INDUSTRY BRIEFS

SPILLS

A U.S. FEDERAL GRAND JURY indicted three companies and one of the companies' top managers for allegedly violating federal law in a 1994 oil spill off Puerto Rico. New Jersey based Bunker Group Inc.'s (BGI) Morris J. Bergman barge ran aground Jan. 7, 1994, off northern Escambron Beach, spilling about 18,000 bbl of heavy oil, after a faulty tug tow cable snapped. Charged with violations of several U.S. environmental laws were BGI, Bunker Group of Puerto Rico (BGPR), New England Marine Services, and BGPR General Manager Pedro Rivera. Puerto Rico spent $81 million cleaning up the spill.

WORLD BANK completed negotiations on a $99 million loan to Russia to help pay for a $140 million cleanup of a massive 1994 oil spill in the Komi republic. The spill occurred last fall when a pipeline near Usinsk ruptured, spilling 730,000 bbl of crude. Rising water from the spring thaw in the arctic region threatens to cause the spilled oil to contaminate nearby rivers and the Barents Sea. Plans call for deploying containment booms and dikes to keep that from happening.

COMPANIES

SUMMIT PARTNERS, Boston, and management of Torch Energy Advisors Inc. (TEA), Houston, agreed to buy almost all of TEA from parent insurance company Torchmark Corp., Birmingham, Ala., in a deal valued at $115 million. TEA manages $1.7 billion in oil and gas assets. Torchmark will retain 10% of TEA.

THE MG TRADE FINANCE CORP. unit of Metallgesellschaft AG's U.S. subsidiary MG Corp., New York, is suing Castle Energy Corp. for loan payments of about $105 million due Mar. 31. In an October 1994 deal, MG Trade agreed to finance refining operations of Castle units Powerine Oil Corp. and Indian Refining LP. Castle said it expects to make full payment by May 3 but alleged MG defaulted on contracts, and it may take legal action.

CAPITAL SPENDING PLANS were detailed for 22 companies in a table provided by Lehman Bros., not 12 companies as indicated in the table heading (OGJ, Apr. 10, p. 36).

CHEVRON CANADA RESOURCES LTD., Calgary, cut its staff by 207 employees, or 20%, to 822. More than 40% of the job cuts were at management and supervisory levels. The cuts include layoffs, voluntary retirements, and transfers outside Canada.

CLYDE PETROLEUM EXPLORATIE BV completed purchase of and assumed operatorship of Dutch offshore assets from Mobil Producing Netherlands Inc. The deal involved Block P/6 and Block P/12 producing interests and exploration interests in Blocks P/4, P/8a, and P/9a, b, and c. Mobil retains a nonoperated interest in the North Friesland concession in northern Netherlands and will continue its Dutch activities in lubricants and fuels marketing, plastics, and petrochemicals.

SAUDI ARAMCO agreed to buy a 50% interest in Motor Oil Hellas (MOH), Athens, including half of MOH marketing subsidiary Avinoil. MOH's major asset is a 100,000 b/d refinery at Corinth, Greece.

PIPELINES

TRANSPETCA TRANSPORT CO., Shreveport, is laying a 120 mile, 12.75 in. carbon dioxide pipeline from Bravo Dome CO2 field in Union County, N.M., to a point near Guymon, Okla. The pipeline will have capacity to deliver more than 175 MMcfd of CO2 to oil fields along its route. Its main customer is Mobil Oil Corp., which has lined up 200 bcf Of CO2 for its Postle enhanced oil recovery project near Guymon. Prime contractor Eagleton Engineering Co., Houston, began work in January and is to complete the project Nov. 1.

ALBERTA ENERGY CO. LTD. (AEC), Calgary, will decide by midsummer whether to sell part of its $100 million (Canadian) forestry division and may invest proceeds in a proposed crude oil export pipeline, the $470 million, 777 mile Express line from Hardisty, Alta., to Casper, Wyo. AEC proposed the project 2 years ago but shelved it when shippers backed a 170,000 b/d expansion of the IPL Energy Inc. pipeline from Alberta to U.S. Midwest markets. AEC contends the IPL expansion is not meeting market demand, and producers want more pipeline capacity.

