INDUSTRY BRIEFS

GOVERNMENT

CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (CIDA) signed a memorandum of understanding to provide $22.5 million to fund western technology transfer and training for Pakistan's oil and gas sector under a 6 year program. Since 1974 CIDA has provided $105 million to Pakistan's oil and gas sector.

RUSSIA'S KALMYK REPUBLIC began restructuring state owned Nizhnevolzhskneft oil production association into three indepedendent state owned companies: Nizhnevolzhskneft, Astrakhanneft, and Kalmneft. During restructuring in 1994, Astrakhanneft is expected to produce 547,500 bbl of oil in Kalmykia.

DRILLING-PRODUCTIONS

Congo granted a permit to a partnership of Italy's Agip 35.75%, Congolese state company Hydrocongo 35%, and Chevron Overseas Petroleum Inc. 29.25% to develop Kitina oil field off Congo. The group also obtained a 5 year extension for the Marine VII exploration block surrounding Kitina.

WALTER INTERNATIONAL INC. and Nuevo Energy Co., both of Houston, agreed to buy all the stock of two Amoco Production Co. units that own a combined 43.75% working interest in Yombo oil field off Congo. Walter and Nuevo each will own half of the purchased interest. The field, in 370 ft of water, produces 9,300 b/d net to the buyers.

SINGAPORE'S Sembawang Engineering Pvt. Ltd. will build a $100 million (Singapore) ($65.8 million U.S.) water injection platform for White Tiger oil field off Viet Nam. The platform will inject 40,000 metric tons/day. The unit is expected to be completed during first half 1995.

GERMANY'S Deutsche Tiefbohr AG and Algeria's Enterprise Nationale des Travaux aux Puits teamed up in a 50-50 venture to establish the drilling company DECO. It will perform drilling and associated services in Algeria and elsewhere.

MESA INC., Dallas, A-21 well on East Cameron Block 322 in the Gulf of Mexico found hydrocarbon reserves in a previously unproductive fault block using 30 seismic data. The well is the first of as many as eight MESA plans to drill on Blocks 322 and 323 based on 3D seismic.

SHELL OFFSHORE INC. let contract to Hunting Oilfield Services, Aberdeen, to design, manufacture, and supply 156 sets of 28 in. Merlin tension leg element connectors for use on the Shell/BP Mars tension leg platform's 12 tendon assemblies, The platform is scheduled to be installed in the Gulf of Mexico in 1996.

APACHE CORP., Houston, paid Ridgewood Energy Corp., Ridgewood, N.J., and related partnerships a total $13.9 million for interests in 49 Gulf of Mexico fields covering 63 Outer Continental Shelf planning blocks. The purchase covers total production of 14.4 MMcfd of gas and 570 b/d of oil.

TOTAL OIL MARINE PLC installed the jacket and integrated topsides for Dunbar platform in U.K. North Sea Block 3/14a. Heeremac VOF, Leiden, Netherlands, did the work using the DB 102 crane barge. Dunbar is expected to begin production by December.

ARCO division ARCO International Oil & Gas Co. agreed with Algeria's Sonatrach to begin an enhanced oil recovery project in Algeria's Rhourde El Baguel field. The field, second largest in Algeria, is 450 miles southeast of Algiers.

TEXACO LTD. teamed up for 2 years with Sedco Forex Drilling Services Ltd. and Sonat Offshore (U.K.) Inc. to provide drilling rigs for U.K. offshore operations, First rig under contract is the Sedco Drillstar, presently drilling in Block 15/29a. Second one is Sonat Arcade Frontier, which is drilling the Sula Sgeir prospect in Block 202/12, west of the Shetland Islands.

Norsk Hydro AS let an $18 million contract to Stolt Comex Seaway Ltd., Aberdeen, for installation and tie-in of subsea pipelines in West Troll field off Norway. The work, scheduled for 199596, will consist of installation of risers, flexible flow lines, and service umbilicals.

