INDUSTRY BRIEFS

GOVERNMENT

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY established the Russian-American Oil & Gas Center to provide U.S. firms information on the Siberian oil and gas industry, including equipment needs, and help Russian companies obtain technical help from U.S. sources. The Russian office will open Jan. 25 in Tyumen, western Siberia. The U.S. office will open in Tulsa Feb. 8 at Tulsa University. The project is managed through DOE's Bartlesville, Okla., office.

PETROCHEMICALS

CHEVRON CHEMICAL CO. plans to expand its Cedar Bayou linear low density polyethylene plant in Baytown, Tex. The project is scheduled for completion in first quarter 1995, increasing capacity by 340 million lb/year via the BP Chemicals fluid bed process.

SAUDI BASIC INDUSTRIES CORP. signed a letter of intent with UOP Inc., Des Plaines, Ill., for use of UOP's Cyclar process in an aromatics unit to be built at a Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, polyesters complex. The plant is expected on stream late in 1997 or early in 1998 with capacity to produce 300,000 metric tons/year of paraxylene, 45,000 tons/year of orthoxylene, 35,000 tons/year of metaxylene, and more than 300,000 tons/year of benzene, Sabic expects the expansion to be complete by first quarter 1996.

IBN HAYYAN, Saudi Arabia's national plastic company, let contract to John Brown, Houston, to man age engineering, procurement, and construction of an expansion of its vinyl chloride monomer plant at Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Engineering on the project began last September in John Brown's Houston office,

SHELL CHEMICAL CO. agreed not to contest $3.017 million in penalties proposed by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration in connection with an accident at Shell's Belpre, Ohio, petrochemical plant. Three employees died there May 27 when the K-1 polymerization unit exploded (OGJ, June 6, p. 44). OSHA said it found many violations in its investigation, mostly of the standard for process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals. Shell also agreed to improve safety measures at the plant.

GAS PROCESSING

WESTCOAST ENERGY INC. unit Westcoast Gas Services Inc., Calgary, moved into gas gathering and processing with the purchase of the Buckinghorse gas processing plant in Northeast British Columbia. It paid an undisclosed sum to a five company group for the 60 MMcfd plant. The purchase is effective as of Dec. 31.

REFINING

SHANGHAI PETROCHEMICAL CO. LTD. completed installation of a $126.7 million residual oil processing unit at its 106,000 b/d Jinshan, China, refinery/petrochemical complex and scheduled trial production to begin in first half 1995. The unit will produce 7,540 b/d of premium gasoline, 3,800 b/d of diesel fuel, 1,400 b/d of asphalt, and 32,000 metric tons/year of LPG, as well as ethylene feedstock.

ENERGY BIOSYSTEMS CORP., Houston, finished building what it believes is the first continuous biocatalytic desulfurization pilot plant in the U.S. The $1.5 million plant, which is undergoing installation and shakedown for Petrolite Corp,, St. Louis, is designed to use a biotechnical process to remove sulfur from fuel streams.

QUAKER STATE CORP.'S Q Lube subsidiary gained exclusive licensing rights for Interline Resources Corp.'s used oil refining process in North America (see related story, OGJ, May 30, p. 87). Under the agreement, Q Lube will build a commercial size rerefinery in the Salt Lake City, Utah, area. If the project is successful, more used oil refining plants will be built in North America.

MOBIL OIL CORP. plans to reduce the workforce at its 113,000 b/cd Paulsboro, N.J., refinery by 20%, or 155 jobs, by Mar. 31, 1995. It's part of a 2 year company plan to trim costs by 20% and increase revenues by $35 million.

LPG STORAGE

SEMINOLE PIPELINE CO. dropped its bid to reopen its gas storage site near Brenham, Tex., where three persons died in a 1992 explosion. Seminole withdrew its state district court appeal of a Texas Railroad Commission decision denying permission to reopen the site.

PIPELINES

A COLORADO INTERSTATE GAS CO. pipeline ruptured Dec. 20 east of Denver, releasing gas that caught fire and forced temporary evacuation of 1 50 persons living in a nearby trailer park in Watkins, Colo. No injuries were reported. Cause of the rupture between Aurora and Watkins was unknown last week, Colorado Interstate said.

