(EnergyAsia, March 31, Monday) --- International law firm Herbert Smith said it advised Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley as joint global coordinators on the HK$3.2 billion Hong Kong IPO and Rule 144A / Regulation S global offering of Honghua Group.

Honghua Group, the second-largest onshore oil rig manufacturer in the world and the largest in China, sold 25% of its enlarged share capital, or 833.36 million shares. The 70% institutional tranche was more than 11 times covered, while the retail tranche attracted about 28 times the number of shares on offer.

Herbert Smith said it advised on both the Hong Kong and US law aspects of the IPO.

The team was led by Shanghai-based partner Gary Lock and Hong Kong-based US Securities partner Kevin Roy. They were assisted by senior associate Jeffrey Yang, and associates Jonathan Barkey, Su-Li Chan, and Vivian Wang.

Mr Lock said: “This latest transaction for Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley is a further demonstration of the value we deliver to the major investment banks. Our China expertise combined with a leading Hong Kong team is an attractive offering for our clients.”

Mr Roy said: “We are very pleased to have represented Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley and brought this transaction to a successful close. This is the latest in a number of successful deals we have worked on for both banks. Our reputation as one of the leading practices in the China-Hong Kong market continues to grow.”

Honghua Group was advised by Arculli Fong & Ng on matters of Hong Kong law, Latham & Watkins LLP on matters of US law, King & Wood on matters of PRC law, and Appleby on matters of Cayman Islands law.

Herbert Smith operates a leading China practice from its well-established presence in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The firm has one of the leading equity capital markets practices in Asia.

(EnergyAsia, March 31, Monday) --- Nasdaq-listed American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC), a leading energy technologies company, said it has received new orders for wind turbine core electrical components and full wind turbine electrical systems from companies in Canada and China.

The buyers are now adopting and scaling up manufacturing of wind turbines designed by AMSC’s wholly owned subsidiary, AMSC Windtec. The wind turbine core electrical components include the company’s proprietary PowerModule™ power converters and enable reliable, high-performance wind turbine operation by controlling power flows, regulating voltage, monitoring system performance and controlling the pitch of wind turbine blades to maximise efficiency.

These latest orders bring the total amount of wind power to be supported by AMSC products to 6.6 gigawatts, equivalent to approximately seven percent of the worldwide installed base of wind generated electricity as of December 2007.

“This series of new orders for wind turbine core electrical components further validates our AMSC Windtec business model,” said AMSC founder and CEO Greg Yurek. “AMSC Windtec helps to quickly establish new wind turbine manufacturers by providing wind turbine designs and helping with local sourcing of core wind turbine components.

“Once our customers go into production of wind turbines, we then sell them the sophisticated core electrical components necessary to operate these systems successfully and efficiently. The sale of wind turbine core electrical components has, in fact, become a very large fraction of our business.

“With the customers we signed in 2007 now beginning to order core electrical components to meet their wind turbine manufacturing needs and new licensees and development partners on the near-term horizon, we expect our wind power business to continue to grow and diversify going forward.”

About 65% of AMSC’s revenues in fiscal 2007, which ends March 31, 2008, are expected to be from the global wind industry.

Mr Yurek said: “This fiscal year, roughly 70% of our sales are international, with the lion’s share of these sales coming from the wind industry.

“With the wind industry expected to continue to grow at double-digit rates for many years to come, we expect sales to this market will remain a large fraction of AMSC’s revenue makeup - even as we continue to ramp up sales of our other products to the power grid market worldwide.”

(EnergyAsia, March 26, Wednesday) --- The ‘2008 Asia Oil and Gas Pipeline Congress’ will be held in Beijing, China from May 22 to 24.

Every year, companies add an estimated 25,000 km of oil and gas pipelines to their network.

Delegates will also learn about offshore pipelay techniques development, risk assessment and integrity management, Asia’s market potential for offshore pipeline equipments, South Korea’s gas trucklines and pipeline grids, LNG pipeline design, construction and management, international pipeline EPC projects management, integrity management practices, and pipeline automation and data communication.

