INDUSTRY BRIEFS

SPILLS

EXXON CORP. will appeal court rulings made Jan. 27 in Alaska that let stand compensatory and punitive damage verdicts stemming from the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker spill off Alaska. Exxon said it continues to believe the $5 billion punitive damage verdict was totally unwarranted.

A BREAK in a crude pipeline section near Usinsk, Russia, Jan. 23 spilled 2,190 bbl of oil and prevented oil shipments in the northern Komi republic and Nenets autonomous region 4 days. Plans include rewelding the line, Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported. A break north of Usinsk last year spilled more than 1 00,000 bbl (OGJ, Oct. 31, 1994, p. 23).

PETROCHEMICALS

KUWAIT'S Petrochemical Industries Co. let a 25.8 million dinar ($86 million) contract to Japan's Toyo Engineering Corp. to build a 100,000 metric ton/year polypropylene plant south of Kuwait City. Work is scheduled for completion by 1997.

PHILLIPS SUMIKA POLYPROPYLENE CO. let contract to Brown & Root Inc. unit Brown & Root Petroleum & Chemicals to build a 270 million lb/year gas phase polypropylene plant at Phillips' Houston chemical complex in Pasadena, Tex. Work is scheduled for completion in second quarter 1996. The new plant will increase the complex's combined polypropylene capacity to 750 million lb/year.

VISTA CHEMICAL CO., Houston, and PPG Industries, Pittsburgh, agreed to form a joint venture production company that will increase PPG's vinyl chloride monomer plant capacity in Lake Charles, La., to 1.1 5 billion lb/year from 650 million lb/year. Expansion is scheduled for completion during first quarter 1997.

REFINING

MALAYSIAN REFINING CO. let contract for engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning of the 100,000 b/d PSR-2 refinery at Kuala Lumpur to a group made up of Chiyoda Corp., MMC Engineering Services, Chiyoda Malaysia, and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. The plant is expected to start up late in 1997.

KPI started up a 20,000 b/d FCCU at its 135,000 b/d Chiba, Japan, refinery. The unit will help the plant produce more high value gasoline and distillates. KPI is a 50-50 venture of Mobil Corp. and Mitsui Oil & Gas.

KUWAIT let a 30.168 million dinar ($101 million) contract to Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. (Japan), Tokyo, to expand the FCCU and add a 1,300 b/d methyl tertiary butyl ether unit at the 390,000 b/cd Mina al-Ahmadi, Kuwait, refinery. Work will allow the plant to start producing lead free gasoline by 1997.

UOP, Des Plaines, Ill., bought Unocal Corp.'s process technology licensing business. It acquired patents and third party licenses that include Unicracking and Unionfining.

COMPANIES

WILLIAMS COS. INC. and Transco Energy Co. directors approved a proposed recapitalization plan under which Williams will quickly move to inject as much as $950 million into Transco. Williams last month completed a tender offer for 60% of Transco's stock (OGJ, Jan. 23, p. 67).

OFFSHORE PIPELINES INC. (OPI), Houston, shareholders approved the company's merger into J.Ray McDermott Holdings Inc., a unit of Ray McDermott SA. The merger combines OPI with most of the marine construction services business conducted by McDermott International Inc., New Orleans.

ORANGE & ROCKLAND UTILITIES INC. unit O&R Energy Inc. 73% and a unit of Shell Gas Trading Co. 27% agreed to form Norstar Energy LP, Montvale, N.J. Norstar will be a full service gas services and marketing company. Government approval of the new firm is required.

KREBS & CIE S.A. acquired a 51% share in Chemoprojekt AS, a Prague chemical engineering firm. Chemoprojekt, privatized in 1992, has export orders in the Czech Republic, Germany, eastern Europe, and Asia. It is a subcontractor on the Fauji Jordan Fertilizer Co. project in Pakistan.

PIPELINES

CMS ENERGY CORP. unit CMS Gas Transmission & Storage Co., Dearborn, Mich., and St. Clair Pipelines, a unit of Union Gas Ltd., Chatham, Ont., asked Canadian, U.S., and Michigan regulatory agencies to approve an international joint pipeline project linking their gas transmission systems at the U.S.-Canada border near Sarnia, Ont., via the Grand Lacs market center at Marysville, Mich. The proposed Bluewater pipeline start-up date is Nov. 1.

