Trans-Asia, NorAsian Energy sign farm-in agreement

MANILA, Philippines - Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. and NorAsian Energy Ltd (NEL) signed yesterday a farm-in agreement in service contract 55 in offshore Palawan.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), TA Oil said NorAsian acquired an 8.18% participating interest in the service contract.

TA Oil did not disclose how much was the acquisition deal for the said shares.

In late 2009, TA Oil started with its data gathering at the SC 55 in West Palawan.

The SC 55 consortium commenced a 590-square kilometer 3D seismic survey in its contract area in offshore West Palawan . TA Oil has a 15% participating interest in SC 55.

SC 55 covers 9,000km2 in the south west Palawan Basin. It is located on a regional oil and gas fairway that extends from the productive Borneo offshore region in the southwest to the offshore Philippines production assets northwest of Palawan .

Aside from TA Oil, Otto Energy owns an 85% working interest in SC55. Otto Energy Ltd., an Australian oil and gas firm holds the remaining 85% of the contract. Otto acquired its 85% interest in SC55 in 2006, through the purchase of NorAsian Energy Ltd. Otto Energy was supposed to farm-out 60% of its interest in SC 55 to BHP Billiton Petroleum Pty. Ltd. but negotiations fell through.

TA Oil is the energy arm of the Phinma Group. The company continues to be active in several exploration projects, particularly in large and high-potential areas. At present, the company is represented in 4 service contracts.

By Donnabelle L. Gatdula, The Philippine Star
Posted at 02/05/2011

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New York state regulators green-light $1.4B Queens power plant

State utilities regulators gave final approval on Thursday for the construction of a $1.4 billion power plant in Astoria, Queens. Now, the company that plans to build it needs to find a buyer for the electricity it will generate.

The Public Service Commission said the plant would replace an older, less-efficient plant.

It would be built in two phases over four years on a 15-acre section of Consolidated Edison’s 600-acre property on the East River that has long been the city’s hub of electricity generation.

“You could see that yellow plume from where we live,” said Anthony J. Gigantiello, an Astoria resident who is president of the Coalition Helping to Organize a Kleaner Environment, or Choke.

He was referring to the emissions from the stacks atop the 40-year-old plant that NRG Energy, a power company based in Princeton, N.J., wants to replace. NRG bought the Astoria plant and another on Staten Island from Con Edison a decade ago.

Mr. Gigantiello’s group formed to oppose the construction of more power plants in the area until some of the older ones that produce the most pollution are shut down. Its primary target was an 800-megawatt plant on the Con Edison site, which was retired last year.

“We’re right in the middle of all these power plants,” Mr. Gigantiello said. “Whenever you close an old generator, we’re all for that.”

He said his group also approved of the plan to replace the 40-foot-tall stacks with some that will release emissions 250 feet from the ground, reducing pollution in the immediate area.

NRG is looking for a buyer to sign a long-term contract to purchase all or a large part of the plant’s output, said David Gaier, a spokesman for the company. Without a buyer lined up, Mr. Gaier said he could not provide a precise schedule for completion of the plant.

Con Edison has no plan to buy power directly from the proposed plant, said Joseph Oates, Con Ed’s vice president of energy management. The NRG plant, which would be fueled by natural gas, would be used during times of high demand. While it would be more expensive to operate than some new plants in the city, the NRG plant could help fulfill the regulatory requirement that plants within the city limits be able to provide at least 80 percent of the city’s peak demand for electricity, Mr. Oates said.

By PATRICK McGEEHAN, The New York Times
Published: January 20, 2011

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Russian billionaire spends $400 million on island-based art museum project

Russian billionaire spends $400 million on island-based art museum project
By Zachary Roth, Yahoo!News

A Russian oligarch has paid almost $400 million as part of an ambitious plan to create an art museum and commercial center on an island in the heart of St. Petersburg.

Roman Abramovich is buying an array of crumbling buildings on St. Petersburg's New Holland island, a former military base, reports the Daily Telegraph. The self-made steel and investments magnate, whose fortune is estimated at around $12 billion, plans to convert the 18th-century warehouses into art galleries, housing, retail and hotel spaces, according to a spokesman.

Abramovich, 45, is best known in the West as the owner as Chelsea F.C., the London-based soccer club that he has helped turn into a European powerhouse over the last decade with a slew of high-profile signings. But since taking up with his girlfriend, art-world darling Daria Zhukova, in 2007, he has also become a leading collector of contemporary art. On a 2008 trip to New York, he spent $68 million on Francis Bacon's "Triptych" and $27 million on a Lucien Freud painting. Those big-ticket purchases are fueling speculation that the planned new art gallery could be intended as a home for his collection.

