GAS PROCESSING
ALGERIA'S Sonatrach let contract to Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. and Itochu Corp. to build a $450 million, 2 million metric ton/year gas processing p ant near Arzew, Algeria, 400 km west of Algiers. Work is to start this summer and completed by yearend 1996.
AMOCO PRODUCTION CO. and Trident NGL Holding Inc. unit Trident NGL Inc., Houston, agreed to build a 500 MMcfd cryogenic gas processing plant with helium recovery and nitrogen rejection unit in Hugoton field of Southwest Kansas. The proposed plant, beginning in mid to late 1996, is to replace Amoco's 400 Ulysses plant and Trident's 500 MMcfd Jayhawk plant.
VENEZUELA'S Corpoven SA let a turnkey contract to a group made up of Technip, Inelectra, and Dit-Harris for the eastern cryogenic complex expansion program in eastern Venezuela. Work calls for doubling cryogenic gas separation capacity to 800 MMscfd at Santa Barbara, Monagas state, and building a third 35,000 b/d NGL fractionation train at Jose, Anzoategui state. Start-up for both is scheduled for first quarter 1996.
DRILLING-PRODUCTION
KAZAKHSTAN'S Tengizchevroil let contract to Mike Mullen Energy Equipment Resource Inc., Dallas, to supply a 3,000 hp, winterized, land drilling rig for use in Tengiz oil field development. The National 1625-DE rig will be managed by Parker Drilling Co., Tulsa.
EXPLORATION CO. OF LOUISIANA (XCL), Lafayette, La., completed a long term loan agreement with Internationale Nederland (U.S.) Capital Corp. from which proceeds of $29.2 million will allow XCL immediately to begin drilling three wells in Bohai Bay off China. The loan also will fund four development wells, four recompletions, and two field extension wells in Berry R. Cox gas field of South Texas.
AMOCO ORIENT PETROLEUM CO. and Chinese Offshore Nanhai East let contracts to Sonsub Inc., Houston, to help develop and operate diverless subsea intervention equipment and procedures to be used in Liuhua 11-1 field in 1,000 ft of water in the South China Sea.
OIL & GAS DEVELOPMENT CORP. (OGDC) started development of Pakistan's Qadirpur gas field, which holds estimated reserves of 3 tcf. OGDC plans to begin production in second half 1995 at a rate of 200 Mmcfd. OGDC holds a 75% interest in the field, Premier Consolidated Oilfields plc, London, 9.5%, Burmah Castrol plc, Swindon, U.K., 8.5%, and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd., Karachi, 7%.
BANGLADESH will receive a $13.3 million loan from Japan's government to help fund the $16 million development of Feni and Bakhrabad gas fields. The development will boost gas supply to the Chittagong area, including supply for the Karnaphuli Fertilizer Co. project scheduled for completion by yearend.
CONOCO (U.K.) LTD.'S North Sea Block 29/2a-10 appraisal well flowed at a stabilized rate of 4,765 b/d of 380 gravity oil and 1.89 MMcfd of gas through a 40/64 in. choke. The 6,740 ft well was drilled by the Drillstar semisubmersible rig.
MARATHON OIL CO.'S 2 West Delta 128 delineation well in its Gulf of Mexico South Pass 89 field confirmed a mainly gas/condensate reservoir with a proved hydrocarbon column of more than 1.300 ft. The well is in 370 ft of water, 38 miles south of Venice, La.
AMERADA HESS LTD. won U.K. Department of Trade & Industry approval to develop the North Sea's South Scott field, an extension of Block 15/21a Scott field, The extension holds oil reserves estimated at 60 million bbl. Two production wells will be tied back via manifold and 8 in. flow line to the Scott platform. Water injection will be through an existing manifold. Production wells will be drilled in early 1995 and late 1996, with oil production slated for June 1995.
TEXACO SHANGHAI INC. and Shanghai Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (SPC) ended talks on joint development of Ping Hu field 250 miles east of Shanghai in the East China Sea. SPC decided to develop the field on its own.
PETROLEOS DE VENEZUELA SA unit Lagoven increased Lake Maracaibo oil production by 8,500 b/d via secondary recovery. Lagoven says its Lagunillas 12 plant, which injects 77,000 bw/d, has the largest capacity of its kind in the world.