CNG TRANSMISSION CORP., Clarksburg, W.Va., will use part of its $91.8 million 1995 capital budget on a $14.2 million project to bring equipment in Pennsylvania and New York into compliance with the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990, $11.5 million for an 8,000 hp compressor station at Chambersburg, Pa., $10.5 million to improve deliverability from three underground storage fields in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and $3 million to replace sections of its TL-263 line in southern West Virginia.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA'S government issued final approval for a $400 million (Australian) ($310 million U.S.) gas pipeline project. The line will move gas from the Northwest Shelf gas project terminal at Karratha to gold mines near Kalgoorlie (OGJ, June 21, 1993, p.30). Construction is expected to begin in June under a joint venture project that includes Western Mining Corp., Normandy Poseidon, and Broken Hill Pty. Co. Ltd.

TURKMENISTAN TRANSCONTINENTAL PIPELINE LTD. (TPP) is the new company established to develop, own, and operate the $2.54 billion, 1,260 km gas pipeline proposed to link Turkmenistan via Iran with Turkey and Europe. TPP assigned responsibility for project design and development to US-CIS Ventures Inc., Reston, Va.

TERRORISTS blew up part of northern Colombia's Cano Limon-Covenas crude oil pipeline Jan. 20 at Oru, Norte de Santander, spilling 10,000 bbl, with a combined 4,000 bbl of that volume running into the Simana and Magdalena rivers, Ecopetrol reported. Authorities asked river bank residents in Atlantico, Bolivar, Cesar, and Magdalena departments not to draw water from their aqueducts until the spill passes.

CANADA'S National Energy Board approved Foothills Pipe Lines (Alta.) Ltd.'s application to lay and operate a $139 million (Canadian), 737.5 MMcfd, 134 mile, 36 in. gas transmission line that will tie Princess, Alta., to the Alberta/Montana border near Wild Horse, Alta. The Wild Horse pipeline will supply gas to the U.S. and northern Mexico, with deliveries scheduled to start Nov. 1, 1996.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

ST. MARY LAND & EXPLORATION CO. and three private oil and gas companies, all of Denver, acquired a top lease on 30,450 acres, including North Ward Estes field, in Ward and Winkler counties, Tex. The acreage is subject to a 75 year fixed term lease expiring in August 2000.

PHILLIPS PETROLEUM CO. NORWAY let a 450 million kroner ($67 million) contract to Kvaerner AS, Oslo, for detailed engineering of topsides and a steel jacket for a new processing and transportation platform in Ekofisk field in the Norwegian North Sea. Work is expected to begin this month and last until mid-1996. Phillips is redeveloping Ekofisk after seabed subsidence raised safety concerns (OGJ, Dec. 19, 1994, p. 146).

DOUBLE RIVER OIL & GAS CO., Houston, received development and operating rights to the undeveloped eastern portion of Karazhanbas oil field in the Caspian Sea off Kazakhstan. The field is southwest of Severne Buzachi oil field, which Double River also plans to develop.

COASTAL CORP. units shut in a combined 60 MMcfd of gas they produce in the U.S. because prices fell below reasonable economic levels. The shut-in will last through February.

HAMILTON OIL CO. LID. let an 800,000 ($1.2 million) well service contract to Transocean Petroleum Technology Ltd., Aberdeen. Transocean will provide coiled tubing, fluid pumping, nitrogen pumping, and downhole equipment for 3 years during development of Hamilton's U.K. offshore Liverpool Bay fields.

AMERADA HESS LTD. let contract to Baker Hughes Ltd. unit Baker Hughes Inteq for North Sea drilling services during an initial 9 months, which may be extended to 3 years. Baker Hughes will provide measurement while drilling, surveying, directional drilling, mud logging, bits, drilling fluids, fishing, and abandonment services for Amerada's U.K. offshore exploration program.

SASOL LTD., Johannesburg, and Norsk Hydro AS, Oslo, let contract to Supply-link International BY, Rotterdam, to establish a base at Walvis Bay, South Africa, to support drilling operations off Namibia. Sasol is drilling on Block 2012, while Hydro, Ranger, Chevron, and Shell have drilling programs beginning this year. Namibia's first offshore exploration well, a dry hole, was spudded by Hydro in 1993.

