Key players in the private sector have signalled that they want to be given a role in the new arrangement for the establishment of
Oil prices rebounded today, from a two month low, to a two month high, as tensions between Syria and Turkey fanned concerns, that exports from the Middle East may be curtailed.
Lawmakers in Turkey gave their government a one year mandate for possible military incursion into Syria, after explosives from Syria killed Turkish citizens.
The tension saw prices jumping by 3 dollars 57 cents, erasing almost all of yesterday’s 3 dollars 75 cents loss.
It pushed the price of oil up, by 4 point 1 percent, to 91 dollars 71 cents a barrel.
It was the biggest increase in oil prices since August 3, and means prices are up 15 percent, since the start of the year.
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KINGSTON, Jamaica
ENERGY Minister Phillip Paulwell says that the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) will now be responsible for sourcing the Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) needed to fuel its new generation plant.
“We are very confident that with the tremendous international reach that Marubeni and East West Power (JPSCo parent company) have, they are quite capable of doing this on their own,” Paulwell told journalists at yesterday’s Jamaica House press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kingston.
He said the recent discussions in Japan resolved that JPSCo would be fully responsible for ensuring that the generation plant is properly fuelled.
He explained that the light and power company received a licence last year to establish 360 megawatts of new generation driven by natural gas. However, he said that the Government interceded and attempted to get the fuel to the plant by way of FSRU pipeline and LNG supply.
“JPSCo has now accepted full responsibility for that,” he declared.
As to concerns that JPSCo could be forced to use diesel if it is unable to source LNG, resulting in higher electricity costs, Paulwell said the issue was raised in the discussions.
“The intention now… is from day one that gas will be the fuel that will be used at this plant and the only time we should contemplate using diesel is in the event of a hurricane when you have to move out the FSRU unit for a couple days,” he said, adding that this has been accepted by JPSCo.
In relation to JPSCo’s guarantee that using LNG will result in lower electricity costs for consumers, Paulwell said that the Government
GOVERNMENT is giving US$7 million (approx J$630 million) in revenues to the Russian-based aluminium producer UC Rusal, under a one-year waiver of the bauxite levy, Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell announced yesterday.
The minister, who was speaking at yesterday’s Jamaica House press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kingston, said the concession was a win-win situation for all.
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“If we didn’t do that I believe the scenario would be quite different today. We wouldn’t have the US$7 million, plus we wouldn’t have the 600 jobs or the production,” Paulwell said.
“We (Jamaica) are now going to be part of the base location for UC Rusal and we will no longer be affected by the swing of supply and demand,” Paulwell said.
He told reporters that a similar deal would have kept the Kirkvine plant in Manchester open if it was not rejected by the previous administration. “In 2010 a similar approach was made to the then government and it was not pursued and that plant is still closed today,” Paulwell said.
It was not immediately clear what proposal was put to the former Jamaica Labour Party Government by the bauxite giant and what was put on the table by the then administration.
In the meantime, Minister Paulwell said no deal has been struck with UC Rusal for its other two plants — Alpart and Kirkvine — because the Government had no sweeteners to offer. “For three years Kirkvine and Alpart have been closed, so there is no levy concession to offer as a sweetener because right now they are not paying anything,” Paulwell said.
The minister announced in Parliament Tuesday that the Government had signed a concessionary agreement to waive the bauxite levy on UC Rusal’s operation at Ewarton, St Catherine from October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013. He said, too, that an agreement was reached for the employment level at the plant to remain at the current 600 jobs during the period of the concession.
UC Rusal, Paulwell announced, would be investing US$100 million (J$9 billion) in the facility for the construction of a coal-fired electricity-generating plant. Construction is expected to begin next year and earmarked for completion in 2015.
“We wanted a similar definitive timeline for Kirkvine and Alpart, but we are some distance away as it relates to our position and theirs, and that is why the negotiations continue and by the end of November I will report to the country,” he said. Both plants, he said, would also need to have an energy solution as this will help in the creation of more jobs.
“We are seeing with the coal plant at Ewarton, 800 jobs being created, and so if a similar approach is adopted then even before the refinery is established you can have jobs being created by virtue of the energy transformation that has to take place,” he said.
The Government, he said, has given its support to the company to pursue energy options in accordance with the country’s National Energy Policy as well as local environmental standards.
He announced that Cabinet has also authorised negotiations for the sale of the Government’s seven per cent shares in Windalco. He said these negotiations should be completed in November.
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MONTEGO BAY, St James – TOURISM and Entertainment Minister Wykeham McNeill has challenged stakeholders in the sector to augment alternative energy supply sources and expand the use of supporting energy in a collaborative effort to keep the industry buoyant.
“As a sector, I am encouraging all our tourism partners to do what you can incrementally and over time to expand your energy options and increase your use of sustainable energy,” McNeill charged.
