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March 15th issue #281 

The subscribers are reading the April 15th issue #283 of The Asian Report which contains in excess of US$93,750,000,000 of information on new projects that are either in the Development, Planning, Engineering, Procurement or Construction phase.  They all need people with the right expertise, suppliers or sub-contractors, so if you want to get on the Fast Track go to Asia Subscription Service and subscribe now.

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Country Update

Afghanistan

Afghanistan's Energy and Water Ministry have signed a US$2,000,000 contract with an Iranian firm for pilot studies over construction of Gol Bahar Dam over the Panj Shir River in north of Afghanistan. The US$2,000,000 would be spent for ecological and terrestrial studies as well as assessing the technical necessities for constructing the dam. The dam will produce 120 mega watts of hydroelectricity, but no details regarding the predicted budget for its construction.

Australia

Songa Offshore ASA www.songaoffshore.no has been awarded a Letter of Intent from the Australian Drilling Associates www.australiandrilling.com.au for a drilling contract utilizing the semi-submersible for development and exploration drilling. Australian Drilling Associates will be the main contract holder and manage the drilling operations on behalf of the independent Oil Companies operating under an Australian Drilling Associates coordinated consortium on the North Western Shelf and Timor Sea within Australia. The contract has a Primary term of 400 days with a Secondary term of another 400 days. The contract value for the firm part is US$160,000,000, the Secondary term is at the same conditions or at market rate if higher. 

Woodside Petroleum Ltd www.woodside.com.au plans to add a new liquefied natural gas train into Western Australia every two years to develop its gas resources and expects a final investment decision for a second train at its Pluto LNG development by the end of this year. The new trains will come from either the Browse, Sunrise or Pluto LNG projects.  

C B & I www.cbi.com has been awarded a contract in excess of US$130,000,000 by Alcan Aluminium www.alcan.com for the design and construction of storage tanks and associated works for the expansion of the Yarwun Alumina Refinery. CB&I's scope of work includes the engineering, fabrication, preassembly, and installation of numerous tanks and associated mechanical equipment, structural steel, piping, and insulation. The project, located in Gladstone, Queensland is expected to be completed by 2010.  The refinery is owned and operated by Rio Tinto Alcan www.riotinto.com , the bauxite, alumina and aluminium arm of Rio Tinto Limited.    

Inpex Corporation www.inpex.co.jp and joint venture partner Total SA www.total.com have signed a project facilitation agreement with the Northern Territory government to look into the possibility building a liquefied natural gas plant which will be linked to the Ichthys field. The preferred option for an LNG plant would be on the Maret Islands in the Kimberley which is closer to the Ichthys field. The project has a planned 8 million tons per annum capacity.

China

PetroChina www.petrochina.com.cn plans to build a 10,000,000 ton per year refinery in Huludao city of Liaoning province in northeastern China. The refinery which is still subject to approval by the government has already seen its feasibility study passed by PetroChina Planning & Engineering Institute. 

Goodyear www.goodyear.com are in final talks to invest more than US$1,000,000,000 in a manufacturing plant near Dalian for a planned plant starting this year. Goodyear would join Michelin www.michelin.com , Continental AG www.conti-online.com and Bridgestone Corp www.bridgestone.co.jp in setting up or expanding production.

The second west-to-east natural gas transmission pipeline carrying natural gas from Turkmenistan and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to the Yangtze and Pearl River deltas which are two of the country's most developed regions. Construction of the 9,102 kilometer pipeline, which consists of a main line and eight sub-lines, will cost around US$20,000,000,000. The pipeline would traverse 12 provinces and autonomous regions before reaching Shanghai and the southern Guangdong Province. The main line extending 4,843 km would start from Khorgos in northwestern Xinjiang to Guangzhou. The western segment of the main line would go into operation by 2009. The eastern segment would start by June 2011. China National Petroleum Corporation www.cnpc.com.cn is the leader of the pipeline construction.  

Stroitransgaz www.stroytransgaz.ru has won a tender to build a segment of a new natural gas pipeline that will take Turkmenistan's gas to China. The pipeline is scheduled to be completed  with an annual capacity of up to 40 billion cubic meters and due to be constructed by 2009, the pipeline will starts in the east of Turkmenistan on the right bank of the Amu Darya river and will pass through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.  

