EXPORTS-IMPORTS
CALTEX PETROLEUM CORP., Dallas, bought 450,000 bbl of Bach Ho oil field crude from Viet Nam for use in its Singapore refinery. it's the first oil deal between Hanoi and a U.S. company since the U.S. trade embargo was lifted Feb. 3.
LPG
PAKISTAN'S OGDC leased 25 acres in Dhodak gas/condensate field to seven local LPG marketing companies. Each will build an onsite LPG bottling plant to accommodate expected production of 180-190 metric tons/day of LPG from a $75 million gas processing plant that Australia's M/S Clough Engineers is under contract to commission in the field by the end of August (OGJ, June 21, 1993, p. 37). Dhodak is 20 km north of Taunsa, Dera Ghazi Khan district, Punjab.
Refining
CHEVRON U.S.A. PRODUCTS CO. proposes to sell its 185,000 b/Cd Port Arthur, Tex., refinery to Clark Refining & Marketing Inc., St. Louis. Chevron plans to continue operating the petrochemical part of the plant and retain its lube oil packaging and distribution center. If the sale goes through, ownership could be transferred early in the fourth quarter.
PHILIPPINES' recently privatized Petron Corp. plans to spend $436 million in refinery expansion work. The largest proposal is a $312 million project to produce unleaded gasoline and low sulfur diesel fuel.
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY certified Barnes & Click Inc., Dallas, as an auditor for U.S. refiners' 1990 gasoline baseline submissions, which are required by federal standards for reformulated and conventional gasoline.
SAUDI ARABIAN OIL CO. will use UOP's continuous catalyst regeneration Platforming process and Unocal Corp.'s Unicracking process in an upgrade of its 290,000 b/cd Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia, refinery. Units using the processes are expected to start up late in 1998.
PETROCHEMICALS
TITAN PETROCHEMICALS (MALAYSIA) SDN. BHD. started up a flexible LPG/naphtha feed ethylene cracker at the Pasir Gudang industrial site in Johor, Malaysia. Titan believes it's the first ethylene cracker in Malaysia. Unit capacity is 230,000 metric tons/year of ethylene and 115,000 tons/year of propylene.
DAINIPPON INK & CHEMICALS INC. will dismantle polystyrene production equipment at its Yokkaichi plant in Japan, reports Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Tokyo. This is expected to reduce plant capacity by 20,000 metric tons/year to 116,000 metric tons/year. It is said to be the first voluntary scrapping of a plant by a Japanese petrochemical manufacturer.
PETROLEOS DE VENEZUELA SA unit Pequiven expects to start methanol shipments this month from its 737,000 metric ton/year Metanol de Oriente methanol plant at the Jose petrochemical complex in eastern Venezuela's Anzoategui state. Construction of the $330 million plant was completed in 23 months.
FRANCE'S INSTITUT FRANCAIS DU PETROLE (IFP) and Chevron Chemical Co. agreed to pursue commercial development of Eluxyl, a new IFP molecular sieve high purity paraxylene technology. Chevron currently uses a separation by crystallization technology in its paraxylene plant at Pascagoula, Miss. Included in the agreement are construction and operation of a demonstration unit at Pascagoula.
SPILLS
CALIFORNIA'S attorney general filed a civil lawsuit Mar. 23 against Unocal Corp. stemming from a large underground spill of kerosine/diesel mix diluent in the state's Guadalupe oil field. The spill went unreported for years (OGJ, Mar. 14, p. 36). Unocal said it hoped to reach a fair and appropriate settlement of the lawsuit.
COMPANIES
ENGELHARD CORP., Iselin, N.J., and Procatalyse, a joint venture of Rhone-Poulenc and IFP, are expanding distribution of Claus sulfur process catalysts to include Engelhard/Procatalyse's November 1992 JV Acreon Catalysts, which currently supplies the oil industry with hydrogen treatment processes. Acreon will add Claus catalysts to its range of catalysts sold in North America, while Procatalyse will conduct sales outside North America.
CRITERION CATALYST CANADA INC. and Syncrude Canada Ltd. reached a turnkey catalyst agreement, marking the first time a catalyst supplier has provided a comprehensive catalyst service package, cradle to grave.
