Largest U.S. biodiesel refinery to open at Port of Houston

HOUSTON: GreenHunter Energy opens the single largest biodiesel refinery at the U.S., Houston Ship Channel.

Texas Governor Rick Perry, GreenHunter CEO Gary Evans and other state and federal officials will be on hand at the facility's grand opening.The facility will produce 105 million gallons of high grade B100 biodiesel per year. The converted waste-oil refinery will give GreenHunter's Renewable Fuels Campus deepwater access and the ability to transport products via barge, rail and truck. Biodiesel generators at the site will provide enough electricity for GreenHunter to sell unneeded renewable power back to the grid. GreenHunter's campus also includes basic terminal operations and 700,000 barrels of storage capacity.By producing biodiesel from multiple feedstocks, including non-edible sources such as tallow and jatropha, GreenHunter officials hope to offer practical solutions to the ongoing "food versus fuels" debate.
Read More

DP World completes buyout of Chennai Container Terminal

Dubai: DP World has announced its 100 percent takeover of the container terminal in India's Chennai Port.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based company said in a statement that it bought out the stakes of Chettinad Logistics (20 percent) and the Jakari Group (5 percent) in Chennai Container Terminal (CCT).
"We value the long relationship with both partners and the company remains committed to realising its objective of expansion of the terminal in the near future," DP World senior vice-president and chairman of CCT Ganesh Raj said.CCT chief executive Ennarasu Karunesan said the move for 100 percent ownership reflected "the great commitment and belief by DP World in the terminal development in particular and to the employees of Chennai Container Terminal".The CCT is the oldest container terminal in the subcontinent and the largest in India's east coast.
Read More

Oil May Decline as Record Prices Curb Fuel Demand, Survey Shows

Crude oil may fall next week amid signs that record pump prices are crimping U.S. gasoline demand and as Asian countries cut subsidies that kept consumer prices for fuel artificially low.

Thirteen of 27 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News, or 48 percent, said prices will decline through June 6. Eight of the respondents, or 30 percent, said oil will rise and six forecast little change. Last week, 48 percent said futures would increase. U.S. fuel consumption averaged 20.5 million barrels a day in the four weeks ended May 23, down 0.7 percent from a year earlier, the Energy Department said yesterday. Gasoline demand dropped 5.5 percent last week as prices at the pump reached records, according to MasterCard Inc., the second-biggest credit-card company. Indonesia, Taiwan, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have decided to raise fuel prices as the cost of subsidies mounts, and Malaysia plans to announce a revision to its subsidies on May 30. India's Oil Secretary, M.S. Srinivasan, said higher domestic gasoline and diesel prices are inevitable because of rising global prices. Crude oil for July delivery fell $6.10, or 4.6 percent, to $126.09 a barrel so far this week on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures reached $135.09 a barrel on May 22, the highest since trading began in 1983.Last week was the first time in 20 weeks that analysts forecast an increase in prices. The oil survey has correctly predicted the direction of futures 49 percent of the time since its introduction in April 2004.

Read More

Marine, back from Iraq, shot dead in his home town

CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) -- On leave from the violence he had survived in the war in Iraq, a young Marine was so wary of crime on the streets of his own home town that he carried only $8 to avoid becoming a robbery target.

Despite his caution, Lance Cpl. Robert Crutchfield, 21, was shot point-blank in the neck during a robbery at a bus stop. Feeding and breathing tubes kept him alive 41/2 months, until he died of an infection on May 18.Two men have been charged in the attack, and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason said Friday the case was under review to decide whether to seek the death penalty."It is an awful story," said Alberta Holt, the young Marine's aunt and his legal guardian when he was a teenager determined to flee a troubled Cleveland school for safer surroundings in the suburbs. Marines provided an honor guard at his funeral service and carried the casket to his grave at the Western Reserve National Cemetery near Akron.

Read More

New deepwater semi for ENSCO

ENSCO International has finalized the construction contract for a new utra-deepwater semisubmersible rig, to be named ENSCO 8505.

Keppel FELS shipyard in Singapore will build the rig at a total project cost of around US$537 million. Delivery is expected in the first half of 2012. ENSCO 8505 will be ENSCO's sixth ultra-deepwater rig in the ENSCO 8500 series and part of the company's seven-rig deepwater fleet. Four of the ENSCO 8500 series rigs are contracted for term work beginning upon delivery. The ENSCO 8500 series semisubmersibles are capable of drilling in up to 8.500 feet (2,591 m) of water and feature offline pipe handling capability. The rigs have increased drilling capacity, improved automatic station keeping ability and larger living quarters than ENSCO's previous deepwater design ENSCO 7500. Daniel W. Rabun, ENSCO's chairman, president and chief executive officer, commented: "We expect demand for ultra-deepwater equipment will continue to grow, and that expansion of our 8500 Series deepwater fleet offers an attractive opportunity to participate in this important market. We are excited about the opportunity to again work with Keppel FELS as we pursue a prominent position in deepwater drilling."

Read More

GulfMark Offshore to Acquire Rigdon Marine

GulfMark Offshore, Inc. announced it had entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Rigdon Marine Corporation, a major operator of technologically advanced offshore supply vessels.

The purchase will add the RMC management team, an experienced group of mariners and a fleet of modern vessels designed to support the expanding demand in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The combined company will initially operate 90 vessels with an additional 16 vessels under construction for delivery through 2010. Geographically diversified, the combined fleet will have 24 vessels in the domestic Gulf of Mexico bringing the total fleet to 34 vessels based in the Americas, 42 vessels based in the North Sea and 14 in Southeast Asia. The combination of GulfMark and Rigdon Marine will create an organization of over 2,000 valued employees and 90 vessels, capable of working in virtually all OSV markets, with an additional 16 vessels of several different designs under construction. Nine of the vessels will deliver between the middle of 2008 and the middle of 2009 and the remaining seven between mid 2009 and mid 2010.

Read More

STX shipbuilding bags $126m bulker order

STX Shipbuilding has won a $126m (129bn won) order for the construction of two bulk carriers for delivery by May 2009 to an un-named European shipping company.

The shipbuilder also said it has received a 259bn won contract from a European shipping company to build two very large ore carriers. Shipbuilders in South Korea are working through order backlogs stretching into 2012 to meet rising global demand.

Read More