INDUSTRY BRIEFS

SPILLS

EUROPEAN BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT (EBRD) approved a $25 million loan to Russia to help fund an emergency oil spill cleanup and pipeline rehabilitation program in the Komi republic. A massive oil spill occurred near Usinsk last summer after the Kharyaga-Usinsk crude pipeline ruptured. Spill cleanup is continuing, with the spring thaw threatening to contaminate rivers in the region and possibly the Barents Sea. EBRD is working with World Bank, which approved a separate $99 million loan for the cleanup and pipeline work.

GAS PROCESSING

LOUISIANA LAND & EXPLORATION CO., New Orleans, started up the $83 million, 50 MMcfd capacity Lost Cabin gas processing plant in the Madden Deep Unit in Fremont County, Wyo. The plant is processing sour gas from two Mississippian Madison wells drilled and tested but shut in during the mid-1980s pending plant completion. Studies are under way to debottleneck the plant to boost capacity. It produces 33 MMcfd of sales gas and 200 long tons/day of sulfur. The two 24,000 ft wells, representing deepest gas production in the Rocky Mountains, flowed a combined 77 MMcfd.

COMPANIES

THE PROPOSED DOWNSTREAM MERGER of Caltex Australia Ltd. and Ampol Ltd. was approved by shareholders and Australia's Trade Practices Commission (OGJ, Jan. 2, p. 21). The new company, Australian Petroleum Pty. Ltd., will trade under a new Ampol logo while the Caltex brand disappears in Australia the next 12 months. It will be Australia's biggest petroleum company, with about 28% of the retail market. More than 700 jobs will be cut as a result of the merge r.

NORCEN ENERGY RESOURCES LTD., Calgary, put its Australian assets up for sale. Norcen will sell the assets to raise cash to cut its $1.5 billion (Canadian) debt. Included among Australian assets are small interests in Jabiru, Challis, and Skua fields in the Timor Sea and exploration interests off Northwest Australia.

TEXACO INC. acquired 95% of the shares of Texaco Canada Petroleum Inc. (TCPI) it did not own to complete its takeover of its Canadian unit for $40 million (Canadian) (OGJ, Apr. 24, p. 34). TCPI was formed in 1989 with assets from Texaco Canada just before parent Texaco Inc. sold the latter to Imperial Oil Ltd. for about $5 billion.

CAIRN ENERGY PLC, Edinburgh, plans to sell 1.7 million shares in its U.S. subsidiary for at least $9.50/share before expenses. The sale, to be handled through Southcoast Capital Corp., will fund development of assets in the Gulf of Mexico, Appalachia, and the Texas panhandle.

REFINING

UZBEKISTAN'S state owned Uzbekneftegas let a turnkey contract to France's Technip for a $200 million, 50,000 b/d grassroots condensate refinery, expandable to 100,000 b/d, at Bukhara. Technip, which last year completed basic design of the refinery, will provide detailed engineering, procurement, and construction. The project is due on stream 24 months after the contract's effective date, soon to be disclosed. It will be financed by the Uzbek government and foreign export credit facilities.

COSTA RICA'S Refinadora Costaricense de Petroleo SA (Recope) signed a licensing agreement with France's Institut Francais du Petrole covering modernization and expansion of its 15,000 b/d Moin, Costa Rica, refinery. Proposed expanded crude capacity was not disclosed. The project calls for adding units for catalytic reforming of heavy naphtha and hydrodesulfurizing of gas oil, revamping and expanding kerosine hydrotreating and resid visbreaker units, and converting a cat reformer to a light naphtha isomerization unit.

GOVERNMENT

EUROPEAN COMMISSION drafted rules for member states to apply carbon dioxide and energy taxes as a way to Cut CO2 emissions. By the end of 1998, EC is expected to review its plans and try to harmonize tax rates. The target tax rate for 2000 is $10/bbl of oil equivalent (BOE).

PETROCHEMICALS

AMOCO CHEMICAL CO. let a turnkey contract to Technip unit Technipetrol Rome for a 500,000 metric ton/year purified terephthalic acid plant at its Cooper River, S.C., petrochemical complex. The plant is to go on stream by yearend 1996.

NOVA CORP., Calgary, plans to sell the polypropylene business of its Novacor Chemicals unit to a unit of Huntsman Chemical Corp., Salt Lake City, for $44 million plus working capital. The sale includes a 140 million lb/year polypropylene plant at Marysville, Mich. Novacor will continue to provide propylene and ethylene feedstock to the Marysville plant from its complex at nearby Sarnia, Ont.

