INDUSTRY BRIEFS

May 31, 1993
ENRON STORAGE CO., a unit of Enron Corp., expects by Dec. 1 to complete a project allowing it to begin offering 4 bcf of working gas capacity at Napoleonville storage site in Assumption Parish, La. Plans include installing 5,200 hp of compression at two salt caverns to withdraw as much as 400 MMcfd or inject 200 MMcfd. Enron by 1998 expects to add 7 bcf of working gas capacity with a third Napoleonville storage cavern capable of withdrawing 600 MMcfd or injecting 300 MMcfd.

GAS STORAGE

ENRON STORAGE CO., a unit of Enron Corp., expects by Dec. 1 to complete a project allowing it to begin offering 4 bcf of working gas capacity at Napoleonville storage site in Assumption Parish, La. Plans include installing 5,200 hp of compression at two salt caverns to withdraw as much as 400 MMcfd or inject 200 MMcfd. Enron by 1998 expects to add 7 bcf of working gas capacity with a third Napoleonville storage cavern capable of withdrawing 600 MMcfd or injecting 300 MMcfd.

COMPANIES

CHEVRON CHEMICAL CO. sold its Ortho brand lawn and garden products business to Monsanto Co. for about $400 million, including operating capital. The sale includes Ortho's manufacturing plant in Fort Madison, Iowa. Chevron will continue to own its Maryland Heights, Mo., manufacturing plant and produce product for Monsanto for a fee.

TARRAGON OIL & GAS LTD., Calgary, agreed to buy Opinac Exploration Ltd., also of Calgary, for $122 million (Canadian). Opinac is a subsidiary of Canadian Niagara Power Ltd. of Niagara Falls, Ont., which is in turn a unit of Niagara Mohawk Power Corp., Syracuse, N.Y. Closing is scheduled July 1. The purchase will increase Tarragon oil production to 7,540 b/d from 5,370 b/d and gas production to 79.1 MMcfd from 21.1 MMcfd.

GATES CORP. unit Cody Co. formed Cody Energy Co., Denver, to buy, operate, and market U.S. oil and gas producing leases. The company owns interests in 448 wells consisting of mainly gas wells in the Texas Gulf Coast, Louisiana, and New Mexico and mostly oil wells in Kansas, West Texas, New Mexico, and Utah. Cody Energy has a field office in Midland, Tex., and an operations office in Houston.

TALISMAN ENERGY INC., Calgary, acquired Encor Inc., also of Calgary. The takeover, effective immediately, was approved by Encor shareholders in a May 20 vote. Talisman, formerly BP Canada Inc., said merger of the two companies will be completed by this fall and there will be some staff layoffs.

OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM CORP. is not reducing its exposure in Pakistan or planning to pull out soon from that country, as reported incorrectly (OGJ, May 17, p. 27). The company recently drilled an appraisal to its Ratana gas/condensate discovery (OGJ, Feb. 1, p. 19) and may file a development plan soon.

PIPELINES

TEXACO INC. agreed to clean up soil and groundwater contamination at the Pacific Coast Pipeline Superfund site, Fillmore, Calif. Cleanup cost is estimated at $4-7 million. A Texaco refinery there in the 1920s to 1950 disposed of liquid and semisolid wastes in unlined pits. In 1986, Texaco excavated and disposed of 33,000 cu yd of waste material and contaminated soil, then installed a network of wells to monitor local groundwater and collect data.

RUSSIA'S Gazprom hired Compressor Controls Corp., Des Moines, Iowa, to supply turbomachinery control systems. The first year of the 7 year contract is worth $51 million. Compressor Controls will install controllers and monitoring and display software to perform fuel control of 404 industrial and aeroderivative gas turbines, as well as surge protection, performance control, and load sharing control for 471 centrifugal compressors. The turbines and compressors are located in 35 of Gazprom's 376 compressor stations.

UNION PACIFIC RESOURCES CO., Fort Worth, started laying its 41 mile, 6 and 10 in. Wahsatch sour gas gathering system in Uinta County, Wyo., and Rich and Summit counties, Utah (OGJ, May 24, p. 30). When complete later this year, the $44 million project will allow shipment of 55 MMcfd of gas and 800 b/d of condensate to Amoco Production Co.'s Whitney Canyon gas processing plant northeast of Evanston, Wyo.

