GE Energy announced today that it has signed a 15-year service agreement with South African oil and gas company Sasol. Under the agreement, GE Energy will provide around-the-clock monitoring and diagnostics of Sasol’s new power plant in Secunda, which could help ease South Africa’s energy crisis.
South Africa, which has Africa’s largest economy, is in the [...]

Occidental Petroleum Corporation announced an agreement with SandRidge Energy to develop a West Texas hydrocarbon gas processing plant and related pipeline infrastructure that will provide carbon dioxide (CO2) for use in Oxy’s enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects. The new CO2 resources are expected to expand Oxy’s Permian production by a minimum of 50,000 barrels [...]

A General Electric subsidiary increased its share of solar technology company PrimeStar Solar Inc. to a majority stake.
GE Energy said in September 2007 that it had taken a minority stake in the company.
Golden, Colo.-based PrimeStar was formed in 2006 to develop and commercial thin-film photovoltaic modules. It has 60 employees.
Financial terms of the deal and [...]

Enbridge Energy said an explosion in November that killed two workers in northwestern Minnesota happened after oil mist escaped from a coupling and was ignited by a heater.
Enbridge did its own investigation after the Nov. 28 blast. A federal investigation is not yet finished.
Enbridge said an exposed pipeline was not anchored properly. When it was [...]

A new report from Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) says the cost of building a new power plant has more than doubled since 2000.
Wind energy showed the biggest rise in costs — 6 percent since the third quarter of 2007 and 108 percent since 2000 — as rising demand for wind turbines boosted equipment costs [...]