ESSO NORGE AS let contract to Stena Offshore AS, Oslo, to drill a well on Norwegian North Sea Block 25/8. The Dyvi Stena semisubmersible rig will begin drilling this month for 50 days.

The rig is being upgraded to Norwegian Petroleum Directorate standards after completion of subsea satellite drilling in Draugen field off mid-Norway.

SPILLS

TWO TANKERS collided off St. John's Island, Singapore, July 8, spilling 30 metric tons of an oil/water mixture. Some of it washed onto an east coast park area of Singapore. The spill flowed from the 91,608 dwt Honam Pearl, a South Korean registered crude tanker that collided with the 19,451 dwt World Achilles 2 Greek registered bulk carrier. Cleanup is under way.

PETROCHEMICALS

DAELIM ENGINEERING CO. on behalf of Phillips Petroleum Singapore Chemicals Pte. Ltd. let a $31.25 million contract to Sembawang Projects Engineering Co. Pte. Ltd. to construct a 200,000 metric ton/year linear polyethylene plant on the Singapore island of Pulau Ayer Merbau. Engineering and design work is under way. Construction is to begin in first quarter 1995 and be complete by December 1996.

PIPELINES

JAYHAWK TRANSPORTATION CORP., a unit of National Cooperative Refinery Association, McPherson, Kan., bought the remaining shares of Jayhawk Pipeline Corp. from Coastal Refining & Marketing Inc., a unit of Coastal Corp., Houston. Terms are not disclosed.

CANADA'S National Energy Board adopted a regulatory process that allows it discretion under Section 58 of the National Energy Board Act to consider without public hearing applications for routine pipeline projects of less than 40 km.

ENRON GATHERING CO., a unit of Enron Operations Corp., Houston, and Northern Natural Gas Co., Omaha, asked the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve Enron's purchase from Northern a combined 6,330 miles of 2-26 in. pipeline in 66 gathering systems. The systems are in the Anadarko basin of the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma, Hugoton basin in Kansas, Permian basin in Texas, and noncontiguous areas in Wyoming and Colorado.

NOVA GAS TRANSMISSION LTD., a unit of Nova Corp., Calgary, signed an agreement with four New York investment dealers to borrow $150 million (U.S.) at 7.25% interest. Funds will be used to repay bank loans and debt tied to expansion of the Nova gas pipeline system in Alberta.

JOINT VENTURE Aker Engineering-M.W. Kellogg Co., main contractor for the Troll gas conditioning plant at Kollsnes near Bergen, Norway, awarded Kvaerner Installasjon the first of three subcontracts for mechanical installation under the JV's contract with Norske Shell, operator for Troll Phase 1 . Contract value is 100 million kroner ($14 million). Work, to begin this month, will be finished by September 1995.

COMPANIES

ALBERTA ENERGY CO. LTD., Edmonton, agreed to sell its 22% interest in Chieftain international Inc., also of Edmonton. The deal will be made via sale of 2.37 million Chieftain common shares in a secondary distribution.

PARKER & PARSLEY CO., Midland, Tex., completed its takeover of Bridge Oil Ltd., Sydney. It owns 89% of the company's stock and will keep a stock purchase offer of 900 (Australian) (660 U.S.)/share open to Bridge shareholders until July 27.

MIDCON OFFSHORE INC., Houston, filed suit seeking more than $250 million damages from Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas Corp. (LDNG), Oklahoma City. The lawsuit stems from a dispute over the sale to Midcon of LDNG's interest in a lease in the West Delta area off Louisiana. Midcon alleges LDNG purposely withheld production data and reserves estimates that would have lowered the value of LDNG's interest in West Delta Block 152 to $12-14 million, about half the $26.6 million Midcon agreed in April to pay.

MARINE & MERCANTILE SECURITIES PLC, London, agreed to take over Gandalf Explorers International Ltd., also of London, in a stock trade. Gandalf's assets include three protocols for development of gas fields in the Dneiper-Donetz basin east of Kiev in Ukraine, a production sharing agreement for eastern Carpathian Block VI in Romania, and an agreement to buy outright a license covering Block 91-1 off Bulgaria.