Speakers include Luc Henroid (International Pipeline & offshore Contractors Association), Su Shifeng (CNPC Petroelum Pipeline Bureau), Gerald Doucet (World Energy Council), U Myint Kyi (Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise), Xu Dingming (National Energy Office) and A.M. Uplenchwar (India Oil).

The closed door workshops will address pipeline safety and maintenance practices, market prospects for pipeline steel and welding practices, and technology updates.

Organisers ARA Conferences have lined up sightseeing events for delegates on the third day. Delegates will have a chance to visit the Great Wall, 2008 Olympics games stadium and Forbidden City.

For more information on ‘2008 Asia Oil and Gas Pipeline Congress’, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

(EnergyAsia, March 26, Wednesay) --- ‘SPE EOR Technical Conference’, a conference focused on enhanced oil recovery including chemical, thermal and gas technologies, will be held in conjunction with the ‘Oil and Gas West Asia 2008’ (OGWA) exhibition at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Oman on April 21 to 23.

Organised by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), the event is expected to attract delegates from all over the region.

Under an operating agreement between the parties, SPE will organise and manage the conference while Omanexpo will handle the exhibition component. This is expected to raise the standards and regional profile of the biennial event.

Waleed Refaay, managing director of SPE Middle East, North Africa and India, said:
“We are delighted to be part of OGWA 2008 and to lend our expertise in promoting professional excellence and the continuous professional growth of those in the oil and gas industry.

“Our involvement is consistent with our organisation's mission to collect, disseminate, and exchange technical knowledge concerning the exploration, development and production of oil and gas resources.”

The SPE is a non-profit professional association whose members are engaged in energy resources development and production. The programme committee includes mostly representatives of leading energy companies such as Petroleum Development Oman, Saudi Aramco, Shell, Oman Oil, ADNOC, Halliburton, Adma-Opco, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India and Schlumberger. The Oman Ministry of Oil & Gas is also represented.

For more information, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

(EnergyAsia, March 26, Wednesday) --- The organisers of ‘Gastech 2008’ said the 23rd international conference and exhibition for the LNG, LPG and natural gas industries held in Bangkok, Thailand on March 10 to 13 achieved record participation with 300 exhibiting companies and more than11,500 delegates from over 50 countries.

‘Gastech 2008’, hosted by Thai state-owned PTT Group, attracted an unprecedented number of ministers and high ranking officials from overseas including Sheikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa (Advisor to the Prime Minister of Bahrain),  Yahya  (Minister of Energy, Brunei), Emmanuel Olatunde Odusina (Minister of State for Energy (Gas) for Nigeria), Mohammed Al Rumhy (Minister of Oil and Gas, Oman), Mohammad Saleh Al-Sada (Minister of State for Energy and Industry Affairs, Qatar), Khalid Mahfoudh Bahah (Minister of Oil and Minerals, Yemen) and Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian (former deputy minister of petroleum, Iran).
  

The programme enabled the students to obtain an overview of the conference and the issues raised, experience the international exhibition, gain insights into the latest key projects, network with the industry players and find out how to become part of the gas industry. 

‘Gastech 2009’, which will be hosted by ADNOC & Group of Companies, will be held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre from May 18 to 21 next year.

Highlights of this year’s event are available on GasTV at www.gastv.tv.

(EnergyAsia, March 25, Tuesday) --- The Chinese government is expected to issue coal export licences this month despite the continuing supply shortages in the domestic market, said event organiser CoalTrans.

While small mines continue to face shutdowns largely for safety reasons, Hebei province has announced that it will develop the world’s largest coal export port cluster over the next three years with plans to build three modern ports including Qinhuangdao Port, Tangshan Port and Huanghua Port.
 

The government expects China’s economy to grow by at least 8% this year. It will add around 90 million kilowatt to power generation capacity, pushing thermal coal demand to another record level.
 
‘Coaltrans China 2008’ will provide delegates with an update on the coal supply and demand trends in the country, and opportunities for investors. The event will also discuss the future of the world coal industry.

