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Energy World article
Energy World Corporation Ltd (EWC) is involved in the exploration, development and production of gas, oil and LNG and the operation and maintenance of power stations, with operations in Australia, China, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. With a Market Cap of $AU 726 million, the company’s focus is on building modular LNG plants delivering clean and green energy to the Asia Pacific region. Over the next two to five years, the EWC will be spending $AU 700 million on power station upgrades and expansion into new areas of the Asia Pacific region. Filling the Gap for Clean Fuel “It’s clear that Asia wants clean and green fuel for its power stations and industry,” says Stewart Elliott, Chairman, CEO and Managing Director of EWC, “but no-one had developed a market for the Philippines, Indonesia and even parts of China. We aimed to fill this gap but first we needed a standardised, economic and efficient liquefaction system. To develop our modular LNG system we approached Chart in the US for their processing and cold box system and Siemens for their electric drive compressor system and balance of plant. With this technology, we were able to achieve our aim of producing an economic and efficient system and began developing our own gas in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. We also secured a license from Gaztransport Technigaz to use its LNG tank technology for land based membrane tanks.” Energy agencies are forecasting significant increases in natural gas demand over the next 20 years. World demand for natural gas has grown by about 2.6 per cent per year over the past decade, but in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa it has average seven per cent over the same period. EWC’s target is to become a leader in modular LNG development and a significant supplier of natural gas to Asian markets. EWC’s Modular LNG allows for a simple, elegant liquefaction setup with a relatively small footprint. Through innovative design, EWC was able to downsize typical LNG train sizes – moving from the grandfather clock to the pocket watch. By using a standard design, more and more components can be shop fabricated, allowing for better quality, cost effectiveness and reduced installation time. Benefits of Modular LNG The benefits of Modular LNG incorporate:
Company Beginnings British born Elliott originally studied civil engineering, moving on to working on major construction projects in Australia, a background that allows EWC to build projects effectively to budget. In 1985, Elliott was sent to Hong Kong by the construction company he was then working with and set up Consolidated Electric Power Asia, which built up to become the largest private power company in Asia, with projects in China, the Philippines, Indonesia and India. “The first coal-fired plant we built in China set a world record,” Elliott recalls. “Seven hundred megawatts in 22 months at a time when it used to take years to build a power station in China!” Consolidated Electric Power Asia was bought out by Southern Electric in 1997, and from there Elliott and other members of the company’s management team formed Energy World International to look for other opportunities in Asia. “One of the companies that requested some funding was Energy Equity,” recalls Elliott. “They had financial problems, with debts of $AU120 million and another $AU40 in foreign exchange loss. Their bankers had called in the loan. We stepped in and refinanced the company with convertible note and I put in a personal loan of $AU35 million in convertible note on the basis that we got involved with management and got the company sorted out. We repaid the bank plus interest and expenses and squared the foreign exchange so there was no foreign exchange loss and changed the company name to Energy World Corporation. Due to our success with the banks we were able to raise the funds to buy out El Paso in Indonesia. This then enabled us to develop our assets in Indonesia and develop the Modular LNG programs.” Meeting Demand Elliott believes that the future of LNG in Asia is very positive, with considerable demand in Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Japan, Korea and China. “To service this new market,” says Elliott, “it must be developed at ‘both ends’, i.e. supply, production and the receiving terminals and distribution of the new LNG. We believe that at the moment, insufficient attention is being given to the receiving terminals and distribution for delivering of gas to the Asian markets. Along with our strategic alliance partner, Chart, we are working at ‘both ends’ to develop the infrastructure to facilitate these new and exciting markets. “The world is crying out for green and clean fuel,” adds Elliott, “but if you look in the Yellow Pages you can’t find LNG. We want to give companies that want to buy small quantities of LNG each year the chance to enable them to change over to cleaner burning, gas-fired stations.” |
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Msg # | Subject | Author | Recs | Date Posted |
6158 | Re: Energy World article | zzzyx | 3 | 9/29/2010 4:23:24 PM |