestone projects,” said Tong Chong Heong, managing director and chief operating officer of Keppel Offshore & Marine.

The latest KFELS B Class rig will be able to operate in water depths of 360 ft with a drilling depth of 30,000 ft. Versatility of this rig has been further enhanced to broaden its area of operability, by including features like engines that meet more stringent emission standards and lower spud can bearing pressure for operation in areas with soft soil conditions. Its living quarters is designed to accommodate up to 110 men, in 1-men and 2-men cabins.

The Keppel Group has been involved in the Vietnamese offshore market for more than 20 years since Keppel FELS first completed the Hoang Sa 1,200-tonne floating crane in 1984. It also built Vietnam’s first jackup rig, the Tam Dao I in 1988.

(EnergyAsia, March 18, Tuesday) --- China is the single largest provider of small arms to Sudan, having sold over $55 million worth from 2003-2006 (the latest year for which data is available), as the worst violence took hold in Darfur, said a new human rights report.

While other countries were decreasing their arms sales to Khartoum, China stepped in to fill the void by providing Sudan with some 90% of its small arms during 2003-2006.

The close relationship between the two countries has been cemented in large part by Beijing’s dependence on Sudanese oil to fuel China’s fast growing economy.

China currently owns the majority rights to drill in eight of the nine Sudanese oil blocks believed to hold significant oil reserves. Sudan ships nine of every 10 of its barrels of oil pumped through pipelines built by Chinese companies to terminals constructed with Chinese help, said the report.

Between 1999 and 2005, a period that includes the start and escalation of the Darfur crisis, Sudan’s overall imports of small arms multiplied 680-fold. Observers on the ground in Darfur have reported seeing a range of Chinese weaponry, including assault rifles, heavy machine guns, antiaircraft guns, antitank weapons, and mortar, according to the report.

Ms Apple has put forth a series of recommendations for concrete actions China can take to reverse its deadly course in Sudan and improve its international standing, as the Beijing Summer Olympics rapidly approach.