China has started building the first nuclear power plant in southeastern Fujian province. The first phase of the Ningde plant will have four reactors with 1 giga-watt (GW) of generating capacity each, and cost more than US$7,200,000,000. The first reactor is expected to come on line in 2012 and the rest will be put into operation one by one in the following three years. They will adopt the improved second generation of nuclear power technologies. The plant will be located 143 km north of Fuzhou and be China's first nuclear station that is built on an island.

India

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd www.bhel.com has won a US$475,000,000 contract for a 700 megawatts plant from GSPC Pipavav Power Co in western India.

 

The Shaw Group Inc. www.shawgrp.com Energy & Chemicals Group has been selected by Guru Gobind Singh Refineries Limited www.ggsrl.com to provide technology, engineering and procurement services for a Deep Catalytic Cracking unit at the grassroots Punjab Refinery Project in Punjab.. 

Larsen & Toubro Ltd. www.lntecc.com has been awarded another major contract by Cairn India www.cairn-energy.plc.uk for the Engineering Procurement and Construction services for the Export Crude Oil Insulated Pipeline and Gas Pipeline from Barmer, Rajasthan to Salaya, Gujarat. The scope of work involves the laying of a cross country 24-inch skin heat traced pipeline with PUF insulation for crude oil transportation from the Mangala terminal, located at Barmer, Rajasthan to the Salaya Oil Export terminal, near Jamnagar. The pipeline travels 330 kilometers south from the Mangala Field to a pump station and oil take off point at Viramgam. From Viramgam the pipeline continues for 261 km south west up to an Export Oil terminal at Salaya. Another pipeline of 8-inch diameter will be laid for transporting natural gas from the Raageshwari Fields which will be laid alongside the 24-inch pipeline to the Salaya receiving facility.  

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd www.bhel.com has won a order worth US$270,000,000 to build a power plant in the state of Gujarat.

Ramunia International Services Ltd. and Ramunia Fabricators Sdn Bhd www.ramunia.com have received a US$685,000,000 contract from Oil and Natural Gas Corp. www.ongcindia.com for the B-193 field development. Ramunia Group expects to complete the project by 2010.  

Larsen & Toubro Ltd. www.lntecc.com has been awarded a US$314,000,000 turnkey fast track project by Oil and Natural Gas Corp. www.ongcindia.com . Larsen & Toubro Ltd will have single-point responsibility for the complete engineering, procurement, fabrication and installation of the offshore platforms. The project comprises building three smart well platforms, sub-sea interconnecting pipelines, sub-sea cables and topside modifications for the Mumbai High South field. It will involve 15,000 tons of topside and jackets, 58 kilometers of sub-sea pipelines and 22 kilometers of sub-sea cables. It is to be completed by April 2009. Larsen & Toubro Ltd will carry out the engineering design at its subsidiary Larsen & Toubro Ltd Valdel in Bangalore, and fabrication will be carried out at Larsen & Toubro Ltd shore-based manufacturing complex at Hazira near Surat, as well as the fabrication facility at Sohar in Oman.

Indonesia

Pertamina www.pertamina.com will team up with Libya to build a refinery in Indonesia, the company's processing director, Suroso Atmomartoyo, said Thursday. Pertamina and Libya's National Oil Company www.en.noclibya.com.ly will set up a joint committee to study the new refinery construction. The planned refinery's capacity will be at least 400,000 b/d, in order for it to be economically feasible.  

PT Freeport Indonesia www.ptfi.com and the Papua's provincial government are set to build a cement factory using the tailings waste as feedstock. The cement factory project would be carried out based on a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Governor of Papua.   

BJ Tubular Services www.bjservices.com was awarded a multi-million dollar contract by Santos Ltd. www.santos.com.au to provide casing and tubing running services. BJ casing and tubing running specialists will be supporting Santos’s drilling activities on several different wells offshore, BJ has already commenced operations on the two-year contract wherein the company is operating from its bases in Balikpapan and Jakarta.  

Transocean www.deepwater.com has received a contract to drill certain exploration wells in a deepwater province from a consortium led by a Marathon Oil www.marathon.com . The 689 day contract is expected to generate revenue of more than US$350,000,000 and will start in the fourth quarter of 2009,

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is planning a new US$3,800,000,000 domestic gas pipeline in a bid to reduce its dependence on gas imports. The pipeline is to connect the country’s west with the heavily populated south. The 1500 kilometer pipeline scheduled to be built by 2011 will connect Beineu in the west with Samsonovka in the south and is expected to initially supply 5 billion cubic meters of gas a year and then 10 billion cubic meters per year from 2014.

