The US experienced its fourth consecutive week of colder-than-normal conditions, prompting a rise in heat load demand. The American Gas Association reported a 140 bcf withdrawal from storage for the week ended Mar. 8.
By now, OGJ readers have probably noticed the "A Century of Industry Leadership" emblem on the cover of recent Oil & Gas Journals. As OGJ celebrates its 100th anniversary, another industry institution is celebrating the same milestone-National Petrochemical & Refiners Association.
The new Hydrobloc HB Series heatless desiccant compressed air dryer features maintenance-free shuttle valves, high efficiency coalescing prefilter, and particulate removal afterfilter.
Talisman Energy Inc., Calgary, said gross production from its fields in southern Sudan averaged 221,300 b/d in fourth quarter 2001 and 213,028 b/d for the full year, a 16% increase on the year.
The oil and gas industry, especially in the US, faced two large economic questions when 2002 began. One was timing of the start of recovery. The other was whether recovery would last.
The US Senate Mar. 11 resumed work on a sweeping energy bill with votes expected on tighter motor vehicle fuel efficiency standards and tougher government oversight of energy derivatives.
US Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge announced a revamped national alert system Mar. 12 that the oil industry finds to be a welcome improvement from how the federal government issued past terrorist alerts following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York City and outside Washington, DC.
Iran should stop trying to pressure its oil-rich Caspian neighbors to follow an agenda not supported by US political or commercial interests, a top US official told government and industry officials at a US-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce meeting Mar. 7.
Higher levels of cooperation, trust, and flexibility will be needed if host countries and international operators are to wrest the most value from oil and gas opportunities, said panel members in advance of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists annual convention in Houston Mar. 10.
Increased demand for oil and natural gas should push up commodity prices in 2003 or maybe even sooner, said a panel of five industry executives at a semiannual oil field service industry outlook breakfast Mar. 8 in Houston.
The future for natural gas is bright, from both demand and supply standpoints. And the natural gas processing industry can benefit from that prospect so long as it accepts certain realities about its business and deals directly with some old and new issues.
Analysts see benefits for both firms in an agreement between Berkshire Hathaway Inc. unit MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., Des Moines, Iowa, and Tulsa-based Williams Cos. Inc. to purchase the latter's Kern River Gas Transmission Co. for $960 million in cash and debt.
Salaries in the UK upstream oil and gas industry are on the rise, according to the latest salary survey released by SMCL, a specialty consulting firm based in the UK. Upstream salaries in the UK increased an average of 5.7% last year vs. 2000, the survey said.
Robert G. Slaughter has been elected president of the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association. Currently, Slaughter serves as NPRA's general counsel and director of public policy.
Pioneer Natural Resources Co., Dallas, will be the first outside company to produce oil off South Africa with the anticipated startup of Sable field expected in the first quarter of 2003. Pioneer also has two natural gas discoveries in the vicinity and foresees South Africa's power generation driving a future gas market.
The oil and gas industry was pressing its quest to gain access to land for exploration, drilling, and possibly production on several fronts in recent weeks.
Girassol field, discovered in 1996, came on stream on Dec. 4, 2001; TotalFinaElf SA says production in February 2002 reached 200,000 bo/d from eight wells.
Experiments in the Liaohe oil fields, in northeastern China, indicate that placement of a catalyst downhole can improve cyclic steam, heavy-oil recovery.
Conoco Inc., Houston and Tesco Corp., Calgary, commercialized the Casing-Drilling process by signing a multiyear, multiwell contract, which they say is their first for Casing-Drilling services.
A "subsea-to-subsea" installation was completed in late 2001 on Shell Exploration & Production Co.'s Einstat project by Stolt Offshore Inc., Houston. Such installations are rare, according to Stolt project manager Bjorn Koi, but may become more common for deepwater development.
In 2000, Repsol YPF's Lujan de Cuyo, Argentina, refinery completed a vacuum unit revamp that increased total gas oil yield by 6% on whole crude while maintaining heavy vacuum gas oil (HVGO) product quality (Table 1).
Refinery operations planning will undergo major changes as increased computing power, and new risk analysis techniques and software reach the planner's desk.
Combining a proprietary asphaltene stability index (ASI) and a laboratory simulation of the desalting process can predict desalter problems in a refinery when incompatible crude blends are suspected.