AKZO NOBEL INC., Chicago, sued Intercat Inc., Sea Girt, N.J., in a U.S. district court in New Jersey, alleging Intercat misappropriated and misused Akzo's proprietary technology, business information, and know-how in manufacturing Intercat refining catalysts, notably for fluid catalytic cracking. The suit demands judgment against profits and benefits realized by Intercat as well as compensatory and punitive damages with interest and injunctions to prevent Intercat from continuing such activity.

EXPLORATION

AMOCO (U.K.) EXPLORATION CO. found gas on U.K. North Sea Block 49/18 near Indefatigable field. The 49/18z discovery well, drilled to 10,000 ft, cut two pay zones in Rotliegendes sands. It flowed 52 MMcfd of gas through an 38/64 in. choke. The strike, tentatively named North Indefatigable, is the first of three prospects Amoco will drill this year within tieback range of Indefatigable field. It plans to develop any discoveries there via monotower satellite platform design being used to develop Indefatigable satellites Davy and Bessemer fields (OGJ, Mar. 27, p. 30).

MAERSK OLIE OG GAS AS, Copenhagen, and partners 1 Benchamas wildcat on Thailand's Block B8/31 in the Gulf of Thailand flowed a combined 44.7 MMcfd of gas and 4,835 b/d of condensate on five drillstem tests. Interest owner Pogo Producing Co. said the group plans to drill more Benchamas wells in second half 1995.

ENTERPRISE OIL PLC, London, chartered the Canmar Explorer III drillship from Halliburton Co. to drill the 1 Constant Bank wildcat near the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean this summer. The ship will spud the well in 50 m of water to drill a vertical hole to 3,200 m TD. The wildcat is an obligation under a license due to expire this year.

APACHE CORP., Houston, will acquire a 16.67% interest in and become operator and equal partner with XCL Ltd., Lafayette, La., in a production sharing contract for Zhao Dong block off China. In return, Apache will pay for the next two or three Zhao Dong wildcats and for the C-3 appraisal well to be drilled on Zhao Dong's C subblock (OGJ, Nov. 14, 1994, p. 43). In addition, Apache agreed to buy from XCL 16.67% of foreign contractors' share of Zhao Dong C reserves.

BLIGH OIL & MINERALS NL, Sydney, will acquire a 15% working interest in the mostly onshore Fejaj permit in Tunisia along the Gulf of Gabes from Command Petroleum Ltd., Sydney. In return, Bligh will fund 15% of the 1 Ben Hassine wildcat and the cash equivalent of 15% of Command's net historical permit acquisition costs. The well, to spud in late May-early June, is targeted to 2,900 m.

PIPELINES

YUKONG LTD. let a $25 million contract to Fluor Daniel's Production & Pipeline Operating Co., Houston, and Sunkyong Engineering & Construction Ltd, Seoul, for detailed engineering, procurement, and construction of a single point mooring (SPM) for tanker offloading and related subsea pipeline off Ulsan, South Korea. The SPM will be capable of handling tankers as large as 350,000 dwt. The 4.7 km pipeline will connect to an existing onshore tank farm. Work is to be complete by early 1996.

ELECTRIC POWER

CAIRN ENERGY and a unit of Midlands Electricity plc, Birmingham, U.K., signed a memorandum of understanding to study development of Semutang field in Bangladesh to supply gas for power generation. A production sharing contract for the Block 15 field is to be signed soon. The venture plans at first to generate 40,000 kw of power from a new plant on a build-own-operate basis.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

TOTAL'S e-2 Aries delineation well off Tierra del Fuego flowed 58 MMcfd of gas and 750 b/d of condensate. The well, in 85 m of water 30 km from shore on Cuenca Marina Austral Block 1, is the first of three in a $10 million delineation program off Tierra del Fuego that began in April. The second is planned for Carina field, 70 km offshore, thought to hold the largest gas reserves in Argentina's Austral basin.

GOAL PETROLEUM PLC, London, acquired an 8.19% interest in U.K. North Sea Blenheim field from OMV (U.K.) Ltd. for $9 million. Goal then assigned 4% of Blenheim plus 4% of Block 48/23a to Blenheim operator ARCO British Ltd. in exchange for a 5% stake in the Tyne gas discovery. This boosts Goal's interest in Blenheim to 32.058% and in Tyne to 20%. Blenheim went on stream in March, using a production ship (OGJ, Apr. 17, p. 27).