KTI GROUP and Mannesmann Anlagenbau AG incorporated subsidiary Mannesmann KTI GmbH to serve the refining industry. The new unit combines Mannesmann's general contracting, project management, financial, and construction experience with KTI's design and technical expertise.
ENGELHARD purchased the sorbents and moving bed catalysts businesses of Solvay Catalysts GmbH, Hannover, Germany. The acquisition includes assets mainly relating to manufacturing and processing facilities in Nienberg, Germany. The adsorbents and desiccants businesses will be integrated into Engelhard's petroleum catalysts group.
TOTAL let contract to French software firm Cap Gemini Sogeti to develop the Grade project, a European Community research program, for risk management and decision making support, for use in its 309,000 b/d Gonfreville, Normandy, refinery.
AGIP PETROLI expects to earn 1 trillion lire ($606 million) from sale of assets during 1993-96. It is pulling out of Western Hemisphere markets including the U.S., Brazil, and Ecuador and will focus investments totaling $2.424 billion during 1994-97 on Europe and the Far East.
GOVERNMENT
BANGLADESH plans a public offering of two state owned petroleum companies as part of a privatization program. It expects to sell 1 billion taka ($25 million) of shares in Titas Gas and Bangladesh Gas & Oil Marketing.
GAS PROCESSING
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif., planning and development energy division is preparing an environmental impact report (EIR) for Pacific Offshore Pipeline Co.'s plans to double its Las Flores Canyon, Calif., gas processing plant capacity to 60 MMscfd. A draft EIR is expected to be released early in June.
Santa Barbara County's planning commission conditionally approved Unocal Corp. plans to build a gas processing plant at its Lompoc, Calif., heating/separating/pumping complex. The plant is permitted to capacity of 6 MMscfd but may be expanded to 12 MMscfd under certain conditions.
PIPELINES
ARCO CHINA INC. is laying a 700 km, 28 in. diameter pipeline from a gas gathering point 70 km south of Hong Kong in the South China Sea to Yacheng 13-1 gas field, 100 km south of Hainan Island. Work is being carried out by Saipem SpA, Milan, using the Semac 1 barge.
INTERPROVINCIAL PIPE LINE SYSTEMS INC., Edmonton, plans to change its name to IPL Energy Inc. and move headquarters to Calgary. The company will ask shareholders to approve the new name at its annual meeting May 5. It also will seek the head office transfer, with the operations office and most employees remaining in Edmonton.
ECUADOR plans to expand capacity of its trans-Ecuadorian pipeline to 450,000 b/d from 325,000 b/d. It also plans to lay an 180 km crude line linking Villano and Baeza to move oil from Central and South Amazon regions. Ecuador also proposes an expansion at Balao port to receive larger tankers.
CHINA'S Shijiazhuang refinery in Hebei province started up a $24 million, 150 km, 25,50059,500 b/d pipeline linking the plant to Zhongyuan oil field. Elsewhere, Tianjin petrochemical complex completed a 1 year test run of a 17,000 b/d crude pipeline and a 10,200 b/d products line that connect the plant with the Tianjin import terminal. And the Sichuan affiliate of China National Petroleum Corp. started up a 1.3 million cu m/year, 261 km gas pipeline that ties Sichuan's Moxi gas field to a nearby distribution hub.
CANADA'S National Energy Board for the first time in one public hearing will consider the cost of capital for Group 1 pipeline companies under its jurisdiction. Gas lines in the group are Alberta Natural Gas Co. Ltd., Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd., TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., Trans Quebec & Maritimes Pipeline Inc., and Westcoast Energy Inc. Oil and products lines in the hearing are Interprovincial Pipe Line Inc., Trans Mountain Pipe Line Co. Ltd., and Trans-Northern Pipelines Inc. The hearing is to start Sept. 12 in Calgary.
DRILLING-PRODUCTION
UNION TEXAS PAKISTAN INC. plans capital and exploration spending of $175 million for its Badin block joint venture work in 1994-95. That's almost a threefold increase in annual outlays for Union Texas in Pakistan and covers expanded exploration and development drilling as well as addition of pipeline compression capacity to move increasing production from Badin gas fields.
