INDUSTRY BRIEFS

Oct. 26, 1992
TRANSCANADA PIPELINES, Calgary, lot contracts valued at more than $200 million to Westinghouse Electric Corp. to supply two 150,000 kw combined cycle power plants in North Bay and Kapuskasing, Ont. The plants will use waste heat from TransCanada's pipeline compressors and natural gas from western Canada to fuel combined cycle power generation.

COGENERATION

TRANSCANADA PIPELINES, Calgary, lot contracts valued at more than $200 million to Westinghouse Electric Corp. to supply two 150,000 kw combined cycle power plants in North Bay and Kapuskasing, Ont. The plants will use waste heat from TransCanada's pipeline compressors and natural gas from western Canada to fuel combined cycle power generation.

MISSION ENERGY CO., a unit of SCE Corp., purchased a 50% equity stake in the Brooklyn Navy Yard cogeneration project from York Research Corp., New York. The $370 million project will be built, owned, and operated by a project partnership, with funding and credit support provided by Mission. The 286,000 kw plant will provide electricity to Con Edison and electricity and steam to the Navy Yard industrial complex under contracts that extend through 2024.

MARKETING

CHEVRON INTERNATIONAL OIL CO seeks offers for purchase of its marketing operations in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. The operations include about 200 Chevron branded service stations.

ONEOK GAS MARKETING CO. and Ward Gas Marketing Inc., both of Tulsa, formed a partnership to purchase and market natural gas. The partnership will be managed by Ward and make an effort to develop additional gas markets, mainly outside Oklahoma. The partnership expects new opportunities to market gas to local distribution companies connected to interstate pipelines as a result of changes in the industry caused by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order 636.

CONOCO INC. demonstrated the first operating Stage II vapor recovery system in Houston Oct. 22. Stage 11 systems are designed to eliminate 95% of hydrocarbon emissions into the atmosphere during vehicle fueling, and the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990 require Stage 11 systems at service stations in ozone nonattainment urban areas beginning May 1993.

EXPLORATION

NIGER HUNT OIL CO. and the government of Niger signed an exploration and development agreement covering the 142,437 sq km Djado block in northeastern Niger (see map, OGJ, Sept. 16, 1991, p. 103). The agreement provides for an initial 4 year exploration term with options for two 3 year extensions. Niger Hunt plans to start geological and geophysical studies in the area by yearend.

UNION TEXAS INTERNATIONAL CORP., Houston, received from France's Ministry of Industry and Foreign Commerce a hydrocarbon permit to explore for coalbed methane and conventional hydrocarbons in the Pont-a-Mousson area in northeastern France. Union Texas holds 100% interest in the permit, which calls for a 5 year exploration program on the 130,500 acre block. Union Texas must spend about $1.7 million on exploration in the 5 year period.

BULA OIL LTD., Dublin, 48/19-2 wildcat on a gas prospect in the Celtic Sea (OGJ, Aug. 17, p. 44) flowed 100 b/d of 15 gravity oil during short term production tests of zones at 3,000-3,500 ft.

AMOCO (U.K.) EXPLORATION CO. 15/22-11 wildcat on Block 15/22 in the U.K. Central North Sea flowed 6,500 b/d of 41 gravity oil and about 10.5 MMcfd of gas through a 56/64 in. choke during a drill stem test of upper Jurassic Piper sandstone. Total depth is 10,665 ft. Plans call for early appraisal of the discovery, southeast of Amerada Hess Ltd.'s Scott field.

MAERSK OLIE OG GAS AS 1 Tantawan wildcat on Block B/8-32 in the Gulf of Thailand off Thailand flowed a combined 6,260 b/d of oil and condensate and 25.75 MMcfd of gas from five intervals at 7,126-8,674 ft. Test results of two intervals were disclosed earlier (OGJ, Oct. 19, p. 40).

REFINING

AN EXPLOSION AND FIRE at Fuji Oil Co.'s Sodegaura refinery on Tokyo Bay Oct. 16 killed seven people, injured two, and left six missing, Agence France Presse reported. The fire was put out less than 2 hr after the blast. Fuji thinks an oil leak sparked the explosion.

CHEVRON U.S.A. PRODUCTS CO. started up a 2,100 b/d methyl tertiary butyl ether unit at its Pascagoula, Miss., refinery that was designed by Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (OGJ, Jan. 20, p. 29). Chevron and Jacobs developed a standardized design for the unit that is also being used for a similar installation at Chevron's Richmond, Calif., refinery.