U.S. OVERSEAS PRIVATE INVESTMENT CORP. (OPIC) is providing $5.2 million in risk insurance to M-1 Drilling Fluids Co., Houston, to establish a barite grinding mill to supply drilling fluid to Kazakhstan's oil and gas industry. OPIC is reviewing more than 40 other projects worth more than a combined $1.5 billion in potential U.S. investment in Kazakhstan.
ENERGY SERVICE CO. INC. (Ensco), Dallas, paid the Lauritzen Offshore division of Danish shipping company J. Lauritzen AS $50 million in cash and $6 million in deferred payments for the Dan Duke and Dan Earl harsh environment North Sea jack up drilling rigs. Ensco agreed to help Lauritzen fulfill an integrated offshore services contract in the North Sea with Shell affiliate Nederlandse Aardolie Mij. By.
NPCC SINGAPORE PVT. LTD., a subsidiary of National Petroleum Construction Co. of Abu Dhabi, will fabricate and install three jackets, install three decks, coat and lay 25 km of pipeline, and perform hookup and platform modification in Oil & Natural Gas Commission's S-1 Sand Free gas field development project in the Bombay High area off India. Work is to be completed by April 1995 under a subcontract from Larsen & Toubro, Bombay.
NORWAY'S STATOIL let a 420 million kroner ($58 million) contract to Aker AS, Oslo, for design, procurement, and construction of two steel jackets for West Sleipner field in the Norwegian North Sea. Work will begin in April, with delivery of B and T platform jackets scheduled for spring 1995 and spring 1996, respectively. Sleipner B will weigh 5,400 metric tons and measure 130 m in height, while Sleipner T will weigh 6,600 metric tons and stand 107 m tall.
COMPANIES
PETRO-CANADA sold TroCana Resources, its upstream unit in western Canada, to an undisclosed private Alberta company for cash and securities. TroCana production as of Jan. 1 was a combined 6,300 b/d of oil and gas liquids and 44 MMcfd of gas.
GOAL PETROLEUM PLC, London, bought an 8.6% interest in North Sea Block 16/27a (South) from British Gas Exploration & Production Ltd. for 9'5.7 million ($8.5 million). It gives Goal 3.44% interest in Andrew oil field. Operator BP Exploration Operating Co. Ltd. expects to start up Andrew field production late in 1996.
LNG
MALAYSIA'S Petronas and partners Nippon Oil Co. and Occidental Petroleum Corp. agreed that a $1.8 billion, 5 million metric ton/year liquefied natural gas project among them is feasible. They are pushing the project, the nation's third LNG train, at Bintulu, Sarawak, Borneo Island, where an 8 million ton/year LNG train is in operation and a 7.5 million ton/year train is under construction.
REFINING
KAZAKHSTAN'S Ministry of Oil & Gas let contract to John Brown, Houston, and France's Sofresid Chimie Petrole to assess feasibility of upgrading hydrotreating and catalytic cracking units and expanding capacity of the 125,360 b/cd Chimkent refinery. The study is to be completed in March.
M.W. KELLOGG CO. agreed to serve as an engineering partner to help Energy BioSystems Corp. commercially develop its biocatalytic desulfurization system. The system helps reduce sulfur content in petroleum.
ULTRAMAR INC. let contract to Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Pasadena, Calif., for direct hire construction services to complete the outside battery limits portion of the clean fuels program under way at its 68,000 b/cd Wilmington, Calif., refinery.
STATOIL let contract to Salem Automation Ltd., Rotherham, U.K., for an emergency shutdown system to be used at its 65,000 b/cd Kalundborg, Denmark, refinery.
TOSCO CORP. started up a $40 million, 22 MMcfd hydrogen plant at its 148,000 b/cd Avon refinery at Martinez, Calif. It will boost the plant's clean product yields 3%.
EXPLORATION
ANADARKO PETROLEUM CORP. unit Anadarko Algeria Corp's 1 East El Merk discovery well on Block 208 in Algeria's Ghadames basin cut more than 230 ft of net pay in Triassic and Devonian sandstones. The 14,859 ft well flowed a combined 1,860 b/d of oil, 6,250 b/d of condensate, and 82.5 MMcfd of gas from four zones.
