Inside two half-million-gallon tanks built in the 1950s, a team of microorganisms is preparing to munch its way into the annals of energy innovation.
Late this month, the microbes will start transforming truckloads of restaurant grease into electricity for a water pollution control plant in Millbrae, Calif. The one-of-a-kind setup relieves the city and area eateries [...]

He was determined as a 23-year-old not to go into the family business. So he did just that.
Ahmed AR Buhari is the founder, president and CEO of his very own businesses — Coal and Oil Group of Companies.
He was born in Hong Kong and lived in the United States for a few years. His businesses [...]

Asian stocks fell to a five-week low, led by BHP Billiton, Nippon Mining Holdings Inc. and PetroChina CO., on concern copper and crude oil will extend declines amid signs of cooling demand in the U.S., Japan and China.
“The outlook for global growth still doesn’t bode well for commodities demand,” said Angus Gluskie, who helps manage [...]

Philippine stocks posted their largest one-day drop in two weeks on Friday, snapping six straight trading days of gains, as gold miners such as Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. fell on weak gold prices.
The Philippines ended down 1.13 percent, Indonesian stocks lost 0.52 percent, and Thai stocks were off 0.41 percent by 0513 GMT.
Markets elsewhere rose. [...]

Oil prices inched up Friday on market expectations that a current standoff between the West and
Iran over the country’s nuclear program would unlikely result in major sanctions against
OPEC’s second-largest producer.
Light, sweet crude for October delivery gained 9 cents to $70.35 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract on Thursday [...]

World oil prices slipped lower as a fragile truce between Israel and Lebanon entered its second day.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for September delivery fell 22 cents to 74.08 dollars per barrel in electronic trading.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, slid 18 cents to 73.35 dollars per barrel in [...]

The Tangguh gas field in Indonesia’s eastern province of Papua is expected to resume production and delivery by the end of 2008, following the Tuesday’s signing of a 2.5 billion U.S. dollars loan, a senior official said.
Tangguh has proven reserves of 14.4 trillion cubic feet of gas and estimated total reserves of 23.7 trillion cubic [...]

Oil and gas refining and marketing firm Singapore Petroleum Co. Ltd. (SPC) posted a 33.5 percent jump in second-quarter net profit on Wednesday but warned that demand for refined products may soften.
The company said it would shut a cracker complex for maintenance from September to October, resulting in a drop in its refinery’s throughput.
SPC, 49-percent [...]

High and volatile prices will continue to scare physical gold buyers in most parts of the world, but some markets such as China and Japan will remain strong, bullion dealers said.
Analysts say a majority of buyers are still not ready to cope with the wide price fluctuations that lowered global demand in the past quarters, [...]

Convergys Corp., a provider of outsourced business services, said Thursday it boosted its human resources business process outsourcing business in the Asia Pacific region with the addition and expansion of several centers.
The company either opened new centers or expanded existing ones in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Bangalore, India; Dalian, China; and Singapore. The facilities add to [...]