INDUSTRY BRIEFS

Refining

A joint venture of Pakistan's state-owned Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemical Corp. (Perac) and Crescent Refining & Marketing Co., Sharjah, established 3 years ago to build a hydro- cracker at Perac's 32,000 b/d Karachi refinery (OGJ, Nov. 8, 1993, p.42), dissolved due to lack of financing. Cost estimates for the project more than doubled since the joint venture was signed, to more than $800 million from $396 million.

Petrochemicals

Chevron Chemical Co., Houston, will use the Eluxyl process for separation of high-purity paraxylene, a technology jointly developed by Chevron and Institut Francais du Petrole, in the expansion of Chevron Corp.'s Pascagoula, Miss., refinery. Chevron earlier said it will spend $200 million to double paraxylene capacity at the refinery (OGJ, Sept. 23, p. 47).

JLM Chemicals Inc., Blue Island, Ill., commissioned the first unit at its cumene plant using the Q-Max process developed by UOP, Des Plaines, Ill. The process converts benzene and propylene into high-quality cumene through catalytic alkylation, using a proprietary new zeolite catalyst that is regenerable, unlike the traditional solid phosphoric acid (SPA) catalyst. The 145 million lb/year capacity Q-Max unit was installed with minimum modifications to the previous SPA-based cumene plant.

Montell Polyolefins, a joint venture of Shell International Chemicals Ltd. and Montedison SpA, will produce a variety of olefins-based homopolymers and copolymers from a proposed unit at its Berre, France, complex, based on Montell's Spheripol process (OGJ, Mar. 18, p. 40). The plant will have capacity of 250,000-300,000 metric tons/year and cost $96-192 million. The existing 150,000 ton/year slurry process unit will be phased out gradually as the new unit comes on stream.

Exploration

BHP Petroleum Pty. Ltd. plans appraisal drilling after testing 1 Buffalo wildcat in about 89 ft of water in Australia's Timor Sea WA-260-Permit, 4 miles southeast of its Laminaria East discovery. In an adjacent permit, Woodside Petroleum Ltd. will develop Laminaria field. Well was drilled to 11,394 ft total depth and flowed at a rate of 11,770 b/d of 53° gravity oil and 328 Mcfd of gas through a 52/64-in. choke from Jurassic Elang intervals at 10,849-10,941 ft. BHP owns a 100% interest in WA-260-P and a 25% interest in the Woodside permit.

Profco Resources Ltd., Calgary, reports spudding the 1 Atlas/SOGW wildcat on License 109 off Nigeria. The well is programmed to 9,800 ft and is in 60 ft of water 15 miles offshore. The test is being drilled under an agreement among a unit of Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd. (CanOxy), Atlas Petroleum International Ltd., and Profco unit Summit Oil & Gas Worldwide Ltd.

CanOxy increased its Indonesian exploration portfolio by 3.7 million acres off Seram Island, east of Borneo. Citing oil seeps along the coast, CanOxy will shoot more than 1,200 miles of seismic in 1997 and plans to drill in 12-18 months.

Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. awarded Pennzoil Exploration & Production Co. the 34-sq km North July block in the central Gulf of Suez, site of a recent 3D shoot. Work program will begin in 1997 after parliamentary approval. Three wells on the block tested at a combined rate of 8,000 b/d from Miocene Rudeis sands. Pennzoil has interests in the southeastern Gulf of Suez, adjacent Southwest Gebel El-Zeit and West Feiran blocks and is conducting a seismic survey on the concessions. Pennzoil will drill the first of five wells on the three blocks in 1997.

LPG

Caltex China Ltd. and Shantou Ocean Enterprises let contract to Geostock, Paris, for design and construction of a world-class LPG import terminal at Shantou in China's Guangdong Province. Plans include two underground caverns, each with capacity of 690,000 bbl, providing China's first mined cavern for LPG storage. Terminal is slated for completion in 1998.

Drilling-production

Bechtel Ltd., London, let contract to Howe-Baker Engineers Inc., Tyler, Tex., for design and supply of an electrical dehydrator/desalter unit for Saudi Aramco's Shaybah oil field development project in southern Saudi Arabia's Empty Quarter (OGJ, July 3, 1995, p. 24). The two-train, two-stage unit will process crude using Howe-Baker's three-grade AC desalter technology. Desalter delivery is slated for mid-1997, and project completion for 1998.