Zhukova, the 29-year-old daughter of a Russian oil magnate, runs her own gallery in Moscow, and is a member of the board of trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Last year, Abramovich bought an $85 million estate on the Caribbean island of St Barts. He also paid a reported $474 million for the world's biggest yacht, Eclipse. Naturally, it's said to have its own art gallery aboard.

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12 States to Split $1.2 Billion in Rail Funds

More U.S. Rail Funds for 13 States as Two Reject Aid
By Michaek Cooper, New York Times
Published: December 9, 2010

Ohio and Wisconsin’s loss of $1.2 billion in federal stimulus money for rail projects will be California, Florida and 11 other states’ gains, federal officials said on Thursday.

Ohio and Wisconsin were among the biggest winners of federal stimulus money this year to build new rail lines in their states; officials in both states had lobbied aggressively for the money in the hopes that it would create thousands of jobs and improve their transportation systems.

But that all changed last month when both states elected Republican governors who vowed to kill the train projects, arguing that they were boondoggles that would leave their states on the hook for subsidies each year to operate the trains.

Now both states, which have been hit hard by the economic downturn, are losing the money. The federal Department of Transportation announced Thursday that it was taking back the $810 million that had been awarded to Wisconsin to build a train line from Milwaukee to Madison, and the $385 million that was awarded to Ohio to build a train line linking Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland. The money will be redistributed to 12 other states, with the biggest winners being California and Florida, which are building high-speed trains.

“High-speed rail will modernize America’s valuable transportation network, while reinvigorating the manufacturing sector and putting people back to work in good-paying jobs,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement announcing the redistribution of the rail money. “I am pleased that so many other states are enthusiastic about the additional support they are receiving to help bring America’s high-speed rail network to life.”

Neither Ohio nor Wisconsin were getting high-speed trains. They were simply getting new train routes that the federal government hoped would form the basis of a new national network of trains, which could eventually be upgraded to high-speed rail. But the new governors-elect questioned who would ride the new, not-terribly-fast trains.

Scott Walker, the governor-elect of Wisconsin, who vowed to stop the train in a campaign commercial, said that the train from Milwaukee to Madison would cost too much money, take the same amount of time as driving and leave many passengers needing cars anyway to get around at both ends.

Mr. Walker worried that the new $810 million train route would leave the state with subsidies of $7 million to $10 million a year to run the trains. Exasperated train supporters, who saw a lucrative jobs project and an environmentally friendly way to travel, complained that Mr. Walker’s position was analogous to turning down a free new car, simply because it would cost money for gas and insurance.

John Kasich, the governor-elect of Ohio, declared “this train is dead” after being elected, and mocked the slow speeds the train was expected to travel.

Both men expressed interest in using the stimulus money to fix and maintain highways and roads in their states instead. But the money was part of $8 billion in the stimulus bill that was directed for building trains and paving the way for high-speed rail in the United States.

Now they are about to find out if the electorate that supported their antirail platforms will still support them, now that it has cost their states $1.2 billion.

This fall, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, a Republican, killed a long-planned commuter train tunnel under the Hudson River that had received pledges of $3 billion from the federal government. He cited concerns about the strapped state’s share of the project’s rising costs. Now the federal government is weighing how to redistribute that money to other transit projects, and has asked New Jersey to return the approximately $271 million already spent on the project.

The biggest winners of Ohio and Wisconsin’s money were California, which will receive another $624 million on top of the nearly $3 billion it has received so far toward the construction of a high-speed train from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and Florida, which will get another $342 million on top of the roughly $2 billion it has received to build a high-speed train between Orlando and Tampa.

Florida’s governor-elect, Rick Scott, a Republican, has said he would take another look at the numbers to see if that train is still viable — at only 84 miles, the route is not considered long enough by many rail experts to be optimally served by high-speed rail.

The other states that will get Ohio and Wisconsin’s money will be Washington, which will get up to $161 million; Illinois, which will get $42.3 million; and Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and Vermont, which will all get less than $10 million.

Wisconsin will be able to keep about $2 million for work on its Hiawatha line, which Governor-elect Walker has said he supports.