BHP PETROLEUM PTY. LTD. and Canada's Westcoast Energy Inc. joined forces to study feasibility of an Australian gas pipeline to New South Wales from Victoria. During the next 3 months the two companies will evaluate routes as part of BHP's goal to develop an integrated gas market in eastern Australia.

EXPLORER PIPELINE CO. plans to increase capacity of its southern spur between Port Arthur, Tex., and Tulsa by 40,000 b/d. Capacity will increase to 520,000 b/d, with work scheduled to be complete by May 1, 1995,

ENRON CORP. unit Northern Natural Gas Co. proposed to expand the east leg of its main line transmission system by adding a combined 26,000 hp to compressors along a 326 mile route to Eagle, Wis., from Ogden, Iowa. Work will increase peak day deliveries by 15% to 831.6 MMcfd.

ENRON affiliate Centragas completed financing of a $217 million, 357 mile gas pipeline to Barrancabermeja, Central Colombia, from Ballena on Colombia's northern coast. Pipelaying is to start early in 1995, with commercial operation of the line scheduled for April 1996.

SASOL LTD., Johannesburg, and South African gas supplier Transnet Ltd. agreed to work together on a 133 million rand ($35 million) project in South Africa to move natural gas via pipeline to KwaZulu Natal. Sasol will lay a pipeline to Richards Bay from Secunda, slated to carry first gas during fourth quarter 1995. Transnet will convert petroleum products pipelines to distribute the gas.

GERMANY'S Verbundnetz Gas AG of Leipzig and Ruhrgas AG, Essen, started up a gas pipeline from Salzwedel to Bernau, north of Berlin. The 1,100 mm diameter, 180 km pipeline cost 500 million deutschemarks ($320 million) to build. It links East Germany to the western gas grid and will carry Norwegian gas to Saxony-Anhalt.

COMPANIES

NORWAY'S Den norske stats oljeselskap AS started a campaign to reduce operating costs by combining service contracts and signing long term agreements with suppliers of key items and services. The company estimates it is trimming by 50% the costs of cementing and completion fluids and downhole completion equipments on wells in selected North Sea fields through 3 year contracts with Halliburton Energy Services, Houston, and coiled tubing services in all but one Statoil field through an agreement with Halliburton and Maritime Well Service AS, Stavanger.

COLUMBIA GAS SYSTEM INC. will operate on a $491 million capital and exploration budget during 1995, a 4% increase from estimated spending for 1994. Of the 1995 total, $191 million will go to U.S. transmission operations, $158 million for gas distribution, $1 18 million for oil and gas exploration and development, and $24 million for other energy projects.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

ANADARKO ALGERIA CORP.'S 2 Hassi Berkine delineation well, 3 km from its 1 Hassi Berkine discovery in the Sahara Desert of Algeria, cut 25 m of net Triassic pay and flowed 13,752 b/d of oil and 10.6 MMcfd of gas through an 1%, in. choke with 1,300 psi. The well is in the Ghadames basin on Block 404.

ARAKIS ENERGY CORP., Vancouver, B.C., plans this month to resume well testing and field development work in Heglig and Unity oil fields of southern Sudan. Production is expected to start in 18 months at 65,000 b/d and build to 85,000 b/d by 1996. The development work was delayed by monsoons last summer (OGJ, July 18, p. 21).

NATIONAL IRANIAN OIL CO. let contract to Iranian Offshore Engineering & Construction Co., Tehran, for renovation of production facilities in Aboosar field, 75 km west of Khark Island in the Persian Gulf. The installations were damaged during the Iran-Iraq war.

WALTER OIL & GAS CORP., Houston, and partners expect to start production in first quarter 1995 on Eugene Island Block 72 in the Gulf of Mexico after the tract's No. 4 well flowed 12.4 MMcfd of gas and 288 b/d of condensate through a 16/64 in. choke with 7,090 psi flowing tubing pressure from 73 ft of net pay above 17,400 ft total depth.

