Projected Caspian oil exports [71,722 bytes] Caspian oil reserves estimates, 1996 [86,047 bytes] Projected Caspian oil production [81,631 bytes] Caspian oil export route capacity [76,048 bytes] Caspian excess oil pipeline and export route capacity [112,745 bytes] Who benfits form Caspian pipeline options [99,472 bytes] The Caspian region has received considerable attention because of the potential of its hydrocarbon resources.
Natural gas consumption in Western Europe rose to a new peak in 1998, reported the European Union of the Natural Gas Industry (Eurogas), Brussels. Eurogas said preliminary estimates show consumption last year totaled more than 14,365 petajoules (12.88 tcf). This was 4.1% above 1997 levels and well above the previous record of 13,888 petajoules (12.46 tcf) in 1996 (see table).
For the past 2 years, U.S. oil industry leaders have grappled with the problem of how to reverse the public's dismal image of oil companies. Lew Ward, the former Independent Petroleum Association of America chairman, pushed for an industry-wide public education program, but the American Petroleum Institute companies balked. However, API continued to study the question and hired the pollster Wirthlin Worldwide Co. to help. Now it has some answers, which API Pres. Red Cavaney outlined at a
Nigeria LNG Ltd. (NLNG) announced the receipt of first gas feed at its Bonny Island liquefied natural gas export project in Nigeria (see related story, p. 36). The gas was received by the Obiafu gas plant, owned by Italy's Agip International BV, one of the shareholders in NLNG. NLNG recently let contract to a consortium of companies for the construction of a third LNG train at the site (OGJ, Mar. 22, 1999, p. 45). Gulf Canada Resources Ltd.,
A U-turn in U.K. energy policy sparked an entertaining claim by opposition politicians that the government is using regional investment to win votes. The fuss surrounds the U.K. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) decision that it "will not raise energy policy objections" to a proposal by Baglan Cogeneration Co. to build a gas-fired power station. Baglan Cogeneration is a joint venture of BP Amoco plc and General Electric, and it plans to build a 500-MW plant on a petrochemicals site at
Aglow with the apparent success of its Mar. 23 agreement to trim production, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries should give thought to raising output when the time is right. No! That time is not now. But it will come, and OPEC officials need to acknowledge the inevitability of another market turn and think about how to respond.
Shell Exploration & Production Co., Houston, has marked a pair of milestones in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Shell last week unveiled plans to move ahead with the $900 million development of its Brutus oil and gas discovery in the deepwater gulf's Green Canyon area. Also last week, Shell claimed a water-depth record for an oil and gas production platform with the start of production from its Ursa tension-leg platform (TLP) in about 3,800 ft of water. Brutus field covers Green Canyon Blocks
The wear on the shaft of a two-lobe motor can be clearly seen after several hours of operation. Wear is more pronounced along the seal lines (Fig. 1). Nomenclature [74,621 bytes] The degree of rubbing intensity provides insights into the design of the power section for positive displacement motors (PDM), helping to find new ways to increase operational efficiencies. The rubbing of the shaft against the housing elastomer results in the loss of useful power as caused by friction, leakage,
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded research grants to six research and development projects seeking to improve U.S. petroleum industry environmental protection while cutting costs. DOE will spend $3.5 million and sponsors $1.6 million. The project selections complete the five major petroleum-related competitions that DOE's National Petroleum Technology Office in Tulsa launched in March 1998. The competitions are intended to identify technical advances that could be transferred to oil
Intergranular fractures in the bolts that failed are seen in this macroscopic photograph (20x; Fig. 1). Metallurgical analysis attributed bolt failure of several oil well submersible pumps to a problem with quality control during the manufacturing process of the bolts. The Monel K-400 flange bolts that failed connected the motor sections with the motor protectors. The examined bolts were found to have different microstructures because of different manufacturing processes or quality control.
The resid-fluid catalytic-cracking unit at LG-Caltex Oil Corp.'s Yosu, South Korea, refinery was designed by Stone & Webster and began operations in December 1995. In May 1997, LG-Caltex Oil Corp.'s, Yosu, South Korea, refinery solved erosion and leaking problems in its two catalyst coolers by raising the catalyst level to completely submerge the exchanger tubes in catalyst. The coolers are part of the resid fluid catalytic-cracking (RFCC) unit. This refinery's RFCC unit has two
Gaz de France's gas supply transit points [151,721 bytes] Rebalancing France's north-south gas network [153,381 bytes] Gaz de France has unveiled plans to expand France's liquefied natural gas import capacity as part of its continuing push to promote the nation as a key European gas hub.
