Vienna- The price for oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) hover

San Francisco  - Californians could soon be powering their homes, and no doubt their hot tubs, from a space-based solar electricity program.

The plan by the state's massive energy company PG&E calls for the generation of 200 megawatts over 15 years to be collected by space-based solar arrays and beamed down to earth via radio frequency.

PG&E hopes to have the system running by 2016 and is seeking permission from regulators to contract with a company called Solaren to put the system in place.

Rio de Janiero - Brazil's state-run energy company Petrobras has announced the discovery of a new offshore oil find. The light-oil field, referred to as Iguacu, is located in the Santos Basin in the Atlantic Ocean about 340 kilometres off the Sao Paulo coast at a depth of 2,140 metres, Petrobras said Tuesday.

The find was made in a new well in the BM-S-9, or Carioca field, that was discovered in April 2008. Petrobras did not give estimates of the field's size or volume.

The oil giant heads a consortium with Britain's BP Group and Spain's Repsol that jointly explores the field.

Tokyo - Japan signed an agreement Tuesday to offer Jordan assistance in developing nuclear power plants, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. The Japanese government agreed to help the Middle Eastern nation introduce nuclear power generation and guarantee non-proliferation of nuclear technology, the ministry said.

With Japan's support, Jordan is aiming to become self-sufficient in generating energy by 2030 and plans to begin operating a nuclear plant by 2017.

Taipei - German wind-power firm InfraVest GmbH on Monday threatened to quit Taiwan over what it claims is Taipei's reluctance to promote renewable power. InfraVest chairman Karl-Eugen Feifel told a news conference that unless Taiwan improves conditions for developing renewable power, InfraVest may quit Taiwan and consider looking for another country.

He complained that Taiwan's parliament had not adopted a bill on promoting renewable energy and the Taiwan Power Co's purchase price for InfraVest's power is too low.

Paris - Worse-than-expected prospects for the world economy has prompted the International Energy Agency (IEA) to again revise downward global oil demand for 2009. In its Monthly Oil Report, issued Friday in Paris, the IEA said that "after a flurry of downward adjustments by both public and private forecasters," oil demand for 2009 has been revised down by 1 million barrels per day, to 83.4 million barrels per day.

This is a drop of 2.8 per cent compared to 2008, the IEA said.