PAK-ARAB REFINERY LTD. (Parco), Karachi, let two contracts to the Willbros Middle East Inc. unit of Willbros International Inc., Tulsa, for engineering, procurement, and construction on its MFM pipeline extension. The project involves laying 226 miles of 18 in. and 16 in. multi-product pipeline from Mahmood Kot to Machhike via Kot Bahadur Shah and Faisalabad, Pakistan, as well as added product storage capacity and pump stations along the route. Work will get under way in the second quarter, with completion set for the fourth quarter.

NATURAL GAS PIPELINE CO. of America (NGPC), Lombard, III., will hold two open seasons Apr. 17-May 17 to determine interest in adding firm transportation service capacity on a proposed interconnect with Northern Border Pipeline Co.'s system at Harper, Iowa, to Chicago and other markets and/or a proposed pipeline to be built from Northern Border's line near Ventura, Iowa, to NGPC's Amarillo main line. Service on either would begin Nov. 1, 1997.

TRANSCONTINENTAL GAS PIPE LINE CORP. (TGPL), Houston, will seek Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval to add firm transportation capacity on its Leidy gas pipeline and market area main line facilities. TGPL's Leidy line extends from Wharton, Pa., to an interconnect with its main line near Princeton, N.J. Open season for the project, called Seaboard 97, is Apr. 10-May 9, with service start-up slated for the 199798 heating season.

VALERO TRANSMISSION LP, San Antonio, on May 8 will begin a 7 day maintenance project on the North Texas Pipeline from Waha to Howard that Valero operates and owns 50-50 with Texas Utilities Fuel Co. During the project, throughput from Waha will fall by about 500 MMcfd. Valero expects no disruption interruptible service but said some interruptible service may be curtailed.

BP EXPLORATION OPERATING CO. LTD. let contract to European Marine Contractors Ltd., Kingston-upon-Thames, U.K., for pipelaying in the U.K. North Sea Forties field. From mid-April to late May EMC's Castoro Sei pipelay barge will lay a replacement for a 7.5 km, 20 in. oil pipeline from Forties' Alpha platform to Forties' Charlie platform. The work is expected to help provide export facilities until the field ceases production about 2015.

EXPLORATION

OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM CORP. acquired a 50% working interest in the 1.1 million acre Colhue Huapi block in southern Argentina's San Jorge basin. Cias. Asociadas Petroleras SA, Buenos Aires, holds the remaining 50%. Operator Oxy will shoot a 350 km seismic survey and drill two wildcats.

OXY acquired an 81% working interest and operatorship of the 1.8 million acre Kohlu exploration license area in Pakistan's Central Indus gas basin. The block adjoins the 1.1 million acre Zamurdan license area Oxy received in December 1994. During the next 3 years, Oxy will conduct seismic surveys and drill one wildcat on the Kohlu block and three on the Zamurdan block.

PLUSPETROL SA, Buenos Aires, received approval of a contract license for Algeria's El Arf area covering Blocks 237a and 246a under which it will reprocess and acquire seismic data and drill one wildcat the first 3 years at a cost of $10 million. Pluspetrol recently acquired El Guelta Nord Block 442 in Algeria, where seismic work is complete and drilling is planned in 1995. Argentina's YPF SA and South Africa's Sasol are considering participating in the El Art blocks.

FINNISH AND RUSSIAN shareholders registered the Pechormorneft joint venture company with Russian authorities. The JV, the result of years of cooperation on hydrocarbon studies by Finnish and Russian companies of Russian arctic areas, will focus on exploration, development, and related work in the Barents Sea, Nenets autonomous okrug (NAO), and other Russian arctic areas. Neste Oy and Kvaerner Masa Yards Oy hold a 49% interest, with other interests held by NAO, Trust Sevmomeftegeofizika, NllMorgeogizika, MAGE, and PO Sojuzmorgeo.

MARINE & MERCANTILE SECURITIES PLC (M&MS), Dublin, signed a 25 year agreement with Romania's state petroleum company Petrom RA covering exploration, development, and production of hydrocarbons on Block VI in Romania. It is Petrom's first such agreement with a western company. The block covers 1.750 sq km and is about 225 km north of Bucharest on the eastern edge of the East Carpathian overthrust zone. The contract covers exploration rights to zones below shallow production from many fields in the area. M&MS plans to conduct seismic surveys in 1995-96.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

MCMORAN OIL & GAS CO., (MOXY), New Orleans, started production from Vermilion Block 160 field off Louisiana at a rate of 26 MMcfd of gas and 1,200 b/d of condensate from two wells drilled in 1992 and tied to a six slot tripod production platform in 90 ft of water MOXY acquired 3D seismic data over the field, which covers Vermilion Blocks 143, 144, 159, and 160, and will assess exploratory or development drilling needs based on review of the seismic data and well performance.