Exxon Exploration Kuwait Inc. signed a technical study agreement with Kuwait Oil Co. to jointly evaluate the Karaa Al-Marou discovery in west-central Kuwait, about 40 miles west of Kuwait City (OGJ, Jan. 8, Newsletter). Study will include integrated evaluation of the discovery, its geologic trend, appraisal options, and hydrocarbon potential estimates of the Karaa Al-Marou trend.

Den norske stats oljeselskap AS (Statoil) let a $71 million engineering, procurement, and construction contract to Coflexip Stena Offshore Norge for dynamic risers and seabed jumpers for Asgard field development in 1,148 ft of water off Norway. Contract, involving new Teta technology, includes 12 km of 9-in. gas injection and production risers, a 700 m multibore riser, and 2.3 km of seabed jumpers. Risers will be laid from the seabed to Statoil's Asgard A floating production, storage, and offloading vessel (FPSO).

Santos Ltd., Adelaide, said its board approved the $90 million (Australian) development plan for the Elang/Kakatua oil field in the Australian/Indonesian joint area of the Timor Sea on ZOCA 91-12 permit. The field, in about 80 m of water, has gross oil reserves of about 17 million bbl. Operator BHP estimates first full-year output at 30,000 b/d. Development plans include subsea completions of the Elang 1 and 2 and Kakatua wells and connection of the wells via subsea flowlines to a leased FPSO.

Snyder Oil Co., Fort Worth, entered into a definitive agreement with an institutional investor to acquire additional interests in its principal Gulf of Mexico properties for $35 million plus a reversionary interest. Deal involves interests in Pabst and Busch fields, principally on Main Pass Blocks 255 and 259 off Louisiana. Current production from the acquired interests is about 22 MMcfd of gas and 400 b/d of oil. Snyder now has more than 44% interest in the properties.

U.S. Export-Import Bank will support $200 million in exports by Halliburton Energy Services, Houston, for the sale of oil well services related to development of offshore oil fields in the Cabinda enclave of Angola. It guaranteed an $88.6 million loan by Ste. Generale, New York, for Halliburton to perform completion and remediation services for 4 years in the Cabinda concession areas. The financing provided borrower Sonangol, the Angolan national oil company, will be secured by the proceeds of oil sales through an offshore escrow account. Also, Banco Nacional de Angola, the central bank of Angola, is providing a repayment guarantee to Ex-Im Bank.

Oil & Gas Asset Clearinghouse (OGAC), Houston, will hold an auction of 1,300 oil and gas properties in 19 states Nov. 13 and 14 at the Westside Marriott Hotel in Houston. OGAC claims the sale will expose the highest property value in the history of U.S. oil and gas property auctions, with asset value of all offerings estimated at $35-40 million. Properties to be offered are in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Companies

Dale R. Laurence will serve on an interim basis as the president and chief executive officer of Occidental Oil & Gas Corp., with the retirement of former Oxy Oil & Gas Pres. and CEO David R. Martin. Laurence currently serves as parent Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s president and senior operating officer. A Personals item incorrectly reported that Occidental Petroleum Corp. Chairman and CEO Ray R. Irani is retiring (OGJ, Oct. 21, p. 68).

KCS Energy Inc., Edison, N.J., signed a letter of intent to purchase Intercoast Oil & Gas Co. (formerly Medallion Production Co.), Tulsa, a unit of MidAmerican Energy Co., Des Moines, and two of MidAmerican's gas marketing units for $174 million cash, a $40 million short-term note and 610,000 warrants on KCS common stock with a 4-year term and exercise price of $45/share. Principal assets to be acquired are proved reserves of about 200 bcf of gas equivalent, primarily in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.

Kerr-McGee Corp. and Devon Energy Corp., both of Oklahoma City, agreed to merge Kerr-McGee's North American onshore exploration and production business into Devon. Kerr-McGee will receive 9.954 million newly issued shares of Devon stock. Devon will gain proved oil and gas reserves of about 53 million bbl of oil equivalent from Kerr-McGee's properties in the U.S. Permian basin, Midcontinent, and Rocky Mountain regions and in western Canada. The deal, slated to close by yearend pending approval by Devon stockholders, does not include Kerr-McGee's Gulf of Mexico properties.