ESSO U.K. LTD. plans an exploration program on Blocks 112/10, 112/14, 112/15, and 113/11 northeast of the Isle of Man at the mouth of Solway Firth off the U.K. A contract to acquire 500 sq km of 3D seismic data on the blocks was let to Digital Exploration Ltd., East Grinstead, U.K. Work will begin in June for a period of 3 months. Operator Esso and Shell U.K. Ltd. own the blocks 50-50.
ENTERPRISE OIL plc will drill a wildcat in 1995 on its combined 11,000 sq km concession 200 km southeast of Mahe Island, Seychelles. The company has acquired 6,000 km of seismic, gravity, and magnetic data since 1987, the year it was awarded an exploration license.
NORSK HYDRO AS drilled its first well, a dry hole, off Namibia under the country's recent licensing round (OGJ, July 12, 1993, p. 25). The 1911/151 well was drilled to 4,554 m by the Scarabeo IV semisubmersible operating in 490 m of water. Wood Mackenzie Consultants Ltd., Edinburgh, said Hydro is committed to drill two more wells on the block during the 4 year license period ending in April 1996.
AMERADA HESS tested 1 01 7 b/d of 390 gravity oil and 800 Mcfd of gas through a 16/64 in. choke with 1,450 psi flowing wellhead pressure at its 15/21a-51 new pool wildcat well in the U.K. North Sea. The 9,950 ft well is 4 km north of Rob Roy field.
ALASKA'S Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas expects to decide May 12 whether to hold state oil and gas lease Sale 79 in the Yakataga area of South Alaska. The sale is tentatively set for Aug. 16 in Anchorage. Involved are 186 tracts covering 818,393 acres of upland, tideland, and submerged land between Cordova and Yakutat on the Gulf of Alaska.
PIPELINES
MCN CORP. unit Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. asked the Michigan Public Service Commission to approve a $170 million expansion of its northern Michigan gas transmission system. The project calls mainly for 170 miles of 10-30 in. loop, treatment plants with combined 450 MMcfd capacity, and added compression.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAS CO. asked the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a permit to build a pipeline and meter station with 40 MMcfd capacity at the U.S. border with Mexico to link with facilities to be built in Mexico. Border site is at Calexico, Calif.
SARAWAK SHELL BHD. hired Offshore Pipelines Inc. unit TL Offshore Sdn. Bhd. to provide engineering, transportation, and installation of 255 miles of gas pipelines off Sarawak. Work is to start at midyear to link four South China Sea platforms to the MLNG-DUA plant at Bintulu.
FOOTHILLS PIPE LINES LTD., Calgary, restored gas deliveries Feb. 18 to Northern Border Pipeline Co.'s system. Flow was curtailed after a rupture Feb. 15 in a 42 in. Foothills Saskatchewan line (OGJ, Feb. 21, p. 30).
HNG STORAGE CO., Houston, will conduct an open season starting Mar. 1 for underground gas storage at the proposed Sulphur Mines storage site at Lake Charles, La. The salt cavern will have withdrawal rate of 650 MMcfd, injection rate of 225 MMcfd, and combined working capacity of 8 bcf. The caverns are owned by Union Texas Petroleum.
ARCO is combining management of ARCO Transportation Co. units ARCO Pipeline Co. and Four Corners Pipe Line Co. The move is designed to bring greater operational efficiency to its U.S. Lower 48 pipeline system.
PETROCHEMICALS
GRAND PACIFIC PETROCHEMICAL CORP., Taipei, will spend $11.36 million to expand its acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene capacity at Taipei to 70,000 metric tons/year late this year from the current 50,000 tons/year. Plans call for further expansion to 100,000 tons/year in 1995. Grand Pacific's ABS plant in Thailand recently turned a profit, and the company plans to double that plant's capacity to 16,000 tons/year.
TANKERS
CANADA'S Hibernia offshore oil field partners invited Canadian suppliers to help outfit two 120,000 dwt, double hull tankers to be built to carry Hibernia crude, The vessels will be built outside Canada because their requirements are too large for shipyards there, but Hibernia participants encouraged Canadian companies to supply components and services.
Copyright 1994 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