EXPLORATION

EXXON CORP. affiliate Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria Ltd. signed a production sharing agreement with Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. to explore 500,000 acre Block 9, 47 miles off Nigeria. The agreement marks Exxon's return to upstream operations in the country.

GNR (COTE D'IVOIRE) LTD., a unit of Global Natural Resources Inc., Houston, will drill two appraisal wells by June 1994 to earn farmouts from United Meridian Corp., Houston, on the 334,000 acre Block CI-11 off Ivory Coast. Subject to government approval, GNR is to receive a 10% interest in the 7,600 acre Lion area in return for drilling a well in 240 ft of water and a 18% interest in the 326,400 acre Panther area with a well in 275 ft of water.

REFINING

IRAN'S Bandar Abbas refinery will go on stream 2 years later than planned at double the $1 .2 billion cost estimated in 1990. Middle East Economic Survey said the 240,000 b/d refinery will start up in 1995 rather than 1993.

ASHLAND OIL INC. division Ashland Petroleum Co. restarted the 57,000 b/d FCC unit at its Catlettsburg, Ky., refinery. It had been shut down since May 6 for repairs. Also, it expects to have repairs completed there in about 4 weeks on a 25,000 b/d crude processor that was shut down May 17 following an explosion that damaged the unit and killed an employee (OGJ, May 24, p. 30).

PETROGAL SA, after almost 1 year of operation on UOP's new R-132 continuous reforming catalyst at its Sines, Portugal, refinery, reported an activity advantage of about 20 F. compared with conventional CCR catalyst. In this first commercial loading of R-132, Petrogal increased unit throughput while remaining within heater firing limitations.

PETROSUR SA, Pasto, Colombia, bought the refining equipment of Petro-Canada Inc.'s former plant at Taylor, B.C. The 17,000 b/d refinery, decommissioned in 1991, will be dismantled this year and reerected in southern Colombia in 1994 in the Andes Mountains.

TEXACO unit Star Enterprise, Convent, La., let contract to Retec/Tetra LC for recycling and treatment of hazardous waste sludges from Star's Delaware City, Del., refinery. Retec/ Tetra will use its thermal desorption system and delisting process to achieve resource conservation by recovering hydrocarbons (OGJ, Nov. 2, 1992, p. 51).

TURKMENISTAN plans to revamp its two aging refineries, Middle East Economic Survey reported. The Krasnovodsk refinery by the Caspian Sea and Chardzhou refinery in eastern Turkmenistan have a combined 150,000 b/d capacity

BRITISH PETROLEUM CO. PLC opened a lubricants plant in Baku, Azerbaijan. Downstream division BP Oil Co. said the project is part of a growing cooperation with upstream operations. It will help establish BP's brand name in a region where the company is known only as an explorer. A similar plant is planned in Colombia.

SPILLS

CHEVRON SHIPPING CO. agreed to pay $350,000 in penalties and restitution stemming from an estimated 220-660 bbl products pipeline spill Mar. 16, 1991, at the El Segundo, Calif., offshore mooring facility. California's Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response said the State Lands Commission will receive $25,951 from the payment, Los Angeles district attorney $50,000 plus $70,000 in trust for the Department of Fish and Game, Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project $54,048, and Environmental Enhancement Fund $150,000.

MARKETING

CONOCO INC. opened its first Jet retail outlet in Hungary at Kenderes, 90 miles southeast of Budapest. The company plans to open two more stations in Hungary this summer. Products on sale are leaded and unleaded gasoline, diesel fuel, two stroke engine fuel, and home heating oil.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

ENERGY DEVELOPMENT CORP., Houston, a unit of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., paid $15 million for all outstanding shares of Brabant Resources plc, acquiring 9 bcf of gas and 6 million bbl of oil reserves on leases expected this year to produce an average of 3,100 b/d of oil equivalent. Included in the deal were Brabant interests in 54 U.K. onshore and offshore licenses, including 15 operated by Brabant, as well as acreage in France, New Zealand, and Tunisia.