PETROLEOS MEXICANOS let contract to Spain's Mecanica de la Pena to build and equip a naphtha plant at the 320,000 b/d Tula refinery in Hidalgo state. Project cost is estimated at $30 million, which is to be financed through a loan from Japan earmarked for air pollution reduction.

U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, at the request of Texas Gov. Ann Richards, will require reformulated gasoline sales in the Dallas-Fort Worth area beginning Jan. 1, 1995. The 1990 Clean Air Act amendments permit moderate ozone nonattainment regions to opt into the reformulated gasoline program.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE is suing Amoco Oil Co. for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act in operations at its Casper, Wyo., refinery. The suit claims Amoco failed to adequately pretreat refinery wastewater before discharging it.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

BANGLADESH OIL, GAS & MINERAL CORP. (Bogmc) estimates Bangladesh has natural gas reserves of 10.7 tcf. Bogmc estimates cumulative production in the country at 1.7 tcf from 17 wells. With artificial lift, Bogmc said reserves could be increased to about 15 tcf. The estimates were based on evaluating eight of the 17 wells.

HEIMERICH & PAYNE INTERNATIONAL DRILLING CO., Tulsa, renewed contracts on five international land rigs, four of which are 18,000 ft rated helirigs. Two rigs will remain in Ecuador under contract to Maxus Ecuador Inc. and Elf Aquitaine Ecuador. The other three will be moved from Papua New Guinea, Gabon, and Colombia to work in Yemen, Ecuador, and Guyana, under contracts with Cresecent Petroleum (Yemen) Inc., Occidental Exploration & Production Co., and Guyana Hunt Oil Co., respectively.

MORRISON PETROLEUMS LTD., Calgary, purchased assets in Central Alberta from Union Pacific Resources Inc. for $49.9 million (Canadian) including net production of 1,556 b/d of light oil, 17 MMcfd of gas, and 496 b/d of natural gas liquids, seismic data, and exploration acreage. Morrison also purchased assets in Northeast British Columbia from Unocal Canada Ltd. for about $12 million (Canadian) that includes net oil production of about 525 b/d of oil and 1.1 MMcfd of gas, seismic data, and undeveloped acreage.

HIBERNIA MANAGEMENT & DEVELOPMENT CO. LTD. let a $13 million contract to Dreco Energy Services Ltd., Edmonton, for engineering and construction of two derricks and accessories for Hibernia field development off Newfoundland. Engineering is to begin immediately, construction is to start in March 1993, and completion is scheduled by yearend 1993.

TARRAGON OIL AND GAS LTD., Calgary, paid $16.9 million (Canadian) for certain oil and gas assets in Saskatchewan of Home Oil Ltd. and Scurry-Rainbow Oil Ltd. Included are crude oil production of 1,230 b/d and 130,467 acres of exploration acreage. Closing is Jan. 1 .

IRVING OIL LTD., Saint John, N.B., bought 500,000 bbl of crude produced from Cohasset field off Nova Scotia. The adjacent Cohasset and Panuke fields, operated by Lasmo Nova Scotia Ltd., are the first offshore Canadian fields to go into commercial production. Irving is the first buyer in Atlantic Canada. Lasmo and partner Nova Scotia Resources Ltd. each have a 50% interest in the fields with estimated reserves of about 50 million bbl.

TATOLPETRO, the 50-50 joint venture of Total SA and Tatneft, regional operator in Tatarstan, said its Romashkino field project there will yield 150,000 bbl of oil this year. Injection of polymers and cellulose ethers will enable a steady production increase the next 2 years to 12,000 b/d.

HAMILTON OIL CO. LTD., London, stopped producing oil from Argyll and Duncan fields on North Sea Block 30/24. Argyll yielded the North Sea's first commercial oil production in June 1975. It was initially produced via converted semisubmersible, then via subsea completions, for loading into tankers. Duncan also used a floating production and storage system. Combined output passed 97 million bbl.

TRANSPORTATION

A BROKEN WELD caused an explosion and fire on the 440 mile, 40 in. gas pipeline from fields in Russia's Stavropol Territory north of the Caucasus Mountains to Moscow. The accident occurred in Voronezh Province, southeast of Moscow where press reports said the pipeline is about 30 years old and has long been in need of repair. About the same time, about 1,400 bbl of fuel oil leaked from a storage tank and polluted the Neman River in Belarus.

