Table of Contents

• Tests demonstrate anticoking capability of new coating
  Surface-engineered tubes developed by Westaim Surface Engineered Products Inc. (SEP) were successfully tested by Union Texas Petrochemicals (UTP) in a partial ethylene-furnace evaluation. The UTP plant cracks ethane feedstock in Geismar, La. The first surface-engineered application, trademarked CoatAlloy, is a coating that resurfaces the inside of tubes and fittings so they resist carburization and coke buildup in pyrolysis furnaces.
• East Asian petrochemical industry recovery sure but slow
  With over half of the global population, East Asia is expected to continue to be an important region for the growth of the petrochemical industry. The region (primarily China) will be the key importer of most petrochemicals, and it is expected to play an important role in setting product prices in the international marketplace. East Asia is defined as the Asian countries from Pakistan east to Japan and from China in the north to Indonesia in the south.
• Chevron Port Arthur ethylene expansion meets objectives
  Stone & Webster's ARS technology was implemented in Chevron's ARS and refinery-gas dephlegmator coldboxes during the revamp in 1997. Chevron Chemical Co. LLC's Port Arthur, Tex., ethylene unit (EU-1544) was recently expanded from 1.0 billion lb/year to 1.7 billion lb/year. The unit has been operating at capacity since November 1997. Chevron and Stone & Webster Engineering Corp. have been working as a team since 1991, as the EU-1544 expansion project has evolved from a concept to
• Consultants urge polyolefin producers to minimize capacity
  For the next 5 years, worldwide polymer demand is expected to increase while prices and margins remain weak. The polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) polymers industry will continue to be characterized by too much supply. This is the general outlook of the international PE and PP industry according to several petrochemical consultants at meetings in Houston: Chem Systems Inc., Tarrytown, N.Y., at its annual U.S. Chemical Conference in January DeWitt & Co. Inc., Houston, at its annual World
• Two ammonia plants revamped to improve urea production
  Two ammonia plants, revamped in the past 2-3 years, illustrate two different routes to increased capacity in response to rising demand for ammonia products in North America and India. In 1997, Saskferco Products Inc. revamped its Belle Plaine, Sask., ammonia plant to meet increasing urea demand in North America (Fig. 1). Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd. (RCF) completed a revamp of its Thal, India, ammonia plant in September 1997. RCF expanded its plant to make effective use of its natural
• OTC: Technology outlook, oil price rebound support returning industry confidence
  A tentative confidence is returning to the petroleum industry, following the recent rebound in oil prices. This confidence is predicated on the industry's ability to develop and enhance the technology it uses to find and produce oil in increasingly remote and harsh environments. Such technologies were highlighted at this year's Offshore Technology Conference, where attendance totaled 42,500 at presstime. [23,112 bytes] Historical and Projected Drilling Expenditures [105,692 bytes] Costs
• Slim wells, subsea heated lines, Cantarell among OTC tech highlights
  Advances in slim-well construction, start-up of the first subsea heated pipeline bundle, and an update on Mexico's Cantarell megaproject were among the highlights of technical sessions at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston last week. Searching for ways to drill in deeper water, many offshore operators have renewed interest in slimmer well construction. Dan Turner of XL Technology, speaking on behalf of a group of operators, said, "One of the key drawbacks to slim-well technology
• Diplomatic dancing
  The U.S. recently sent signals to Iran that are not as conflicting as they seem. The Clinton administration recently announced that it will reject Mobil Corp.'s request to swap Caspian Sea crude oil with Iran, but, at the same time, also said that it would remove sanctions blocking U.S. food and medicine sales to Iran. U.S.-Iranian relations have been strained for 20 years, and although they may be improving, changes are scarcely perceptible to those not wearing diplomatic monocles.
• Trinidad and Tobago gas sector booming
  More industrial expansion will drive natural gas demand on Trinidad and Tobago in the near term. That was the message offered in presentations at the Offshore Technology Conference last week by Minister of Energy and Energy Industries for Trinidad and Tobago Finbar K. Gangar and Clarence Harnanan, technical operations vice-president for National Gas Co. of Trinidad & Tobago Ltd. (NGC).
• Serbian oil dilemma
  The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is reluctant to send ground troops into Kosovo and sees cutting Serbia's oil supplies as a key strategy. As reports continue to appear about "ethnic cleansing" of Kosovar Albanians by the forces of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, NATO has been bombing oil supply installations and is looking to curb tanker shipments.
• INDUSTRY BRIEFS
  China Petrochemical Corp. (Sinopec) plans to build 300 gasoline stations in China this year for 2 billion yuan and to buy 400-500 stations owned by local concerns. The plan is part of Sinopec's larger strategy to increase its products market share by 10%. Last year, Sinopec sold 62.23 million metric tons of oil products-about 70% of China's total oil product consumption. Sinopec owns 8,000 of the 86,000 total gasoline stations in China; China National Petroleum Corp. owns 4,000. Conoco

