INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

Nov. 18, 1991
OVERSEAS SHIPHOLDING GROUP INC. (OSG), New York, placed orders for construction of two 93,650 dwt double hull tankers for delivery in late 1993 and early 1994. Contractors aren't disclosed. OSG's operating fleet consists of 65 vessels totaling 6.1 million dwt, all of which are employed.

TANKERS

OVERSEAS SHIPHOLDING GROUP INC. (OSG), New York, placed orders for construction of two 93,650 dwt double hull tankers for delivery in late 1993 and early 1994. Contractors aren't disclosed. OSG's operating fleet consists of 65 vessels totaling 6.1 million dwt, all of which are employed.

EXPLORATION

HARKEN ENERGY CORP., Dallas, began drilling the first wildcat on the Jarim reef under a production sharing agreement with Bahrain National Oil Co. (OGJ, May 13, p. 41). Harken's 2 Jarim wildcat, off Bahrain in the Persian Gulf about 15 miles northwest of Manama, will test Jurassic Arab at 7,300 ft and Permian Khuff at 13,300 ft. Projected depth is 14,500 ft. A commercial discovery will trigger a production sharing term of 35 years.

PIPELINES

WIEH, a 50-50 venture of Wintershall AG and the U.S.S.R.'s Gazprom, signed a 20 year contract with the Soviet Union's Soyuzgasexport to increase deliveries of Soviet gas to Germany to as much as 476.5 bcf/year from 208.3 bcf/year in 1991. Wintershall expects the peak volume to be attained within 5 years. The new contract is effective beginning in 1992.

NIAGARA MOHAWK POWER CORP., Syracuse, N.Y., will purchase 35 MMcfd from Western Gas Marketing Ltd., Calgary, beginning Dec. 1 , increasing to 51 MMcfd on or about Nov. 1, 1992. The 15 year agreement is one of the first contracts for transportation through the Iroquois Gas Transmission system from Canada to New York.

NOVA CORP., Calgary, received firm transportation agreements beginning Nov. 1, 1993, for delivery of 903 MMcfd of gas to supply the proposed Pacific Gas Transmission Co. project (OGJ, Oct. 21, p. 37) and 735 MMcfd to supply Altamont Gas Transmission Co.'s project (OGJ, Sept. 2, p. 38). The service agreements are under 15 year minimum term contracts. Nova will spend about $800 million for new facilities to meet service requirements for both projects.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

CANADIAN FRACMASTER LTD., Calgary, began a $12 million shipment of drilling and well stimulation equipment to a company project in Siberia (OGJ, Aug. 12, p. 31). The shipment will travel by rail from Calgary to Montreal, by ship to St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), U.S.S.R., and by rail to oil fields near Nizhnevartovsk, 1,429 miles east of Moscow. The shipment will take about 6 weeks. Fracmaster plans to begin a second Siberian well stimulation program in January.

CABINDA GULF OIL CO. LTD. set a crude production record of 300,000 b/d from its concession off Cabinda, 10 times more than start-up rates in 1967. The company said the jump stems from additional wells, innovative operating techniques, and a major waterflood. It holds a 39.2% interest in the concession with Soc. Nacional de Combustiveis de Angola 51% and Agip Angola Ltd. 9.8%.

TOTAL acquired another 20% interest in El Huemul field in Patagonia from Argentina's Yacimentos Petroliferos Fiscales for $46.6 million, bringing Total's interest in the field to 70%.

PETROCORP, Houston, was involved in a purchase of Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. assets in Canada, not New Zealand's Petrocorp, as incorrectly reported (OGJ, Nov. 4, p. 47).

REFINING

IDEMITSU KOSAN CO. signed a letter of intent with Malaysia's Petronas and South Korea's Samsung Co. to participate in a 100,000 b/d sour crude train at Petronas' refinery in Malacca. The sour crude unit, to start up in mid-1996, will be fed by Middle East crude. A 100,000 b/d sweet crude unit on stream at the refinery is fed by Malaysian crude. Caltex and Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corp. earlier pulled out of the project (OGJ, Oct. 7, p. 117).

LAGOVEN SA plans to install units at its Amuay refinery in Venezuela to produce 150,000 metric tons/year of methyl tertiary butyl ether and 100,000 tons/year of tertiary amyl methyl ether for export. Project value is estimated at $120 million. Completion is set for third quarter 1993. Feedstock will be olefins from Amuay's cat cracking and flexicoker units. It has not been determined whether Lagoven will build and operate the plants alone or with foreign partners.

MOBIL CORP. let a turnkey contract to Sembawang Engineering Pte, Ltd. to build and install nine fuel storage tanks and three 15,000 bbl liquid petroleum gas spheres on Pulau Pesek, an island near Mobil's refinery on Malaysia's west coast. The contract is part of Mobil's proposed $600 million expansion project, to be complete in 1993 (OGJ, Apr. 29, p. 44).

COMPANIES

HONG KONG businessman Li Ka-shing and associates filed a formal application with Investment Canada for approval of a $325 million takeover of Husky Oil Ltd., Calgary, via purchase of the 43% interest in Husky held by parent Nova Corp. (OGJ, Oct. 28, p. 40). The Li family now owns 52% of Husky.

CANADIAN HUNTER EXPLORATION LTD. and Shell Canada Ltd., both of Calgary, cut payroll, eliminating a total of 127 jobs. Canadian Hunter cut 77 workers, and Shell, in the latest of several reductions, cut its payroll by 50 employees. Canadian Hunter also cut staff at its American Hunter unit in Denver. Canadian Hunter will reduce 1992 upstream spending by about 50% to $100-125 million.

BARIVEN SA, foreign purchasing arm of Venezuela's state owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA, issued $230 million in 5 year Eurobonds to help finance Pdvsa capital spending. Pdvsa will have to raise about $8 billion in foreign financing as part of its $48 billion, 5 year, capital spending program.

PETROCHEMICALS

SUDENE, Northeast Brazil's development agency, approved $1.9 million in financing for a $140 million, 130,000 ton/year Unipol process linear low density/high density polyethylene plant under construction at Camicari's Salvador, Bahia, complex. Camacari will fund half the venture's cost, with the remainder provided by Brazilian banks. Start-up is scheduled for March 1992 for the project, which adjoins expansion of Camacari's ethylene complex.

Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.