A new multimillion-dollar joint Australian liquefied natural gas marketing body has been officially launched in Perth. However, it still does not have the support of all major players in the nation's LNG scene. Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Shell Co. of Australia Ltd., BHP Petroleum Pty. Ltd., Chevron Corp., and BP Developments Ltd. have started up the marketing consortium, called Australia LNG (ALNG), in an effort to capture new business for the Australian industry from customers other than
Iran's National Petrochemical Co. (NPC) is seeking as much as $1.7 billion in foreign investment over the next 2 years to set up six natural gas-based petrochemical joint ventures in and outside Iran. The units would have a combined output capacity of 6 million metric tons/year. The projects include a $500 million methanol plant, with 660,000 tons/year of capacity, and a $300 million fertilizer complex in Azerbaijan, designed to produce 1,000 tons/day of urea and ammonia. NPC will
The Chechen government has shut down the part of Baku-Novorossiisk oil pipeline transiting its territory, which until recently was the only existing export route for oil coming out of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan International Operating Co., a key player in the Caspian oil export puzzle, contends that Caspian oil exporters might not need a high-capacity main export pipeline (MEP) to Ceyhan, Turkey, until 2005.
This summer, or possibly next month, the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Research & Special Programs Administration (RSPA) will issue its Operator Qualification (OQ) Rule that will apply to all operators of natural gas and hazardous liquids pipelines in the U.S. The rule will cause major changes in how pipeline operators train and test employees and contractors who perform operations and maintenance. Industry estimates compliance costs will exceed $200 million/year.
The U.S. Minerals Management Service has proposed a rule to require companies to use electronic funds transfer (EFT) when they bid for Outer Continental Shelf federal leases. MMS said the proposed rule would allow it to require EFT payments when appropriate, saving time and money for government and industry. The agency's current rules do not require bidders to use EFT to submit their one-fifth bonus bid payments.
BP Amoco plc and partners have made an ultradeepwater strike that they believe could be one of the Gulf of Mexico's biggest discoveries. The oil and gas find was drilled on Green Canyon Block 826 in 6,734 ft of water and encountered 300 ft of net hydrocarbons-primarily crude oil, say the firms. GC 826-1 was drilled on the Mad Dog prospect to a total depth of 22,400 ft. The well is on a 21/2-block unit owned by operator BP Amoco 63.56%, Unocal Corp.'s Spirit Energy 76 unit 25%, and BHP
The lineup of wells in Swan Creek field, Tennessee [83,172 bytes] Tengasco Inc. completed its most recent successful well in March 1999 in the company's Swan Creek field of Hancock County, northeastern Tennessee, on the Appalachian Overthrust Belt. The 1 Sutton Heirs well was drilled to a TD of 5,000 ft, encountering 30 ft of natural gas pay in the Upper Ordovician Trenton formation and 79 ft of gas pay in the Lower Ordovician Knox Group. The well flowed without treatment at the rate of 5.3
Difficulties with gas marketing and frustration over low crude oil prices have accompanied Tengasco's drilling success in Swan Creek field in the mountains of northeastern Tennessee. The company completed a 28 mile gas pipeline from the field over mountainous terrain in Hancock and Hawkins counties in 1998, and production and sales of oil and gas began in August and September 1998. Swan Creek field lies in a remote, economically depressed area of Appalachia, northeast of Knoxville, Tenn.
U.S. INDUSTRY SCOREBOARD 4/19 [43,791 bytes] The puzzle over how best to transport Caspian oil to market is getting more complicated, not less so (see related story, p. 29). Chechnya has reopened its section of a pipeline carrying Azeri crude across the breakaway Russian republic to an export point at Novorossiisk, Natig Aliyev, president of Azeri state oil firm Socar, said last week.
Petrolera Argentina San Jorge gauged two exploratory wells 3-4 km north and northeast of Loma Negra field in the Neuquen basin. Anticlinal Viejo 1 flowed 1,856 b/d of 31° gravity oil, natural, from Jurassic Punta Rosada perforations at 7,897-7,917 ft and 264 b/d of 41° gravity oil from Jurassic Lajas perforations at 8,800-8,846 ft. Cerro Solo X-1 flowed 574 b/d of 26° gravity oil, natural, from Lajas perforations at 8,719-8,829 ft. The company expects substantially higher rates