Consulgaz, a unit of Gaz Metropolitain, Que., signed an international cooperation agreement with Cote d'Ivoire's state oil and gas company Petroci. The 5-year agreement deals with management, transportation, and distribution of natural gas and development of new gas technologies.

Pipelines

Saudi Aramco let a $12 million contract to Ingersoll-Dresser Pump Co., Liberty Corner, N.J., to supply pumps for a new 640-km, 46-in., 660,000 b/d capacity pipeline being built from Saudi Arabia's Shaybah oil field to oil processing facilities at Abqaiq. The order includes three horizontal, multistage 7,000-hp pumps capable of transferring oil at a rate of 18,000 gpm and four 3,000-hp pumps that can transfer oil at 6,000 gpm, as well as brine injection and large vertical pumps. The pumps are slated for delivery in May 1997.

The trans-Maghreb gas pipeline linking North Africa and Europe could be operational in 2-3 weeks, Algerian Energy Minister Amar Makhloufi said. The 785-mile pipeline initially will transport about 282 bcf/year to Spain and Morocco. Throughput will climb to about 706 bcf/year in 2000. The pipeline will transport gas produced in Algeria's Hassi R'Mel field. Algeria wants to double gas exports by 2000.

Novagas Clearinghouse

Pipelines Ltd., Calgary, filed with Canada's National Energy Board to build and operate a natural gas liquids pipeline from Northeast British Columbia to Alberta. The project involves a 35-mile, 8-in. line from Taylor, B.C., to a Novagas metering facility in Alberta.

Koch Energy Services Co. will build a Gulf of Mexico gathering system from the shelf edge in the South Pass area to its Venice, La., plant inlet to add takeaway capacity from Viosca Knoll and other gathering systems, as well as gather future South Pass and Mississippi Canyon area production. First phase, in service by about Oct. 1, 1997, extends Koch Gateway Pipeline Co.'s 30-in. pipeline 15.5 miles to Venice from Bastian Bay, La. Second phase, to be completed by about Nov. 1, 1997, involves moving and expanding the Venice plant. A total of 300 MMcfd cryogenic capacity will be available.

Exports-imports

Abu Dhabi reached initial agreement to supply natural gas to Dubai, undercutting Iran and other sources, according to U.A.E. acting Oil Minister Rakad ibn Salim ibn Rakad. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. expects to invite bids for a 42-in., 62-mile pipeline to Dubai from offshore Abu al-Bukhush oil field (OGJ, Sept. 23, Newsletter).

Canada's National Energy Board received export applications for 356 bcf of natural gas for 10-16 year terms. Coastal Gas Marketing Co., Enron Capital & Trade Resources Corp., and PanEnergy Marketing Ltd. Partnership each applied for 10-year licenses to export 14, 22, and 8.7 MMcfd, respectively, to the U.S. Northeast. Progas Ltd. applied for three licenses with 10-16 year terms totaling 39.5 MMcfd to Minnesota and the U.S. Northeast. United States Gypsum Co. applied for a 10-year license for 16.2 MMcfd for use at Gypsum plants in the U. S. Midwest.

Gas Storage

Espana Canada Resources Inc., Calgary, a unit of Eurogas Corp., will conduct a feasibility study on use of the abandoned Amposta field 20 km off Spain's eastern coast for gas storage and possible enhanced oil recovery. The company estimates storage capacity at 10-15 bcf initially and 60 bcf ultimately. Amposta is in Espana's recently awarded Castor Permit concession. Study will be completed in 3 months.

New York State

Electric & Gas Corp., Binghamton, N.Y., finished its 800 bcf capacity gas storage facility near Watkins Glen, N.Y. The $57.1 million facility can deliver 80 MMcfd of gas. It was built to relieve winter supply constraints caused by capacity limits on the Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. pipeline system (OGJ, Oct. 23, 1993, p. 21).

Catalysts

Japan Energy Co., Itochu Corp., and the Japan international development organization Jaido will form Japan's first joint venture in Kuwait to produce catalysts for desulfurizing heavy crude. Total investment in Kuwait Catalyst Co. is estimated at $625 million. Plant production is slated to begin in January 1998 with a 5,000 metric ton/year capacity.