BRITISH GAS EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION LTD. traded its 6.78% stake in Central Graben area Blocks 23/22a, 30/3a, and 22/25a for Agip (U.K.) Ltd.'s 15% interest in Block 47/4a and 9.5% in Block 47/5a, excluding Hyde field, all in the North Sea. The trade enables British Gas to build equity in the Frobisher gas discovery, centered in Block 47/3b and overlapping into Block 47/4a. Agip increases its share in the Medan field discovery on Block 23/22a, operated by BP Exploration Operating Co. Ltd. and part of its Eastern Trough Area Project development (OGJ, May 17, p. 18).

PRECISION DRILLING CORP., Calgary, agreed to buy Duranco Drilling Ltd. and its five drilling rigs for 165,000 Precision shares. The acquisition is one of several that increases Precision's fleet to 62 units from 34. Precision earlier acquired Arrowstar Drilling Ltd. and Taro Drilling Partnership. The trades give Precision about 20% of the rigs available for shallow gas drilling in western Canada and increase its capacity for horizontal drilling projects.

WORLD BANK let contract to Adams Pearson Associates Inc., Calgary, to assess Uzen oil field in western Kazakhstan. Adams will forecast remaining reserves using simulation modeling and detail further development requirements, including workovers. Uzen has produced nearly 2 billion bbl of oil from more than 2,000 wells.

MAXUS ENERGY CORP., Dallas, declared its Mamore Block in Bolivia commercial following long term tests of the 1 and 2 Surubi wells, which were drilled in 1992 into a combined 209 ft of net pay. Maxus is drilling a third well on the block and preparing another drillsite. Maxus holds a 100% interest in the block, 96 miles northwest of Santa Cruz. Production is to begin this year after pipeline and marketing arrangements are complete.

TEIKOKU OIL CO. LTD., Tokyo, started producing oil from an unnamed marginal field in Venezuela's Guarico state. Production of 2,000 b/d of 36 gravity oil is being delivered to Petroleos de Venezuela SA unit Corpoven. By 1994, Teikoku expects to drill 14 wells on the 5,400 sq km area granted it by Pdvsa. Teikoku set a production goal for the area of 17,500 b/d by 1998. Total investment during 1993-95 is expected to hit $90 million and could reach $400 million during the 20 year life of the contract.

CONOCO (U.K.) LTD. last month installed not normally manned production platforms in Caister and Murdoch fields in U.K. North Sea Quadrant 44. Decks weighed 1,150 metric tons and 1,350 metric tons, respectively (OGJ, Mar. 22, p. 31). Conoco is operator of Murdoch and runs Caister for operator Total Oil Marine plc. First gas production from both fields is scheduled for fourth quarter.

NORWAY'S Den norske stats oljeselskap AS let contract to Dresser-Rand AS, Kongsberg, Norway, for compression and power generation equipment to be used on West Sleipner field's T platform (OGJ, May 10, p. 34). The equipment includes two compression trains, a carbon dioxide injection train, and two recompression trains.

LNG

ISHIKAWAJIMA-HARIMA HEAVY INDUSTRIES CO. LTD., Tokyo, completed construction of the 87,500 cu m capacity Polar Eagle liquefied natural gas carrier for Phillips Alaska Natural Gas Corp. and Marathon Oil Go. The tanker's cube shaped aluminum alloy tanks are below the main deck to provide easier steering, less wind resistance, and a lower gravity center than carriers with ball shaped tanks on the deck. The vessel will transport LNG from Alaska to Yokohama for use by Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Tokyo Gas Co.

COLUMBIA LNG CORP. is holding an open season through June 2 for bids on modified services to be offered at its Cove Point, Md., LNG terminal. The offering comes after potential customers in an earlier bidding period showed inadequate interest for Columbia to proceed with the project as proposed. Among modified Cove Point LNG services suggested by possible customers, Columbia proposes offering 5 day and 3 day peak deliveries in addition to the 10 day peaking service offered earlier.

GAS PROCESSING

HAMILTON OIL CO. LTD., London, let a L60 million ($90 million) contract to AOC International Ltd., Aberdeen, Scotland, to build a 240 MMcfd gas processing terminal at Point of Ayr, North Wales. The plant will treat sour gas from Hamilton and Douglas fields in Irish Sea Block 110/13. Output will feed a 1.35 million kw electrical power generation plant to be built at nearby Connah's Quay. First gas is due in 1996.

Copyright 1993 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.