Energy

Power generation and temperature control leader Aggreko has been called in to supply power to Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) for White Cement, one of the Emirate’s leading producers of high quality white cement.

The cement company called Aggreko when one of its gas turbines failed and standby power had been shut down for annual maintenance, causing a significant reduction in capacity.

RAK Co. for White Cement produces a specially blended white cement dust that is in high demand and is supplied all over the GCC - around 450,000 tonnes of cement a year.

Founder and president Paolo Trocca talks about an engineering company that has made a name for itself in the Middle Eastern oil business by playing it straight.

There is an oil and gas industry in Italy – but not much of one. In 2008, the BP Statistical Energy Survey estimated oil production there at an average of 121,000 barrels of crude oil per day or 0.15 percent of the world’s total.

Through this agreement, Marathon, a refining, marketing and transportation company headquartered in Florida, will pay $600 million in cash, $1.2 billion for the plant’s inventories and a further $700 million depending upon future output and margins.

Can China overcome its geology and infrastructure problems to become the dominant force in natural gas? And can other economies benefit from the opportunities this might create?

The world's biggest energy user is also one of the world’s worst polluters, due to its heavy reliance on coal and oil. Though China is now also the world's largest installer of wind turbines and the leading builder of nuclear reactors, it’s not enough to meet China’s unquenchable thirst for energy.

The announcement comes as China looks to increase its investments in Afghanistan’s resources sector ahead of the withdrawal of US-led military forces from the country in 2014. In June, the two countries decided to upgrade their ties to the level of a strategic and co-operative partnership.

Increasingly, Afghanistan’s neighbours have been looking to expand their influence in the country.

The deal, said to be valued at $15.1 billion, comes after CNOOC offered to pay $27.50 per share for the company in July, a 60 percent premium on its share price at the time. Once approved the deal will be China’s largest foreign business takeover.

"The offer is a compelling one and offers benefits for all of Nexen's stakeholders, including employees and communities," CNOOC spokesman Peter Hunt was quoted as saying.

Having previously announced in 2010 that it had discovered commercially viable deposits of 2.5 billion barrels of oil in the country, Uganda has now confirmed the further discovery of an additional one billion barrels.

Through a combination of new discoveries and the ability to extract greater volumes of oil from existing wells the country’s deposits now total at least 3.5 billion barrels. To date a total of 70 out of 77 wells drilled have been confirmed as containing oil and gas.

Oil prices have experienced significant gains, an event that is being credited in part to the moves taken by the US Federal Reserve last week, in which it announced it would inject $40 billion a month into the US economy. These movements also coincide with the forthcoming release of a forecast that is due to show the economy strengthening.

Temporary power generation and temperature control services provider Aggreko has officially opened its new service centre in Walvis Bay, Namibia.

The new facility was formally inaugurated by Honorable Willem Isaak, Deputy Minister of Mines of Namibia and Martin Foster, head of local business, Aggreko Southern and East Africa. Cleophas Mutjavikua, the governor of the Erongo region, was also in attendance. 

The facility is Aggreko's sixth service centre in Southern and East Africa and is the first operation to be based in Namibia.

A new product emerging onto the world market is setting the bar much higher for pipe construction. Alan Stothard, managing director of IQS International, explains how Huachuang steel reinforced HDPE pipe can deliver significant financial and environmental savings.