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China’s $62-billion river diversion project might be the next Great Wall

China’s $62-billion river diversion project might be the next Great Wall

I suspect that when the plans for the Great Wall of China were presented to the then Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, he might have remarked at the audacious approach chosen by the engineers. Back then the idea for the wall was to simply fortify their expanding territory, an effort which culminated in the creation of one of the most remarkable world wonder. This time around, engineers are faced with an equally ambitious project albeit with a different set of challenges. The challenge is to reroute some of the country’s waterways and direct them to Beijing. Ambitious? Yes. Practical? Apparently so, given that the communist party appears to have staked enormous prestige on the success of the project, and even allocated a hefty price tag of $62-billion.

The project traces its origin to a comment made in 1952 by Chairman Mao who reportedly proposed that since there was “a lot of water in the south, but not much in the north,” then they could “borrow some, then everything would be OK.” In simple terms, the completed project will channel water from the flood plains of China’s south and the snow-capped mountains of the west all the way to Beijing.

Scope of the project
The project encompasses three major components: The 885-mile eastern line from Hangzhou to Beijing, which mostly follows the route of the Grand Canal and is hoped to be ready by 2013. The middle line, which is supposed to open in 2014, runs 766 miles, although it might be extended. The western section, which is still in the planning stages, would funnel water from the Tibetan plateau. But with serious cost overruns and delays on the eastern and middle routes, there are doubts about whether the third line will be built at all.

Challenges
It is clearly obvious that such a project carries a sizable number of challenges. Nevermind the obviously complicated hydrology and ecological factors, the project has faced objections from environmentalist and preservationists alike. According to one pro-democracy activist, “the project is robbing the water of the rest of China to supply Beijing.”

Objections aside, the project is flowing along as planned.

engineeringdaily.net

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New Jersey governor voices support for No. 7 subway extension

NJ gov says he'd consider helping fund subway link
Associated Press

TRENTON, N.J. — Gov. Chris Christie, who halted construction last month on a new commuter rail tunnel between New Jersey and New York City, said Monday that he would consider contributing to a cheaper alternative: extending New York's No. 7 subway line under the Hudson River to New Jersey.

Speaking on Millennium Radio's "Ask the Governor" program Monday night, Christie said extending the No. 7 line from Manhattan through Hoboken and onto Secaucus is "a much better idea" than the tunnel that was the nation's most expensive public works project.

Christie scrapped that project because of potential cost overruns, forfeiting $3 billion in federal funds that had been approved. New Jersey could be on the hook to repay the federal government $350 million already spent.

Christie said he hadn't yet spoken with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg about the proposal. Policymakers in Bloomberg's office have been discussing whether it would be possible to extend the line.

"This is an example of what can happen when you decide to take a strong, principled stand on something," Christie said. "If something is necessary, people find other ideas that are more equitable."

Christie said the proposed subway extension has three points in its favor: It would be cheaper than the scrapped tunnel, it would connect to Penn Station and Grand Central Station and would have funding from New York City and state.

He then chided Sen. Frank Lautenberg for not speaking up on behalf of the new idea. Lautenberg helped secure federal funding for the rail tunnel.

The $8.7 billion project to construct a second rail tunnel between New Jersey and New York was 15 years in the making when Christie killed it Oct. 27. Former Gov. Jon Corzine broke ground on the project amid his re-election campaign against Christie. Christie later accused the former governor of rushing the start of the project for political gain; Corzine said he was creating jobs.

New Jersey was expected to shoulder $2.7 billion of the costs, plus overruns. The federal government and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had each committed $3 billion to the project.

Before the most recent idea goes anywhere, it would need support from Christie, Bloomberg, who's an independent, and New York Gov.-elect Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat. U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., offered his support in obtaining federal funds to make the idea work.

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Chinese workers build 15-story hotel in just six days

As the United States and China battle over the finer points of currency manipulation at the G-20 summit, American negotiators may want to take note of this startling testimonial to the productivity of Chinese workers: A construction crew in the south-central Chinese city of Changsha has completed a 15-story hotel in just six days. If nothing else, this remarkable achievement will stoke further complaints from American economic pundits that China's economy is far more accomplished than ours in tending to such basics as construction.

Meanwhile, it's easy to imagine the disorientation of Changsha residents who'd gone away, or who just hadn't recently ventured into the downtown neighborhood of the new Ark Hotel: "Honey, I don't remember a hotel there, do you?"

The work crew erected the hotel -- a soundproofed, thermal-insulated structure reportedly built to withstand a magnitude 9 earthquake -- with all prefabricated materials. In other words, a crew of off-site factory workers built the sections, and their on-site counterparts arranged them on the foundation for the Ark project.