TEXACO EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION INC. sold interests in 15 Texas leases to Petro-Hunt Corp., Dallas, and North Central Oil Corp. (NCO), Houston. Petro-Hunt paid $20.5 million for interests in 14 fields producing a combined 8.1 MMcfd of gas and 275 b/d of oil, including Raymondville field in Willacy and Kenedy counties, Presa de Oro and Tom Walsh fields in Webb County, Nine Mile Point field in Aransas County, and Marina field in Nueces County. NCO paid $11 million for a 100% interest in Manvel field, Brazoria County, where 30 wells on a 1,700 acre lease are producing 800 b/d of oil.

BRITISH-BORNEO INTERNATIONAL LTD., London, signed a production sharing contract for Cuba's onshore Block 11. The block covers 6,000 sq km. British-Borneo said wells drilled on the block had hydrocarbon shows. The company will acquire seismic data early in 1995 and plans to decide next year on drilling requirements.

BRITISH GAS PIC completed platform installation in Miskar field in the Gulf of Gabes off Tunisia. A drilling, production, and accommodation platform is installed, along with a 24 in. export pipeline to an onshore processing plant near Sfax. Gas production is expected in June 1995.

AMERADA HESS LTD. tested an oil discovery on U.K. North Sea Block 21/11, which it has named Dauntless. The 21/11-4 wildcat flowed 6,077 b/d of 32 gravity oil through a 32/64 in. choke. The well lies 7 km north of two discoveries Amerada drilled recently on Block 21/16, both of which flowed at rates of more than 4,300 b/d. The company plans to appraise the Block 21/16 discoveries at once, with a Block 21/11 appraisal well slated for 1995.

CONOCO INC. and Marathon Oil Co. agreed to an exchange of leases in Wyoming and Montana in which Conoco will acquire Marathon's interests in Bruff and Fabian Ditch gas leases and 2,000 nonproducing net acres in Wyoming's Green River basin, along with the Elk Basin oil and gas unit in the Bighorn basin. Marathon in turn will get Conoco's operating interests in Circle Ridge field and Wind River Reservation in the Wind River basin, as well as Frannie, North Danker, North Sunshine, Gebo, Elk Basin, Elk Basin-Tendolle, and South Elk Basin fields in the Bighorn basin in Wyoming and Montana.

STONE ENERGY INC., Lafayette, La., paid $11.5 million to Conoco for a 66.7% working interest in Eugene Island Block 243 gas field off Louisiana. Stone, which becomes field operator, budgeted a combined $4.3 million for development drilling, recompletion, and platform enhancement in the field during 1995.

STATOIL let a $21 million contract to Wilrig AS, Lysaker, Norway, to drill three wells off Nigeria. The wells are to be drilled during 1995, starting in May and using the Drillmar I semisubmersible. As many as seven optional wells may be added to the program.

EXPLORATION

PAKISTAN awarded Occidental Petroleum (Pakistan) Inc. a concession covering the 1.1 million acre Zamurdan block in Pakistan's Central Indus gas basin. The concession will be for an initial 3 years, during which Oxy will conduct a program of geologic mapping, seismic surveys, and wildcat drilling.

EQUITY OIL CO.'S 50% owned Symskaya Exploration Inc. unit started drilling the 1 Lemok wildcat, the first hole on Symskaya's 1.1 million acre license in the Symskaya area of Russia's Krasnoyarsk Krai. The 14,500 ft well will test the Ishtyskaya anticline, a structure believed to cover 134,000 acres.

PETROBRAS let contract to Petroleum Geo-Services AS to conduct Petrobras's first four streamer 3D seismic survey off Brazil. The MY Atlantic Explorer, starting early next month, will acquire seismic data in the Campos basin.

APACHE CORP. unit Apache Cote d'Ivoire Petroleum LDC will serve as operator for a group that signed a production sharing contract with Cote d'Ivoire to explore for oil and gas on 930 sq km offshore Block CI 27. During the first 2 years, the group will drill one wildcat in an area underlying Foxtrot field and acquire 500 km of seismic data.

COASTAL CORP. unit Coastal Peru Ltd. signed a contract with Perupetro that grants Coastal Peru E&D rights to 2.97 million acres in Central Peru. Coastal holds a 100% interest in the venture, which calls for a $7 million investment in the first 2 years for seismic data acquisition and reprocessing and drilling of at least one wildcat.

Issue date: 12/26/94