REFINING

CHEVRON INTERNATIONAL OIL CO. and Chiyoda Corp. teamed up on a market promotion deal to support licensing Chevron's proprietary on-stream catalyst replacement technology to refineries in Japan and South Korea.

CONOCO INC. will install a UOP Platforming processor with continuous catalyst regeneration at its 182,000 b/cd Lake Charles, La., refinery. The 34,000 b/d unit will produce high octane (102 RON, clear) gasoline blending component and supply much of the hydrogen for the refinery's lube oil plant (OGJ, June 13, p. 46).

AN EXPLOSION at the Ryazan, Russia, 360,760 b/cd refinery July 8 killed four persons and injured five others. Officials blame a furnace under repair that exploded and caught fire.

KUWAIT'S three renovated post-Persian Gulf war refineries are producing a combined 805,000 b/d of products. Al-Ahmadi plant output is 405,000 b/d, Mina Abdallah 245,000 b/d, and Al-Shwaiba 155,000 b/d.

U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY denied an Ethyl Corp. request for a waiver to use a manganese based additive in unleaded gasoline. Ethyl last week said it will file an appeal with the District of Columbia federal Court of Appeals as soon as it receives EPA's written denial. The company called EPA's action a case of "unfair prejudice" against Ethyl's HiTEC 3000 additive.

PCK SCHWEDT AG started building an 88 million deutschemark ($56.3 million) isomerization unit at its 230,000 b/cd Schwedt, Germany, refinery. The unit is expected to start up in August 1995, producing high octane, unleaded gasoline.

EXPLORATION

JAPAN VIETNAM PETROLEUM CO. reported a flow of 4,043 b/d of oil from a second, shallower pay zone in its Block 152 wildcat off Viet Nam. An earlier test yielded a flow of 10,346 b/d from the deeper Bangdong formation.

AMOCO CORP. will supply funds for the first wildcat, to be drilled this year, on Colombia's Cano Caranal contract area. It's participating via Equitable Resources Inc., which holds a 30% working interest in the venture in the Llanos basin, 31 miles southwest of the giant Cano Limon-Guafita oil field complex.

MOBIL EXPLORATION & PRODUCING U.S. INC. will conduct a 3D seismic survey for Enserch Exploration Partners Ltd., Dallas, on Enserch's Garden Banks unit in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Mobil also will participate in drilling a wildcat on Garden Banks Block 387, a project expected to spud in September.

PAKISTAN'S Oil & Gas Development Corp. found oil an(I gas near Rajian, 70 km south of Islamabad The discovery well flowed 2,200 b/d of sweet 22 gravity oil and 1 MMcfd of gas through a 1/2 in. choke with 860 psi flowing tubing pressure. A confirmation well is to be spudded soon.

DRAGON OIL PLC, Harpenden, U.K., spudded Bussabong-1X wildcat on Gulf of Thailand Block B12/32. Planned depth is 3,200 m at a site 10 km from Bongkot field. The well targets a structure said to hold potential recoverable reserves of 50 million bbl of condensate and 800 bcf of gas.

GAS PROCESSING

PAKISTAN approved plans by Sui Southern Gas Co. (SSGC) for a $30 million liquefied petroleum gas extraction plant at Hyderabad to process gas produced from the Badin block. A pipeline extends from the block to SSGC facilities near Hyderabad.

TANKERS

RUSSIA'S Tatarstan republic is creating its own tanker fleet with an expected rise in oil exports. Building the first two tankers, river-sea class vessels, is under way at Zelenodolsk shipyard. Plans call for setting up a task force to pursue foreign investment in Tatarstan's tanker fleet via joint ventures.

LNG

MOBIL CORP. returned its Indonesian PT Arun gas liquefaction plant and nearby Arun gas field to full production July 13 following a July 9 break in a pipeline leading to the plant from the field. No injuries or fire occurred. LNG and condensate loading were not interrupted.