Despite the frenetic pace of construction, no workers were injured -- and thanks to the prefab nature of the process, the builders wasted very few construction materials. Below is a time-lapse video that shows the hotel being built from the ground up in less than a week:



Yahoo!News

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Wisconsin Temporarily Halts Work On Train Project

Barrett hints that legal action could ensue if halt becomes permanent

The state Department of Transportation has told contractors on the high-speed rail line between Madison and Milwaukee to stop work on the federally funded project "for a few days," in the wake of rail opponent Scott Walker's victory in the governor's race, Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi said Thursday.

But contractors immediately started talking about laying off employees, and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett hinted the city could consider legal action if a permanent shutdown of the line shortens the life of a Spanish-owned train manufacturing plant on the city's north side.

"At the governor's request, I have asked contractors and consultants working on the high speed rail project to temporarily interrupt their work for a few days," Busalacchi said in a written statement, referring to outgoing Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.

"In light of the election results, our agency will be taking a few days to assess the real-world consequences, including the immediate impacts to people and their livelihoods, if this project were to be stopped."

The move follows Tuesday's election of Walker, the Milwaukee County executive, as governor. During the campaign, Walker, a Republican, repeatedly vowed to kill the planned $810 million train line. He will take office Jan. 3.

Even with the federal government picking up the line's full construction cost, Walker has said he doesn't want state taxpayers to pay operating costs, projected at $7.5 million a year, starting in 2013. A state transportation official has said state taxpayers' share could be as little as $750,000 a year, if federal aid covers 90% of operating costs, as it does for Amtrak's existing Milwaukee-to-Chicago Hiawatha line.

Speaking to reporters at the Capitol on Thursday, Walker said he hadn't received confirmation of the administration's move.

"Certainly, for us, we've been pursuing legal options between now and Jan. 3 that would allow us to try and slow down if not stop the train. Certainly there's some optimism if that turns out to be true," Walker said.

Contractors confirmed they had been told to stop work, and some worried they might have to lay off employees if the job grinds to a permanent halt. Construction employment on the line was projected to peak at 4,732 jobs in 2012, with 55 permanent jobs to operate and maintain trains, stations and tracks.

"They just said, 'We're going to stop it for now and we'll see how it goes,'" said Abdulhamid Ali, president of DAAR Engineering, which has a $2.8 million construction management contract for the railway.

Ali said he was told to stop the work in a one-sentence e-mail from the state Transportation Department.

DAAR "will be laying off at least two people with families" immediately, another company spokesman said.

Pat Goss, executive director of the Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association, said state transportation officials also told contractor Edward Kraemer & Sons to halt work on building a five-mile stretch of track in Jefferson County.

"The department did direct the contractor not to proceed," Goss said. "They were told not to work, and at this point that's as much as we know. Kraemer was told not to proceed yesterday, and they weren't given any timeline or any reason why."

That contract was awarded a week or so ago. Kraemer received an order to proceed, and that order was rescinded on Wednesday, Goss said.

Plant's future derailed
At Talgo, the Spanish train company, the announcement won't mean immediate layoffs, but it casts a pall over the future of the plant on the former Tower Automotive property, said Nora Friend, a Talgo vice president.

Talgo has contracts to build two trains for the Hiawatha and two trains for Oregon. It was hoping to build trains for the Milwaukee-to-Madison line as well but was told the state has put the request for proposals for those trains on hold, Friend said.

The company has already hired about 40 people for its current contracts and plans to have a total of 125 on board by next year, Friend and Barrett said. If it had won contracts to build trains for the Milwaukee-to-Madison line and for other states, it would have kept the plant in operation beyond 2012 and expanded, they said.

"The implication is that a lot of people will be losing their jobs," after the current work is done, Friend said. "For us, it means we won't be able to expand. . . .  It's very difficult for us to hire people and tell them it's only for a year and a half or so."

Barrett said the city had invested more than $3 million in buying and renovating the part of the Tower property that Talgo is using, in the belief "this would provide employment for many years."

The mayor, who lost to Walker in Tuesday's election, said he would be consulting with City Attorney Grant Langley about the city's options if the project is halted. But he stopped short of directly threatening a lawsuit.

A source with knowledge of the decision-making process said the state made the final call to suspend the decision, but that federal rail officials had let them know they were not eager to get into a protracted dispute with Walker. The reluctance came from bureaucrats in the Federal Railroad Administration and not the White House, the source said.

Plans call for the rail line to operate as an extension of the Hiawatha, and eventually to be extended to the Twin Cities, as part of a larger Midwestern network of fast, frequent trains.

At the same time Walker won the governor's office, voters handed his fellow Republicans control of both houses of the Legislature. Many of them have been critical of the rail plan, and state Rep. Robin Vos (R-Racine), the Legislature's most vocal opponent of passenger rail, is poised to become Assembly co-chairman of the powerful Joint Finance Committee.

