Al-Futtaim and its network of experienced retailers will allow Fisker to reach customers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and Egypt. The EVer (Electric Vehicle extended range) powertrain of the Fisker Karma. Click to enlarge. Fisker Automotive published its first business update, announcing that revenues had exceeded $100 million in the first four months of 2012. MORE

sales of hybrid SUVs and other fuel efficient vehicles will prove interesting to watch this year, especially if fuel prices remain relatively low. Expert predictions about where oil and gas prices are headed vary widely. MORE

Sembcorp Industries is one of the largest environmental companies on the Asian continent, and not only takes care of waste disposal in numerous cities and densely populated areas, but is also involved in energy and water supply in Singapore, China, Vietnam, Great Britain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. MORE

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The addition of four countries—Chad, Kazakhstan, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—to a previous assessment covering 42 countries has resulted in a 13% increase in the global assessed total resource estimate for shale oil and a 4% increase for shale gas. MORE

The Strait is located between Oman and Iran, and connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. MORE

Researchers in Malaysia and Oman have developed a novel palladium oxalate catalyst supported on zeolite A (PdOx/ Zeol) with increased acidity for the hydrodeoxygenation and isomerization of bio-feedstocks into paraffinic (drop-in) biofuels. In a paper in the ACS journal Energy & Fuel , they report the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of stearic acid (SA) (one of the most common saturated fatty acids found in nature following palmitic acid) into paraffinic biofuel. MORE

Juerg Matter, a scientist at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and his colleague Peter Kelemen are currently researching peridotite formations in Oman, which they say could be used to mineralize as much as 4 billion tons of CO 2 a year, or about 12% of the world’s annual output. MORE

The company has built five world-scale plants in Trinidad and Oman similar in design to the Big Lake Fuels plant. G2X Energy, Inc. and Methanol Holdings Trinidad Limited (MHTL) announced that MHTL intends to partner with G2X Energy to construct the world-scale methanol-to-gasoline (MTG)-ready, methanol production facility being developed by G2X Energy in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Earlier post.). MORE

On top of that, Kuwait’s envoy to OPEC said that Qatar, Kuwait and Oman were also complying with the cuts. by Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com. Oil prices faltered at the start of the second week of the year, as fears set in about a rapid rebound in US shale production. MORE

Oxea is owned by Oman Oil Company S.A.O.C. Oxea is expanding its phthalate-free plasticizer portfolio with the introduction of Oxsoft L9 (linear trinonyltrimellitate). Oxsoft L9 is suited for special applications where products must meet the most rigid demands, such as the manufacture of resilient and durable high temperature automotive cables that comply with the most severe requirements in this industry. MORE

In recent years, all six Gulf monarchies—Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain—have begun to challenge the notion that citizens are entitled to cheap energy. The old hypotheses that Persian Gulf energy subsidies were sacrosanct have been overturned, according to a new issue brief from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. MORE

The Nature paper suggests that weakening winds have enabled the formation of stronger cyclones in recent years—including storms in 2007 and 2010 that were the first recorded storms to enter the Gulf of Oman. Cyclone Phet in 2010 struck the coastlines of Pakistan and Oman and caused nearly $2 billion in damage. Scientists are working to better understand atmospheric brown clouds and their effects. Credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation Click to enlarge. MORE

On Monday, the Solar Impulse 2 began its long-awaited journey to fly around the world solely on solar power, with a flight from Abu Dhabi to Muscat, Oman. MORE

Because production levels from Iran, Libya, and Sudan and South Sudan dropped since 2011, China replaced the lost shares of crude oil and other liquids imports from these countries with imports from Oman, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Angola, Venezuela, and Russia. MORE

The group has interests in LNG projects in Indonesia, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Angola, and Russia. Location of the Ichthys project. Source: INPEX. Click to enlarge. Japan-based INPEX Corporation and its joint venture partner Total have made the final investment decision (FID) for the Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Australia, representing an investment of US$34 billion dollars. MORE

Valérie Beaumont, Christèle Vacquand, Eric Deville, and Alain Prinzhofer (2013) Hydrogen generation during serpentinisation in ophiolite complexes: A comparison of H 2 -rich gases from Oman, Philippines and Turkey. IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN) has become one of the first global research centers actively to investigate onshore natural hydrogen emissions after the discovery of offshore sources of the gas in the 1970s. MORE

Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) contracted GlassPoint to build the plant, which is currently being tested. Shell is ready to invest several hundred million dollars in emerging technology companies, with the aim to accelerate the deployment of innovations that add value to the company’s operations. From smarter exploration processes to enhanced extraction techniques, Shell’s corporate venturing arm Shell Technology Ventures will make investments over the next six to eight years. MORE