Laos

Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand www.egat.or.th is planned to spend about US$40,000,000 this year on power plant expansions in Laos. The investment would be on its existing Nam Theun 1 and 2 plants,

Malaysia

Kiswire www.kiswire.com is planning to build an US$80,000,000 factory at the Tanjung Langsat industrial complex in Johor to produce its wire rope for use in the region’s offshore industry. The factory will be built on a 20 acre site at the complex on Malaysia’s southern peninsula. Kiswire will announce the winners for the building work by the middle of the year. The project will include dockside facilities to allow raw material to be delivered and finished cable to be loaded directly onto vessels. The facility is due to enter operation at the beginning of 2010.  

Gulf Petroleum Ltd has identified an area in Manjung, Perak as a possible site for its US$5,000,000,000 oil refinery and petrochemical project.  The feasibility study would be conducted on the project in Manjung following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the consortium and the Perak government.  The first phase of the project is to build an oil refinery which will have a capacity of handling 100,000 to 150,000 barrels of crude oil daily. 

Myanmar

Aban Loyd www.abanindia.com has won a US$25,000,000 contract from PTT Exploration and Production www.ptt-ep.com to drill three wells. Aban will start the four month contract this month after completing its current contract for Cairn Energy www.cairn-energy.plc.uk off Bangladesh.  

New Zealand

A US$600,000,000 liquefied natural gas terminal is proposed for Port Taranaki.  Contact Energy Ltd www.mycontact.co.nz and Genesis Power Ltd www.genesispower.co.nz are partners in a project called Gasbridge, which plans to build an LNG import terminal at the port.

Pakistan

Dana Gas www.danagas.ae plans to build an offshore gas processing plant. The Sharjah-based Dana Gas intends to be the top investor in a floating storage re-gasification terminal that is being planned in Port Qasim in Karachi. The terminal will process liquefied natural gas for sale to Pakistani power suppliers to meet a gas shortage of about one billion cubic feet a day. It plans to expand its activities in all elements of the natural gas value chain, including upstream exploration and production, transmission and distribution of gas and gas-related industries and petrochemicals.

Philippines

AMEC PLC. www.amec.com and MMC Oil & Gas www.mmcog.com has been awarded a detailed engineering design contract by Shell Philippines Exploration www.shell.com . Under the two year contract MMC and AMEC will provide project management, engineering and related services for an asset integrity and de-bottlenecking project on the Malampaya gas field in the Philippines and will cover both the field's integrated platform and onshore gas plant.

Russia

Transneft www.transneft.ru will begin construction for the export terminal to be located at Kozmino which is on the Pacific Coast later this month. The feasibility study for the construction of the terminal is completed and approved by the government. The Kozmino export terminal will have two berths for tankers, first one for 80,000 dwt ships and eventually another for 150,000 dwt ships. Plans call for an initial 300 visits/year, rising to 800 when the second berth is completed. Plans also call for a railway oil discharge jetty and an oil handling terminal with an oil storage tank farm, along with other associated onshore and offshore facilities.  

TNK / BP Holding www.tnk-bp.com will invest around US$2,000,000,000 in its existing oil refining assets over the next five years. The company will commission a unit at its Ryazan refinery in the fourth quarter of this year. The refinery is located 200 kilometers southwest of Moscow.

Singapore

PetroChina www.petrochina.com.cn plans to build a 400,000 to 500,000 barrels per day. The company is currently doing a feasibility study and due diligence on this and so far the feedback has been positive.  

PetroMena AS www.petromena.no has handed engineering, procurement and construction contracts to the Jurong Shipyard www.jspl.com.sg for the construction of three sixth generation semi-submersible drilling rigs. The semi-submersible will be able to opreate in water depths of between 7500 and 10,000 feet, and will be equipped for harsh environment operations. The first two rigs - PetroRig I and PetroRig II are due for delivery in January and September next year, with the third, PetroRig III is due for delivery in January 2010. The gross values of the contracts are estimated to be about US$700,000,000 for PetroRig I, US$645,000,000 for PetroRig II and US$942,000,000 for PetroRig III.