But the weekend before the election, state and federal officials quietly signed a deal to commit the state to spend all of the $810 million in federal stimulus money allocated for the project. Transportation officials did not announce the weekend deal but confirmed it after the Journal Sentinel learned of it.

Walker blasted that deal, and Barrett said the state should have been more transparent in its dealings. The mayor said he supported a temporary delay in the work to allow more public discussion of the impact of a permanent halt.

It is not clear how difficult it would be for Walker to legally extract the state from its commitment. He has said he would urge Congress to let Wisconsin keep the money and spend it on roads and bridges, and he reiterated that stand Thursday.

"The whole reason we made a point of raising our concerns about this is I don't want the taxpayers of this state to be stuck with a bill of $7½ (million) to $10 million a year when we have roads and bridges that need to be fixed," Walker said.

Without an act of Congress, however, federal rules would require the state to repay the federal government for any money already spent on the project and give up all the unspent money if the rail line doesn't go forward. Doyle and his fellow Democrat, Barrett, have said Walker was misleading voters by suggesting Wisconsin could keep the federal money, instead of seeing it redistributed to other states' rail projects.

Barrett repeated those comments Thursday. He said he saw no chance of the money being spent on Wisconsin roads if the train line is halted, and the best alternative to sending it to other states would be to use it to reduce the federal deficit.

Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz urged Walker to reconsider his position. Cieslewicz said he saw no chance of the money going to either roads or deficit reduction, adding, "It will go to another state … to create jobs there."

***

Stop work order
Construction employment on the line was projected to peak at 4,732 jobs in 2012, with 55 permanent jobs to operate and maintain trains, stations and tracks.

Operating costs are projected at $7.5 million a year.

source: JSOnline

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Nuclear power reactor shut down after transformer failure

Published: Nov 8, 2010

Entergy Corp. shut its 1,020 MW Indian Point 2 nuclear reactor in New York after a transformer explosion, according to a report from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The blast did not cause any injuries or release of radiation.

It was unclear whether the entire transformer would have to be replaced. The plant is currently in “cold” shutdown, meaning it will take longer for the unit to send power to the grid.

Another transformer failed at the plant in 2007, according to the NRC.

Indian Point 3 was not affected and is operating at full capacity.

Power-Gen Worldwide

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NY Consulate opens two Sundays in December (Dec. 7 & 14)

In an effort to extend its public service and as a Christmas gift to the community this winter season, the Consulate will be open for two Sundays in December, the 7th and the 14th, to give those who can not be absent from work during the week the opportunity to avail of consular services. Passport applications will be processed from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Legalization of documents will be accepted from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm, for release until 4:00 pm; documents received after 2:00 will be available for pick-up the following day. The community is enjoined to help spread the word and encourage those who wish to avail of consular services to come. Our offices are located at the 3rd floor of the Philippine Center, 556 Fifth Avenue (between 45th and 46th street), New York, NY 10036, easily accessible on foot, or through bus or subway. For more information on documentary requirements and downloadable forms for all our services, please see our website: http://pcgny.net/ or call us at 212-764-1330.

source: filipinoreporter.com

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FAAE Technical Workshop

NEW YORK - To all Engineers in the tri-state area. The Filipino American Association of Engineers (FAAE), will be conducting a Technical Workshop on November 8, 2008 from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM at the Philippine Consulate Building, 556 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10036, (Between 45th & 46th Street) FREE BREAKFAST and LUNCH “FILIPINO DISH” will be served. Seminar Fee is $10.00. Seminar is subsidized by FAAE, and Certificate of Attendance will be distributed after the seminar. Certificate of PDH credits will be provided by accredited vendors. A “MUST” FOR ENGINEERS AND YOU ARE ALL WELCOME!!! Please bring your business cards and we will appreciate very much if you come in business attire.
For seminar details and reservation, please call:
Fred Taruc - 917 365 7007
Tante Palad - 201 773 6009
Arnel Suarez - 212 404 5822
Pete Bonus - 212 613 8842

http:://www.filam-engineers.org

source: filipinoreporter.com

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Ready New York

The 2006 Atlantic hurricane season officially started June 1 and the season lasts until November 30.

Con Edison recently updated their website to provide storm preparation and storm recovery information to customers.

New York City Office of Emergency Management (OEM) also provides local coastal storm and hurricane preparedness information. To check whether you live in high risk zone, here's a map of "New York City Hurricane Evacuation Zones" brochure.

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