EVERGREEN RESOURCES INC., Denver, is drilling six development wells targeted at Vermejo coalbed methane at depths of 1,000-2,100 ft in Spanish Peaks unit n Colorado's Raton basin. A seventh well s planned to test the Raton coalbed at 1,200 ft. All the wells, in which Evergreen holds a 50% working interest, are to be on line in 60-90 days. Evergreen also holds 75% working interest in a recompletion of a Raton coalbed methane well it recently acquired.

DUAL DRILLING CO., Dallas, agreed to buy Global Marine Drilling Co.'s Glomar MainPass III independent leg cantilever jack up, currently drilling off India under a contract that ends in April 1996. The purchase hinges on regulatory approvals and Dual closing a sale of its Rig 97 to Egyptian Drilling Co., expected in 2 months. Rig 97 is working in the Gulf of Mexico. The deals are meant to increase Dual's focus on non-U.S. drilling markets and reduce its exposure to the Gulf of Mexico.

PRIDE PETROLEUM SERVICES INC. signed a letter of intent to acquire the DI Argentina SA unit of DI Industries Inc., Houston. Purchase for cash and a note includes seven land rigs operating in Argentina and related oil field assets.

COGENERATION

INSTITUTE OF GAS TECHNOLOGY, Des Plaines, III., signed a memorandum of understanding with Shanghai Pacific Chemical Group's Shanghai Coking & Chemical Plant General (Sccpg) unit for a joint venture to build and operate a U-GAS process cogeneration plant at Sccpg's Wujin complex at Shanghai. If found commercially feasible, the plant would start up by June 1997 and produce 60,000-70,000 kw of electricity and 100-200 metric tons/h r of steam

PANCANADIAN PETROLEUM LTD., Calgary, agreed to aquire a 25% interest in a 100,000 kw gas fired cogeneration plant Destec Energy Inc., Houston, is developing near Kingston, Ont. PanCanadian will supply 22 MMcfd to the project for the life of the plant.

REFINING

ALASKA is seeking comments on its proposed sale of about 40,000 b/d of royalty crude oil from Prudhoe Bay unit for 3 years to Tesoro Alaska Petroleum Co. for processing at Tesoro's 72,000 b/d Nikiski refinery on the Kenai Peninsula. Deadline for comments is Apr. 21.

ESSO SAF earmarked $59.4 million for capital outlays at its 144,000 b/d Port Jerome refinery in Normandy, France. Half will go for adding a diesel desulfurization unit to meet European Union regulations on diesel sulfur content, and half will go for a revamp and maintenance program scheduled every 5 years.

PETROCHEMICALS

ANQING PETROCHEMICAL WORKS at Hefei, Anhui province, China, successfully tested a deep conversion catalytic cracker that cracks heavy oil directly into propylene. China Petrochemical Engineering Research Institute and Beijing Petroleum Design Institute developed the 8,000 b/d cracker under auspices of China Petrochemical Corp. The design has been patented in China, the U.S., and the European Economic Community. A Thai company recently acquired license rights to the process, a first for China's petrochemical industry.

NORWAY'S Den norske stats oijeselskap AS let a $48 million contract to Kvaerner AS, Oslo, for hook-up and completion of a methanol plant at Tjeldbergodden on the Central Norway coast. Onsite work is to begin in August and last a little more than a year. The contract includes prefabrication and installation of steelwork, piping, and other mechanical equipment. Kvaerner has an option to assist in plant commissioning.

CHINA'S State Planning Commission approved plans to build a $133 million ammonia/urea complex in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region. The plant will use natural gas from Shaan-Gan-Ning basin fields and produce 300,000 metric tons/year of ammonia and 520,000 tons/year of urea.

TANKERS

NORSKE CONOCO AS took delivery of the Heidrun double hull tanker from Samsung Shipbuilding & Heavy Industries, Seoul. The 125,000 dwt, 880,000 bbl capacity vessel will be one of three transporting crude oil from Heidrun field off Norway when it goes on stream in August. The tanker will be able to hold 880,000 bbl of oil. Heidrun platform productive capacity will be 220,000 b/d of oil (OGJ, Aug. 15, 1994, p. 62).