TRITON ENERGY CORP., Dallas, reported the 4 Cupiagua well in Colombia extended Cupiagua field's oil column thickness to about 3,670 ft after cutting several oil bearing zones below 16,000 ft. The well is drilling ahead and will be tested after reaching TD. Meantime, the third early production train of Cusiana/Cupiagua full field development started up and is to boost production to 130,000 b/d from 100,000 b/d. A fourth train will bring total production to 185,000 b/d by yearend.

COMMAND PETROLEUM (INDIA) PTY. LTD. signed a letter of intent to let a $113 million turnkey contract to Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. to construct onshore and offshore facilities for further development of Ravva oil and gas field off India. Work, to begin immediately, is intended to boost Ravva oil production to 35,000 b/d by yearend 1996 from 5,000 b/d.

HOME OIL LTD., Calgary, acquired a producing block in Argentina for $34 million (Canadian). Included is production of 1,600 b/d and reserves of 6.2 million bbl. In addition, Home agreed in principle to earn a 48% interest in two adjacent blocks, one producing 800 b/d, the other covering a 42,000 acre exploration concession. Home and its Argentine partners will spend $27 million for development during the next 3 years.

STENA AB, Gothenberg, Sweden, acquired for $16 million an 80% interest in the Pelerin drillship from Transocean AS, Tananger, Norway. The rig will be delivered to Stena this month. Transocean said the sale is in line with its long term strategy to concentrate on third and fourth generation semisubmersible rigs and heavy duty jack ups. This strategy recently led it to take over another firm (OGJ, Apr. 17, p. 21).

BHP PETROLEUM LTD. installed three satellite platforms and a central platform jacket, along with a pipeline end manifold for an oil storage tanker, as part of its Liverpool Bay development in the U.K. Irish Sea. Further installations will take place this summer, with first production from four oil and gas fields due in November (OGJ, May 8, p. 83). Development drilling wrapped up in Douglas field in early May and is under way in Lennox field.

BRITANNIA OPERATOR LTD., a venture of Conoco (U.K.) Ltd. and Chevron U.K. Ltd., let contract to AMEC Process & Energy Ltd., London, for topsides completion on its Britannia field development project in the North Sea. Deadline for completion is in 1988.

RANGER OIL U.K. LTD. let a $4.2 million contract to Transocean AS to charter the Kingsnorth Explorer semisubmersible rig to drill a well on its Pierce discovery on U.K. North Sea Block 23/27. The rig is drilling in the Mediterranean Sea until the end of June for Spain's Repsol SA. Pierce drilling is expected to take 70 days. The contract includes an option for an extended well test, which would hike total contract value to $9.6 million.

BRITISH GAS PLC began gas production May 16 from Miskar field off Tunisia. Miskar development is intended to make Tunisia self-sufficient in gas. A $600 million development involved installation of three platforms and a 120 km pipeline to an existing gas processing plant at Sfax (OGJ, Oct. 25, 1993, p. 28).

MOBIL EXPLORATION & PRODUCING INC. agreed to acquire half of Enserch Exploration Inc.'s 80% interest in its Green Canyon 254 development project in the Gulf of Mexico. It covers nine blocks in 3,200 ft of water 190 miles off Louisiana. Three successful wells have been drilled, and more appraisal drilling is slated for 1995. Production is expected to start in 1998. Reserves are estimated at 65 million BOE proved and 120 million BOE probable. Reading & Bates holds the remaining 20% interest.

MARKETING

MOBIL OIL BV, Mobil Corp.'s Netherlands affiliate, is negotiating with Elf Aquitaine to buy Elf's network of 72 service stations in Netherlands.

NATURAL GAS

SOFREGAZ, Gaz de France's engineering/consulting affiliate, will conduct a study of developing Tunisia's gas industry on behalf of Ste. Tunisienne de Electricite et du Gaz. The study, to take 12 months, will assess gas production, transportation, distribution, and utilization. Tunisia's gas reserves are estimated at 3.2 tcf. Productive capacity was 78.6 MMcfd in 1993 and marketed production 35.5 MMcfd. Tunisia imports gas from Algeria to meet its needs.