CONOCO INC. will close its Oklahoma City division production office and move 40 employees to Midland, Tex.
CANADIAN FRACMASTER LTD., Calgary, withdrew from a pilot project in Hungary to produce coal seam methane. Fracmaster said the project is not economic. It said tests showed significant volumes of methane but geology that would hamper adequate flow rates.
AMERADA HESS LTD. won U.K. Department of Trade & Industry approval to develop North Sea 39/1 Fife field using a floating production and storage vessel. Production is scheduled to begin in third quarter 1995 at an average 40,000 b/d during a 4 year field life. Reserves are estimated at 34 million bbl of oil. Contractor Bluewater Offshore SA, Villars Sur Glane, Switzerland, has been instructed to secure a suitable vessel for conversion.
LASMO PLC, London, sold interests in U.K. North Sea Ninian and Columba fields to Sun Oil Britain Ltd. and Ranger Oil (U.K.) Ltd. for a combined $84 million cash plus Sun's 20% stake in Block 16/12a Birch field, Ranger will pay $25 million for a 15% interest in Block 3/8a, while Sun will take the balance of Lasmo's 60% interest in the block.
PDVSA Unit lagoven sa expects its $265 million Resor secondary recovery project in eastern Venezuela to produce an additional I billion bbl of medium grade crude. Once the project hits full swing, Lagoven production from the El Furrial trend in Monagas state is expected to increase to 250,000 b/d from the current 238,000 b/d.
VAALCO ENERGY INC., Houston, reduced its estimate of reserves net to the company from West Linapacan A oil field in Philippines to 5.3 million bbl at yearend 1993 vs. 21.5 million bbl at yearend 1992. It cited water encroachment for the reserves decline. It also reduced its standardized measure of future net cash flow to $9 million at yearend 1993 from $83.9 million the year before. It blames declining crude prices for the cash flow reduction.
HALLIBURTAN ENERGY SERVICES, Houston, will provide cementing and stimulation services on the first phase of an E&D project being conducted by Dresser Industries Inc. and Petro-Hunt Corp. in western Siberia.
AMERADA HESS CORP. confirmed a 100-200 million bbl of oil equivalent discovery in the Gulf of Mexico with its second successful appraisal well in 1,700 ft of water on Garden Banks Block 260. Tests of two earlier wells there gauged a combined flow of 14,246 b/d of oil and 39.9 MMcfd of gas.
TRACER PETROLEUM CORP., Vancouver, B.C., purchased a self-contained, mobile drilling rig and is outfitting it for jungle operations on the company's 1.6 million acre North Tanjung block in Borneo. Tracer expects the rig, rated to 10,000 ft, to be delivered in June to start work on the first of five to 10 wildcats in the next 3 years.
EXPLORATION
WEST AUSTRALIAN PETROLEUM PTY. LTD. (Wapet), Perth, 1 Crest wildcat flowed 6,500 b/d of 49.7 gravity oil from a 2/2 m interval on EP-26 permit in the Carnarvon basin off Western Australia. Wapet drilled the well diagonally from its Thevenard Island base to a point near its Saladin oil field.
SANTOS LTD., Adelaide, 2 Kleary wildcat tested 3,255 b/d of 54.8 gravity oil from Jurassic Poolowanna, 2,360 b/d of 32.5 gravity oil from Triassic Tinchoo, and 68 b/d of 52.1 gravity oil from Jurassic Birkhead on the East Patchawarra block in South Australia's Cooper-Eromanga basin, 125 km east of the Moomba production complex.
WAVETECH GEOPHYSICAL INC. will host a 1 day meeting Apr. 27 in Denver to present geological details of acreage scheduled to be offered by Turkmenistan in two bidding rounds. The acreage is in the Caspian Sea and Chardzhou sector in the Amu-Darya basin.
LAGOVEN 1X Piedritas wildcat flowed 3,000 b/d of 26 gravity oil natural. The 16,207 ft well is 41 km south of Maturin in eastern Venezuela.