Thailand

Glow Energy www.glow.co.th is planning to spend up to US$450,000,000 to raise their capacity by 380 megawatts in 2011.  Suez www.suez-lyonnaise-aux.com  was chosen to supply 74 MW of power to state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand www.egat.or.th and another 250-350 MW to industrial clients. The company expected to sign a contract with Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand in the second quarter and finance the expansion with cash. Glow produces and supplies electricity, steam and water to customers in the Map Ta Phut industrial estate in the eastern province of Rayong and nearby communities.  

PTT Exploration and Production www.ptt-ep.com has awarded a US$600,000,000 contract to GS Engineering & Construction Corp www.gsconst.co.kr to build Thailand's first LNG receiving terminal on the east coast. Construction of the 5 million tons/year facility in Rayong, is due to start shortly for completion in mid-2011. PTT Exploration and Production through it’s subsidiary PTT LNG Co. www.ptt-ep.com plans to double the terminal's capacity to 10 million tpy in a later stage.  

Vietnam

Premier Oil www.premier-oil.com expects Chim Sao, its first oil project in Vietnam, to be approved this year and production to start in 2010. Chim Sao, formerly known as Blackbird, is one of the projects that Premier says will help increase its worldwide production to 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2010 from 36,000 boepd last year. They intentions are to begin letting contracts this year and first oil is targeted for 2010. Chim Sao is one of a series of oilfields to come on stream over the next two years that is expected to maintain and possibly raise its output from the current 320,000 barrels per day (bpd). Premier said last year that based on the Blackbird and Dua discoveries on block 12, recoverable volumes would be approximately 80 million barrels.  

Ezra Holdings Limited www.ezraholdings.com that wholly-owned Saigon Offshore Fabrication & Engineering Limited www.ezraholdings.com has clinched a contract worth more than US$55,000,000 fabrication and assembly contract with delivery in 2010.  

Jaakko Poyry Group Oyj www.poyry.com has been awarded a consultancy assignment in a water sector project in Vietnam, financed by the World Bank www.worldbank.org . The total value of the assignment is about US$3,500,000. Pöyry has been assigned to provide technical assistance in project preparation to the governmental Central Project Unit under the Ministry of Construction for provision of piped water supplies in selected district towns. The assignment also consists of technical assistance to provincial project management units and management support to water supply companies in four large urban areas to improve their performance and expand their water supply coverage. The provision of services begins this month and the duration of the assignment is four years. 

PetroVietnam www.petrovietnam.com.vn is expected to sign contracts to form a joint venture with Kuwait Petroleum International www.q8.com and Idemitsu Kosan Co. www.idemitsu.co to build an oil refinery in northern Vietnam later this year. PetroVietnam is expected to soon reach agreements to build the refinery with the two foreign companies. Nghi Son Oil Refinery Plant, which will be located in Thanh Hoa province 180 kilometers south of Hanoi, will have an annual processing capacity of about 8 million metric tons. It will be the country's second oil refinery, after the Dung Quat plant which is being built in central Quang Ngai province. The Dung Quat plant will cost US$2,500,000,000 to build. It will have a processing capacity of 6 million tons a year when it comes on stream in early 2009.

Middle East Updates

Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company www.takreer.com will build a 417,000 b/d refinery and the facility will be completed by 2013. While still in the design phase, the new refinery will be built in Ruwais about 240 km from Abu Dhabi City. Abu Dhabi has two existing refineries: one at Ruwais with 400,000 b/d of refining capacity and a second at Um Al Nar with 85,000 b/d capacity. An inter-refinery pipeline will be built between the two Ruwais facilities to eliminate the need for shipments as well as to connect Ruwais and Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi's refining capabilities are run by Takreer, which took the responsibility of refining operations from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company www.adnoc.com

Iran and China National Offshore Oil Corporation Limited www.cnooc.com.cn will officially sign a US$16,000,000,000 contract to develop one of the Pars gas fields. The contract with China National Offshore Oil Corporation Limited seals the deal to develop the North Pars field. The field holds around 48 Tcf and is considered to be Iran's second largest gas field. Iran's South Pars field is the country's largest. 

Total www.total.com and Saudi Aramco www.saudiaramco.com are likely to go ahead with plans to build a 400,000 barrels per day refinery in the kingdom despite increasing costs. Total and Saudi Aramco would make a final investment decision on the plant in May or June. The estimated cost of the new refinery and a similar plant Aramco is planning with ConocoPhillips www.conocophillips.com have risen above US$10,000,000,000 from initial estimates of around US$6,000,000,000.  