CITY UTILITIES, Springfield, Mo., let contract to Trigon Engineering Inc., Denver, for design engineering and project management for a 76 mile, 16 in. natural gas pipeline that will interconnect with Arkla Energy Resources' gas pipeline at Jane, Mo., and extend to Springfield carrying added or alternative gas supply of as much as 100 MMcfd. Total project cost will be about $25 million. Construction is to start next summer, and the line is to be on stream by yearend 1993.

ENVIRONMENT

U.S. EPA proposed emission standards for 1994 model year cars and trucks powered by natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas. EPA said the rule, to be published soon, sets emission limits nearly equivalent to those for gasoline vehicles.

COMPANIES

TEXAS DISTRICT COURT, Wharton County, denied a motion by Dorchester Hugoton Ltd., Dallas, for partial summary judgment that its 1946 gas purchase contract with Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America be terminated Jan. 1, 1993, when that price structure is no longer in effect under the Natural Gas Wellhead Decontrol Act. Dorchester will request a trial to terminate the contract, which calls for it to receive 15.40/Mcf for its Oklahoma gas.

GAZ DE FRANCE DEUTSCHLAND, British Gas Deutschland, and Vereinigte Elektrizitatswerke Westfalen (VEW) agreed with Germany's Treuhandanstalt to buy Freiberg's Deutsches Brennstoffinstitut (DBI), a research and engineering center that focuses on environmental issues, development of gas technologies, and sewage treatment. DBI will be held 40% by VEW, Gaz de France 30%, and British Gas 30%.

NORSK HYDRO AS plans to reduce the number of its employees in the Oslo area to about 2,500 from 3,000 as the result of a 6 month analysis. The streamlining will cut fixed costs by several hundred million kroner and is part of the company's plans to cut costs by 1.5 billion kroner in 1992-93. Hydro said all of the company's costs are being examined, and it plans to make adjustments gradually.

LOUIS DREYFUS NATURAL GAS CORP., Oklahoma City, completed purchase of almost all U.S. assets of Dekalb Energy Co., Denver (OGJ, July 20, p. 38). Dekalb's operations are now based in Canada, and its headquarters will move to Calgary by yearend.

LNG

INDONESIA'S Pertamina signed long term liquefied natural gas supply contracts with Japan's Hiroshima Gas Co., Nippon Gas Co., and Osaka Gas Co. calling for Pertamina to supply 200,000 metric tons/year of LNG to the three utilities during 1996-2000. Shipments will increase to 400,000 tons/year from 2000 until the contracts expire in 2015. LNG will be shipped from Pertamina's Bontang LNG plant in East Kalimantan.

TAIWAN'S Chinese Petroleum Corp. soon will sign a memorandum of understanding with an undisclosed Malaysian supplier to import 2.25 million metric tons/year of LNG from Malaysia beginning in 1995. That would put Malaysia ahead of Indonesia as Taiwan's biggest LNG supplier. Indonesia currently exports 1.6 million tons/year of LNG to CPC. CPC also is negotiating with prospective LNG suppliers in the U.S. and Canada.

SPILLS

MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE reopened a center for large scale testing of oil spill response equipment and methods under oceanlike conditions at Leonardo, N.J., formerly operated by EPA. The 667 ft long, 66 ft wide, and 12 ft deep aboveground tank can hold 2.6 million gal of fresh or salt water. It is used to release oil under simulated wave and meteorological conditions for evaluation of oil spill booms, skimmers, chemical treatment agents, and other technologies. MAR Inc., Rockville, Md., manages the facility for MMS under a $3 million contract.

GOVERNMENT

AZERBAIJAN appointed London law firm Nabarro Nathanson to advise on drafting new laws for oil and gas exploration and production. The project covers the former Soviet republic's onshore and Caspian Sea territory.

EXPORTS-IMPORTS

SNAM, subsidiary of Italy's state owned Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi, renegotiated contracts with Netherlands' Gasunie covering supply of 210 bcf/year that extend the term to 2010 vs. the previous expiration in 2006. Snam also imported 245 bcf of gas from Russia the first 7 months of 1992, compared with a total of 496.5 bcf from the former Soviet republic in all of 1991.

Copyright 1992 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.