NORSK HYDRA let a 5 year contract worth 30-50 million kroner ($4.5-7.5 million)/year to Kvaerner Eureka, a unit of Kvaerner AS, Oslo, to provide equipment and services off Norway. The contract is intended to cut development and production costs, shorten lead times, and reduce financial risk for operator and supplier.

SAGA PETROLEUM AS is to receive a 60 million kroner ($8.7 million) gas turbine package from Kvaerner AS to aid in development of Vigdis field off Norway. The turbine will be placed on Saga's Snorre platform, to which Vigdis subsea development will be tied back. Delivery is slated for December.

SHELL U.K. EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION let a 4 year contract worth 2.5 million ($3.75 million) to Ecodrill Ltd., Aberdeen, for drilling support on Shell's North Sea operations. This is an extension of a 1 year contract that involved equipment trials, performance reviews, and engineering studies.

ORYX U.K. ENERGY CO. assumed operatorship of North Sea Murchison, Hutton, and Lyell fields and Ensign prospect. They are Oryx's first operatorships in the U.K. North Sea. Oryx traded its interests in the Britannia development prospect for the producing assets in a move designed to increase near term cash flow. Oryx believes it can reduce operating costs and extend field life by 2 years in the aging fields (OGJ, Sept. 19, 1994, p. 37).

OCEANEERING PRODUCTION SYSTEMS (OPS), a unit of Oceaneering International Inc., Houston; and Mansal Offshore WLL, Doha, Qatar, teamed up to provide jack up based early production systems for offshore projects in the Middle East, West Africa, and Asia-Pacific regions. Manse[ will provide jack up rigs modified to fit specific projects, while OPS will provide process equipment and operating personnel.

HARDY OIL & GAS PLC, London, 1 OCS-G-13782 gas discovery in 63 ft of water on Galveston Block 298 in the Gulf of Mexico cut pay sands in three zones. The deepest flowed 5 MMcfd of gas and 280 b/d of condensate, while the others yielded 6.9 MMcfd of gas and 524 b/d of condensate, and 4.5 MMcfd of gas and 97 b/d of condensate. Hardy intends to begin production from the discovery late this year.

EXPLORATION

MOBIL CORP. unit Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited tested two oil discoveries off Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria, late last year. The 1 Inanga on Oil Mining Lease 68 flowed at rates of more than 4,000 b/d and 2.5 MMcfd of gas. The 1 Ufan on Oil Prospecting License 94 flowed from two zones at combined rates of 3,000 b/d and 15 MMcfd.

LASMO PLC, London, is in a group with Amoco Italy Petroleum Co. SpA, British Gas plc, and Texaco Energia SpA that received exploration permits for three blocks in the Isernia-Campobasso area of southern Italy. The companies each have a 25% interest in each block, with operatorship of Roccasicura going to Lasmo, Duronia to British Gas, and Toro to Texaco. First drilling on the blocks is expected within 2 years.

EGYPTIAN GENERAL PETROLEUM CORP. agreed to allow Komipetroleum to explore a 21,000 sq km area west of Ismailia, Egypt, in Sinai. It is Egypt's first exploration agreement with a Russian petroleum company. The Russian firm will be required to spend $9.5 million on the venture.

RUSSIA'S Gascomplactimpex let contract to Hydro-science Inc., a unit of Whitehall Corp., Dallas, to upgrade data acquisition systems on the Prof. Polshkov marine seismic vessel. It is the second vessel Hydroscience is upgrading for the Russian firm (OGJ, Jan. 23, p. 19). Work on both upgrades is scheduled for completion by May.

STIRLING RESOURCES NL, Perth, acquired two exploration licenses covering a combined 20,300 sq km in Western Australia's Canning basin. Drilling on Blocks 3/94-5 and 4/94-5 in the 1980 srevealed oil bearing structures. Stirling plans to drill several new prospects in the area, making it the focus of its domestic oil and gas exploration.

LNG

QATAR'S Ras Laffan LNG Co. agreed to sell 2.5 million metric tons/year of liquefied natural gas to India, with deliveries expected to begin in 1999. Negotiations are under way with China for a similar sales volume. Ras Laffan also agreed to supply 2 million tons/year of LNG to Turkey for 25 years.