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Sandals Resorts International (SRI) Director of Administrator and Business Processes, Wayne Cummings (left) and Tourism Minister Wykeham McNeill are locked in discussion following World Tourism Day Luncheon held at Sandals Montego Hotel, last week. (Photo: Kenroy Pringle) |
“I want to encourage our tourism sector partners to seriously explore the use of alternative and sustainable energy sources, in our collective efforts towards the future sustainability of the tourism industry“.
Meanwhile, former President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) Wayne Cummings noted that for a downward trend in energy costs to be realised, an energy policy would have to be written, “agreed to, and we all stick to it”.
“So we need to figure it out and make it known to everybody,” Cummings argued.
Cummings, who is also the Sandals Resorts International (SRI) director of administrator and business processes, was speaking during a World Tourism Day Luncheon held at the Sandals Montego Hotel, where McNeill, Junior Minister in the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment Damion Crawford and other tourism officials, were in attendance.
Prior to the luncheon, the party toured a villa at the resort in which suites are fully powered by solar technology, allowing for the harnessing and storing of energy to power sections of the resort’s operation, through a pilot project undertaken jointly with Panasonic.
Paul Grey, head of ATL Energy and Engineering, said with the US$100,000 investment, savings of up to US$120,000 could be realised within a decade.
In the meantime, conceding that the cost of establishing alternative energy sources will be costly at the beginning, the tourism and entertainment minister also underscored the need to retrofit, among other solutions.
“We have entities of varying sizes and I realise the initial costs involved may seem daunting, but it may be that you need to retrofit your bulbs, install solar panels, implement waste water management systems plus a myriad of other solutions,” McNeill noted.
He further noted that energy strategies should form a major plank of each entity’s Environmental Management Policy.
“So today (Thursday) is a good time to once again seriously consider plans to implement energy solutions in a manageable form that will allow you to monitor the performance and provide real readings on the effect on your bottom line,” McNeill remarked.
“Let each and every one of us play our part in ‘Powering Sustainable Development‘ to the benefit of our sector, our society and nation at large”.
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Oil prices plunged Wednesday on more evidence of slower growth in Asia and concerns about Europe‘s ongoing financial crisis.
Benchmark oil fell $3.43 or 3.7 per cent to $88.46 per barrel in afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, which is used to price international varieties of oil, fell $2.59, or 2.3 per cent, to $108.98 a barrel in London.
China‘s services sector slowed in September. Analysts say the index was 53.7 compared with 56.3 in August. It was released just days after a survey indicated that the country’s manufacturing continues to slow.
China is the world’s second largest economy and a huge importer of commodities like oil. Slower growth in that country could cut demand for oil.
And it’s not only China. After years of rapid growth, Asia’s developing economies now face much more modest prospects, the Asian Development Bank said Wednesday in a report that slashes growth forecasts for this year and next.
The ADB said growth in developing Asia, which includes giant emerging economies such as India, China and Indonesia, will slow to 6.1 per cent this year from 7.2 per cent last year and only partly rebound to 6.7 per cent in 2013. It had previously forecast growth of 6.9 per cent for 2012 and 7.3 per cent for 2013.
The disappointing reports were overshadowing signs of improvement in US service companies, which employ nearly 90 per cent of the work force. The Institute for Supply Management says its index rose in September at the fastest pace since March.
Meanwhile, the US government says crude inventories fell slightly last week but remain 8.4 per cent above year-ago levels. Gasoline supplies rose.
In other energy futures trading in New York, natural gas is down 16 cents, or 4.6 per cent, to $3.37 per 1,000 cubic feet, a day after hitting a high for the year.
Heating oil has fallen 5 cents to $3.07 per gallon, and wholesale gasoline has dropped 7 cents, or 2.5 per cent, to $2.80 per gallon.
– AP
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THE Government says that it is withdrawing from the fuel source selection process to focus on creating a legislative and regulatory energy framework this fiscal year.
However, Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell told the House of Representative yesterday that the Government has not abandoned plans to introduce Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) into Jamaica by 2015.
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Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell |
He said that plans are well advanced for the introduction of LNG, but given the result of the bidding process, the Government has determined that it has taken the matter as far as it can go. He added that it was also the Government’s view that private electricity and alumina producers would have much more flexibility in procuring fuel supplies and use their international leverage to get the best possible prices.
However, “as a Government, we (will) continue to support and facilitate private investors as we work together to achieve the best possible solutions,” Paulwell said.
He stated that the LNG committee will be immediately disbanded and replaced with a body that includes members of the Jamaica Energy Council, the Office of Utilities and his ministry.
“With the termination of the work of the LNG steering committee, there will be no need to access the remaining US$2.6 million that was originally budgeted,” he explained in reference to the fact that the Government has already spent US$2.8 million of the US$5.4-million proposed budget for the LNG project.
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