• Recovery on several levels
  Go ahead, say it: The oil market is recovering. In the middle of last week, the futures price of light, sweet crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange was approaching $19/bbl. Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries seemed serious about their Mar. 23 agreement to trim production. Inventories were falling. For the oil and gas producing industry, these are welcome signs. But nobody wants to say it. Industry leaders act almost superstitiously reluctant to take public

• Drilling platform installed in Cantarell producing area
  The Akal TJ drilling platform jacket and deck, installed recently in Pemex's Cantarell producing area in the Bay of Campeche, are shown being prepared for load-out from the Cigsa fabrication yard at Tampico, Mexico, earlier this year. The new platform is part of the $6 billion Cantarell megaproject, in which Pemex is trying to revitalize the aging complex and boost oil production (see related story, p. 22).
• Dual-activity drillship prepares for work
  Dean E. Gaddy Drilling Editor A dual-activity drillship, specially designed to perform simultaneous drilling operations, is expected to spud its first well later this summer in ultradeep water (see photo, this page). Under a 5-year contract with BP Amoco plc, Transocean Offshore Inc.'s Discoverer Enterprise marks a distinct departure from conventional drillship design. In addition to two fully automated drilling packages, the multipurpose vessel will be able to drill, test, and complete
• Fluted nozzles increase penetration rates, extend bit life
  Drillers can easily orient this fluted nozzle by aligning the arrow in the desired direction, using a common spark-plug wrench. For PDC bits, the arrow is typically oriented parallel to the nearest blade (Fig. 3). New developments in the geometric design of fluted drill-bit nozzles increase penetration rates while extending bit life. This design retains the noncircular, interior-transition surface of prior nozzles, including a fluted channel and sharp interior edges. However, the nozzles now
• Majors review French processing operations
  Major oil companies are reviewing their refining and petrochemicals operations in France, with a view to meeting new fuels specs, improving efficiency, and cutting costs. Among the changes planned are: Upgrades of two refineries operated jointly by BP France and Mobil Oil Française, to prepare for approaching changes in European Union fuel specifications. Cost-cutting in BP Amoco plc's chemicals business, to include layoffs, divestments, and possibly a plant closure. Plant expansions
• EPA pushes tough rule for gasoline sulfur
  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a 90% slash in U.S. gasoline sulfur limits beginning in 2004, a proposal the refining industry said is needlessly expensive to consumers. The National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA) said the proposal would cost refiners $3-6 billion and add up to 10¢/gal to the cost of gasoline.
• DOE seeks more royalty crude for strategic reserve
  The U.S. departments of Energy and Interior have begun the second phase of their program to store federal royalty oil from the Gulf of Mexico in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. DOE issued a solicitation for offers to exchange up to 24 million bbl of royalty oil produced from federal offshore leases for crude to be delivered to the SPR. Offers are due May 25.

• Offshore platform operations benefit from shared data access
  The ETAP offshore facilities include a process and drilling platform (left) and a quarters and utilities platform (right). (Photo courtesy of BP Amoco plc) Access to valid shared data is vital for the management of an offshore production platform, where the management team is split between those offshore and onshore. Timely and accurate recording of process data maximizes performance by allowing informed decisions to be made based on current and historic data.
• RSPA sets pipeline breakout tank rule
  The U.S. Transportation Department's Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) has proposed tighter standards for pipeline breakout tanks.

• Nova Scotia parcels attract hefty bidding
  A group of Mobil Oil Canada Ltd., Shell Canada Ltd., and Imperial Oil Resources Ltd. bid nearly a third of the total $592.5 million (Canadian) in work commitments offered for 19 of 20 exploration licenses covering about 2.2 million hectares off Nova Scotia. The group grabbed up licenses for six parcels (Nos. 3-8) with bids totaling $189.9 million. One parcel (No. 2) received no bid.
• U.S. firms dominate Brazilian E&D bidding round
  U.S. companies are leading the pack in the first bidding round for concessions to companies seeking to explore and develop oil and gas fields in Brazil, said David Zylbersztajn, executive director of Brazil's National Petroleum Agency (ANP). While no companies have been identified yet, countries represented by prospective bidders are: the U.S., 18 firms; Brazil and the U.K., 5 each; Argentina, Canada, and France, 2 each; and Chile, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Spain, 1
• Use resistivity as indicator of source rock maturity
  The resistivity of various shale source rocks has been observed to increase with depth (Bakken, Barnett, Mowry, Niobrara, Woodford, etc.). This relationship can be explained by the retention of generated hydrocarbons in micropores. The generalized process requires: 1) a volume increase during conversion of kerogen to fluid hydrocarbons; 2) a rigid framework that provides a fixed volume of available pore space, and 3) micropores with micropermeability that retain hydrocarbon globules through

OGJ Newsletter

• OGJ Newsletter
  U.S. INDUSTRY SCOREBOARD 8/22 [43,866 bytes]
• Area Drilling
  Researchers at the University of Oklahoma are studying cores of Precambrian basement rocks from Bombay High oil and gas field to determine whether they may have been affected by meteorite impact.