U.S. BRIEFS

COGENERATION

BROWN & ROOT U.S.A. INC. finished installing underground civil and foundation packages for two 35,000 kw cogeneration units it is building for Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. at Conoco Inc.'s Ponca City, Okla., refinery. The plants will supply electricity to OG&E and process steam to Conoco.

HADSON CORP., Oklahoma City, reached an amended power sales contract with Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. for a 79,000 kw gas fired cogeneration project in Rensselaer, N.Y.

TRANSPORTATION

TEXAS EASTERN
PRODUCTS PIPELINE CO., Houston, resumed shipments through its propane line between Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Selkirk, N.Y. The line had been out of service for repair and testing after a Mar. 13 explosion and fire caused by a propane leak (OGJ, Mar. 19, p. 29). Tepco replaced sections of defective pipe after hydrostatic testing.

COLUMBIA GAS
TRANSMISSION CORP., Charleston, W.Va., filed for a $74 million rate increase with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, effective Nov. 1. Columbia projects a firm transportation rate of about 190/dekatherm, an interruptible rate of 300/dekatherm, and a $3.09/dekatherm sales rate.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAS CO. will buy 706 MMcfd of spot gas at a weighted average price of $1.42/MMBTU for May 1990. Through Apr. 21, SoCalGas paid $1.46/MMBTU for 608 MMcfd.

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE
REFINERY ASSOCIATION, McPherson, Kan., bought the assets of Anson Transportation Go., Oklahoma City. Anson purchases and transports about 6,600 b/d of oil in Central and West Oklahoma. The purchase includes all Anson trucks and office equipment.

WYOMING-CALIFORNIA
PIPELINE CO., Cheyenne, Wyo., ordered 500 miles of 30 in. pipe from Napa Pipe Corp., Portland, Ore., for its proposed 670 mile gas pipeline from Wyoming to California.

PETROCHEMICALS

TENNECO INC. will build a methyl tertiary butyl ether plant at its LaPorte, Tex., complex. The facility, to start up in early 1992, will produce 12,500 b/d of MTBE, most of which will be sold to refiners under long term contracts.

ACQUISITIONS

EDISTO RESOURCES CORP., Dallas, acquired for about $5.6 million assets of Gulfstar Petroleum Co., Houston, including interests in 13 Gulf of Mexico blocks.

HOMCO INTERNATIONAL INC., Houston, purchased Land & Marine Rental Co., San Antonio, for $15 million.

TEXAS OIL & GAS CORP. will sell Arkoma basin oil and gas properties in Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma to Arco Oil & Gas Corp. and Sonat Exploration Co. for $193 million. Closing is expected in 60-90 days.

ALTERNATE FUELS

CHEVRON RESOURCES CO. sold its geothermal operations in Nevada and Utah to California Energy Co. Inc., San Francisco, for $68.7 million. The sale includes geothermal projects in Beowawe and Desert Peak, Nev., and Roosevelt, Utah, plus leasehold interests of about 17,600 acres in Utah and 70,000 acres in Nevada.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAS CO. and Southern California Rapid Transit District put into service the first of 10 compressed natural gas buses-the biggest U.S. CNG bus fleet. RTD will take delivery of the last bus by the end of summer. The buses hold 16.1 Mcf of gas, equivalent to 125 gal of diesel.

EXPLORATION

SEAGULL ENERGY CORP., Houston, Brazos 399G-2 discovery well flowed 22 MMcfd of gas through 18/64-22/64 in. chokes with 1,700-2,575 psi flowing tubing pressures at 7,155-8,000 ft. The well is in 60 ft of water about 15 miles south of Freeport, Tex.

EDISTO RESOURCES CORP., Dallas, acquired a 50% working interest in 45,084 undeveloped acres in South Texas' Austin chalk trend for $6.9 million in cash and stock. It plans to drill 17 Austin chalk wells in 1990.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

TAURUS EXPLORATION INC., Birmingham, Ala., Chevron U.S.A. Inc., and TECO Energy Inc., will expand their joint coalbed methane project by 20,000 acres to 25,000 acres. Taurus believes the Black Warrior basin project near Tuscaloosa, Ala., will support as many as 270 wells, which it plans to drill by yearend.

STATE OF ALABAMA established a coalbed methane well plugging account, funded with a $150 industry permit fee. It will pay plugging costs not paid by the operator or covered by state oil & gas board bonds.

TAYLOR ENERGY CO., New Orleans, claimed a single run footage record of 7,037 ft on Matagorda Island Block 603 off Texas. Taylor ran a 9 7/8 in. S-95 PDC bit on a Smith steerable system at angles up to 42 through Miocene sand and shale formations. Average penetration rate was 40.8 ft/hr.

EAGLE PASS ENERGY CORP., Los Angeles, plans initial development of more than 30 wells on 2,000 oil and gas leases in the Huntington Beach, Calif., town-lot area it acquired from Fina Oil & Chemical Co. for more than $1 millon in cash and future production payments. Proven undeveloped oil reserves are estimated at 15 million bbl.

NERCO OIL & GAS CO., Vancouver, Wash., installed a four pile manned production platform at Eugene Island Block 217 in the Gulf of Mexico about 60 miles south of Morgan City, La.

MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE plans to modify offshore drilling, completion, and workover rules to require lessees to report pressure conditions and other data on testing of blowout preventers and auxiliary equipment. The changes will allow MMS to verify adequacy of lessee tests they have not witnessed.

U.S. DRILLING COMPLETIONS rose 25.8% in the first quarter from the same period in 1989, reported American Petroleum Institute. A total of 8,179 oil and gas wells and dry holes was drilled in the period. Exploratory wells totaled 1,207 vs. 1,273 a year ago. Total footage was 39,791,000 ft, up 27.8% from 1989.

COMPANIES

OFFSHORE PIPELINES INC., Houston, agreed to buy some marine construction assets, including 23 derrick, pipelay, and other construction vessels, from Brown & Root International Inc. for about $80 million. Brown & Root had rescinded the sale in April (OGJ, Apr. 30, p. 40).

ENVIRONMENT

A JOINT RESEARCH PROJECT of 10 companies will study bioremediation of soils contaminated with petroleum products. Forming the project are Amoco, BP America, Chevron, Conoco, Mobil, Murphy, Pennzoil, Union of California, Texaco, and Remediation Technologies.