Suez Tractebel www.engineering.tractebel.com has been awarded the consultancy contract for the development of a master plan for Egypt's power transmission network. The master plan will cover the period from 2008 to 2030. The client is the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company www.egelec.com . The project is funded by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development. Tractebel will identify the best long-term plan for the Egyptian electric power system to meet growing power demand.

European Updates

Austrian Energy & Environment www.aee-group.com has been awarded the contract for a turnkey flue gas de-sulphurisation plant for an existing brown coal power station in Romania. The total value of the project is over US$255,000,000. Austrian Energy & Environment is the general contractor with responsibility for the engineering and construction, assembly and commissioning of four flue gas scrubbers with a de-sulphurisation capacity of 96.4 per cent, together with the construction all electrical and control systems. The contract also covers ancillary plants such as the limestone-processing unit, the flue gas system and the gypsum de-watering unit. The project schedule provides for handover of the first three units by the end of 2010 and completion of the last unit by the second quarter of 2013.  

Fluor Corporation www.fluor.com was awarded the project management for a significant portion of Repsol www.repsol.es YPF's refinery expansion in Cartagena, Spain. In addition, Fluor will be providing design and engineering services, management of procurement and construction for the refinery's utilities and offsites. Repsol's estimated total installed cost for the project is expected to be about US$4,800,000,000. Fluor's scope of work on the project is worth approximately US$1,300,000,000. The project scope includes the design and construction of new units and the refurbishment and expansion of existing units, as well as construction of the utilities and off-sites faculties. The expansion, when complete will double the refinery's current production capacity. Groundbreaking is scheduled for the second quarter with construction completion and commissioning expected in 2011. 

Technip www.technip.com has been awarded by Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries S.A. a contract for the engineering, procurement and construction management of a crude oil distillation unit at the Corinth refinery, Greece. This unit will have a production capacity of 60,000 barrels per day. It is scheduled to be operational at the beginning of 2010. The investment for the new unit will be approximately US$350,000,000. Technip’s operations and engineering center in Rome will execute this contract.

Other News  

Foster Wheeler South Africa Limited www.fwc. has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract by the Republic of Mozambique Pipeline Investments Company Ltd. to upgrade the capacity of the natural gas pipeline which runs from the Temane gas field in Mozambique to Secunda in South Africa. This capacity expansion project primarily involves the installation at Komatipoort, South Africa, of a new compressor station, including two new gas turbine driven compressor units and ancillary equipment to increase the pipeline gas flow rate. The existing pressure protection system at Secunda will also be upgraded to accommodate the increased gas flows. 

The Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline Project or TSGP, will cost US$13,000,000,000 and will deliver its first gas in 2015. Nigeria, Algeria and Niger have agreed to spend US$10,000,000,000 on the project and US$3,000,000,000 has been set aside for gas gathering. The 4,400 kilometer pipeline will transport 20 billion to 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Nigeria to Europe through Niger and Algeria.  

The Total www.total.com led Usan joint venture has receiving all necessary approvals for the project. The field, which lies in water between 750 and 850 meters deep about 100 kilometers offshore will be exploited using a massive floating production storage and offloading vessel capable of storing 2 million barrels of oil. The field is expected to be brought on stream within four years from the award of major contracts and to peak production up to 180,000 barrels of oil per day. The expected total capital investment in the project will be around US$2,000,000,000 with about US$300,000,000 being committed to the project this year. Total will award contracts for deep-water production facilities shortly. Nexen Petroleum Inc www.nexeninc.com has a 20% interest in exploration and development on OPL 222. The project is operated by Elf Petroleum Nigeria www.total.com, a unit of Total also with a 20% stake, while local units of Chevron www.chevron.com and ExxonMobil www.exxonmobil.com hold 30% shares respectively.  

Bechtel www.bechtel.com has been given the green light by Angola Liquefied Natural Gas to start construction of a 5.2 million tons per year LNG train, along with storage and marine loading facilities for LNG, liquefied petroleum gas, and condensate. Bechtel in co-operation with ConocoPhillips www.conocophillips.com has been involved in detailed engineering and procurement for the Angola LNG liquefaction train since early last year. The first LNG production is slated for early 2012.