Drilling Production 2000 P

07/25/2000 -- Transneft has trouble filling Baku-Novorossiisk oil line
Russia's state oil pipeline operator Transneft said recently that it is prepared to offer financial incentives to companies that pledge to export oil production from the Caspian Sea area through the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline. At the moment, the pipeline is not carrying any oil at all, as its only customer, the State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic, has halted shipments in order to ensure supplies to Azerbaijan's refineries ahead of the winter heating season.
07/25/2000 -- Triton finds new oil pool off Equatorial Guinea
Triton Energy Ltd., Dallas, has revealed that its Ceiba-5 appraisal well, drilled on Block G off Equatorial Guinea, not only confirmed the primary oil pool found in the first four Ceiba wells but also encountered a deeper pool with an additional high-quality reservoir not seen in any of the previous Ceiba wells. Ceiba-5, which Triton calls a 'significant step-out well,' cut 243 ft of net oil-bearing pay in three zones.
07/25/2000 -- US DOE picks projects to store CO₂
The US Energy Department will fund 13 projects that will seek economic ways to capture and store carbon dioxide, which is believed to contribute to global warming. DOE will spend $13.7 million on the projects over the next 3 years, and the project sponsors will spend $10 million. DOE has received 60 applications.
07/25/2000 -- Market watch, July 25
Worldwide energy futures prices continued to tumble Monday as US gasoline shortages seemed to disappear before threats of increased oil production, officials said.
07/24/2000 -- Alberta oilsands project approved; another unveiled
Oilsands activity in Northern Alberta continues to increase as a planned project received regulatory approval last week and new plans were unveiled for another project. Petro-Canada, Calgary, received approval for the McKay River oilsands project in northern Alberta. Meanwhile, OPTI Canada Inc., a unit of the Israeli-US engineering and manufacturing firm Ormat Industries Ltd., announced plans for a $450 million project.
07/24/2000 -- Phillips approves Bohai Bay development plan
Phillips Petroleum Co. said Thursday it will begin the first development phase of Peng Lai (PL) 19-3 field on Block 11/05 in China's Bohai Bay. Phillips noted that it has made two new oil discoveries on the block, bringing its total number of finds there to six. 'With six discoveries and several large additional prospects identified, we're extremely optimistic about the potential of this block,' said Bill Berry, vice-president of the Eurasia exploration and production division.
07/24/2000 -- Executive Q&A: Offshore Drilling Outlook
OGJ Online Senior Oil & Gas Writer Sam Fletcher interviewed C.R. "Bob" Palmer, chairman and CEO of Rowan Cos. Inc., on July 11 at the company's Houston headquarters.
07/24/2000 -- Processing news briefs, July 24
Chevron Phillips Chemical ... Dow Chemical Canada ... Linde ... Orion Refining ... Albian Sands Energy ... Kobe Steel ... Taiwan Fertilizer Co. ... Consumers' Co-operative Refineries ... Suncor Energy
07/24/2000 -- Drilling/Production news briefs, July 24
American Petroleum Institute ... Syncrude Canada ... TotalFinaElf ... National Petroleum Construction Co. of Abu Dhabi ... Chiles Offshore ... Perforadora Central
07/24/2000 -- Exploration/Development news briefs, July 24
Parallel Petroleum ... Pado Oil & Chemical (Austria) ... Turkmenneft ... Gulf Canada Resources
07/24/2000 -- Gulf of Mexico rig utilization hits 2-year high
Utilization of mobile offshore rigs hit a 2-year high in the Gulf of Mexico, officials at Houston-based Offshore Data Services reported Friday. Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, Thursday, the US Minerals Management Service (MMS) reported a record 34 rigs working the deep waters of the gulf, in depths of 1,000 ft or more.
07/21/2000 -- Premcor upgrades Port Arthur refinery
Premcor Inc. (formerly Clark Refining Holdings Inc.), St. Louis, Mo., has successfully tested the rated crude oil throughput capacity at its Port Arthur, Tex., refinery, almost a month after a fire shut down the crude distillation unit for a week. The crude distillation unit was recently boosted to 250,000 b/d capacity from 232,000.
07/21/2000 -- NGSA says US producers will meet winter gas needs
R. Skip Horvath, Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) president, told a Senate agriculture subcommittee Thursday that US producers are responding to higher natural gas prices with increased drilling. Horvath said, 'We are confident that natural gas [supplies] will meet winter market demand.'
07/21/2000 -- Rig activity, demand keep gas prices strong
Demand for natural gas continues strong with gas in storage still roughly 20% below year ago levels, based on injection figures for the week ended July 14. But weather-related issues could make the next 2 weeks injection rates appear strong, compared to 1999 at this time, experts say.
07/20/2000 -- Semisub concept frontrunner for Kristin
Norway's Statoil this week said it had chosen a semisubmersible production platform as its �principal option� to develop the Kristin gas-condensate field in the Haltenbanken area of the Norwegian Sea. The field partners nonetheless plan to continue evaluating alternative approaches for the discovery, which is part of the four-field Haltenbanken South complex.
07/20/2000 -- AGA warns of higher natural gas prices
The American Gas Association reiterated Wednesday that, although natural gas prices are likely to be higher this winter, supplies will be adequate. AGA Pres. David Parker said, 'We're trying to alert consumers that if we have normally cold weather, their natural gas prices could be higher this winter.'
07/19/2000 -- Drilling/Production news briefs, July 19
BP Amoco allows Diamond Offshore to postpone delivery of Ocean Confidence; Transocean Sedco Forex's Discoverer Enterprise resumes work for BP Amoco.
07/19/2000 -- Lukman: OPEC poised to act on prices
Rilwanu Lukman, secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, today underlined that the organization stands poised to 'stabilize the oil market' by adjusting its collective output to offset rates seen to be 'too high or too low' but refused to be drawn on whether such a move was immediately warranted by the current level of oil prices.
07/19/2000 -- Brigantine field development gets green light
The UK government today gave the go-ahead to development plans for Shell Expro�s Brigantine gas fields in the southern North Sea. Shell aims to bring the three-field 'cluster'�estimated to hold recoverable gas reserves of 280 bcf�into production using a pair of its low-cost �Trident� design platforms at a cost of �100 million.
07/19/2000 -- Mitchell succeeds with light sand fracing in Barnett shale
Using the new light sand fracturing technology to enhance production at lower cost, Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. has accelerated development of the Newark East Barnett shale field in North Texas, doubling gas production to 172 MMcfd in just over a year. With the technology, Mitchell has added Upper Barnett production to about 400 existing wells, compared with only 40 that were producing from the formation less than a year ago as a result of light sand fracing (OGJ, Sept. 27, 1999, p. 89).

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Drilling Production 2000 P