Speakers will address specific issues like freight, infrastructure and the logistical challenges of moving coal into and around China, coal projects in the region, and their likely impact on fuel supply and demand, the pricing for coal in a volatile market, and a review of import scenarios for thermal coal and metcoal.

Speakers will analyse the growth of the Chinese steel industry and implications for managing metcoal resources and imports. In addition, they will provide a detailed review will be given of likely power plant construction in China and across Asia, focusing attention on where coal supply will be in most demand.

The conference is organised by Coaltrans Conferences and the China National Coal Association.

For more information, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

(EnergyAsia, March 25, Tuesday) --- ‘Coaltrans Asia 2008’ will be held in Bali, Indonesia from June 1 to 4. The conference is expected to attract over 1,000 participants from around the world, said organiser Coaltrans Conferences.

‘Coaltrans Asia’ will address issues including the use and management of low rank coal, opportunities in Indonesia, logistics, government regulations, financing, freight, procurement strategies, mining operations and economics.

Indonesian Minister of Energy and Mines Purnomo Yusgiantoro will deliver the main speech.

The other speakers include Jeffrey Mulyono (Indonesian Coal Mining), M.S. Marpaung and Simon F. Sembiring (Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources), Malam Sambat Kaban (Ministry of Forestry), Teras Narang (Governor of Central Kalimantan), Eddie Widiono Suwondo (PT PLN), Rory Simington (AME Mineral Economics), Peter Ball (Bumi Resources), Nandika Djojonegoro (PT Bukit Asam Prima), Philip Gasteen (Banpu Public Company Ltd), Reynard Hanoppo (PT Kideco Jaya Agung), Eko B. F. Natalina (PT Berau), Geoffrey Palmer (PT Adaro), Sacha Winzenried and Ali Mardi (PricewaterhouseCoopers), Amulya Charan (Tata Power Trading), Patrick Loftus-Hills (UBS Securities Indonesia), Patrick Alexander (PT Ilthabi Bara Utama (IBU)), Guillaume Perret (Perret Associates), Patrick Markey (globalCOAL), Abhijit Datta (The Siam Cement Public Company Ltd), Ross Crump (Energy Coal Marketing), Anthony Collins (ASX Ltd), Bukin Daulay (TEKMIRA), Graham Chapman (Energy Edge), Kaz Tanaka (PT DH Power), Ponlit Sesth-gamnerd (Mae Moh Power), Frederick J. Murrell (C166 Development Company LLC), Masashi Wakagi (PT Upgrading Brown Coal Indonesia (UBCI)), David Schenk (Simpson Spence & Young Ltd), Derek Langston (SSY Consultancy & Research), Kevin O’Donovan (IMC Resources), Peter Borup (Norden Tankers & Bulkers Pte. Ltd), Oentoro Surya (PT Arpeni Pratama Ocean Line Tbk), John Devon (Marston & Marston), Nitin Ambhaikar (Reliance Industries Ltd), Muhammad Balagamwala (Seatrade Group), Juan Carlos Guadarrama (Napocor), Graham Parker (E.ON UK Plc), Martin Law (Ho-Ping Power Company), Yong-je Lee (Korea South East Power Co Ltd), Alex Harkess (Clarksons), Andrew Keith (Connell Wagner), Noor Meurling (Soebagjo,Jatim, Djarot Attorneys at Law), David Lim (AON Singapore), Nyoman Oka Widiadnyana (PT Kaltim Prima Coal), Andrew Lee (Lian Yi Shipbuilding and Construction), Giosuè Vezzuto (RINA), Masafumi Yamaguchi (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries), Yong Soon Huat (Cranes, Liebherr Singapore), Mario Terenzio (Logmarin Advisors Srl), Mirza Ong and Yulisaf Ramadhan (PT Mitra Bahtera Segarasejati), Glen Drysdale (CSL Asia), Lim Kwee (IMC Shipping Corp), Terry Ng (PT Indonesia Bulk Terminal), Chris Pitch (PT Adaro), Ali Abbas Alam (Credit Suisse), Henry Hoo (Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII)), Philip Forster (PT Mitra Bahtera).

For more informationon the event, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

(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.”