Table of Contents

• Petrochemical sector headed for cycle trough
  Petrochemical prices are headed toward a trough, which would represent the end of the sector's current 8-year cycle. This bottoming out will be reached at around 2001-02.
• Grangemouth ethylene plant installs closed-loop optimization solution
  BP Amoco, Grangemouth, UK, recently replaced the optimizer for one of its ethylene plants, named G4.

• Project brings commercial-scale CO₂ miscible flooding to Canada
  The Weyburn CO2 project will be the first carbon dioxide miscible flood on a commercial scale in Canada.
• MMS plans Gulf of Mexico test of royalty-in-kind
  The US Minerals Management Service plans a third royalty-in-kind (RIK) pilot program, using a competitive auction to take up to 260 MMbtu/day of gas from Gulf of Mexico federal leases.
• Watching Government
  Royalty rejoinder
  Industry won a major victory recently when the US Senate voted to block the US Minerals Management Service's controversial royalty management rule for another year (OGJ, Oct. 4, 1999, p. 40).
• Lundin to add production well off Malaysia
  Stockholm-based Lundin Oil AB and partners have announced plans to drill another production well under Phase 1 development of Block PM-3 in the Commercial Arrangement Area (CAA) between Malaysia and Viet Nam.
• Shell plans oil production increase in Gulf of Thailand
  Thai Shell Exploration & Production Co., a unit of Royal Dutch/Shell, hopes to increase its crude oil production in northern Thailand by about 8% to nearly 25,000 b/d by yearend. If its plan is successful, the incremental oil output of 1,500-2,000 b/d will come from a new production area known as Nong Makham, a part of Thai Shell's S1 concession.

• Oil piracy poses growing menace to tanker traffic in South China Sea
  Oil piracy carried out by sophisticated and well-connected syndicates is a growing menace to petroleum tankers in the greater South China Sea area.
• Azeris must hurry to supply gas to Turkey
  BP Amoco PLC's Shah Deniz gas find in the Caspian Sea off Azerbaijan has created a new potential supplier to join the fight over Turkey's fast-growing market.
• Hokuriku builds Japan's biggest gas tank
  Hokuriku Gas Co. is building Japan's largest natural gas storage tank in Kurosaki.
• Pipeline liner material wears well in tests of field specimens
  Tests on two field-aged specimens of polyamide-11 (PA-11) pipeline liners in carbon steel crude oil and gas production pipelines indicate the material protects against internal corrosion...

• Unocal updates Gulf of Thailand drilling
  Unocal Corp.'s latest drilling results have confirmed the long-standing conviction that an area in the Gulf of Thailand once disputed by Thailand, Viet Nam, and Cambodia is hydrocarbon-prone.
• Barrett to expand exploration near oil finds in Peru
  Barrett Resources (Peru) Corp. signed an exploration and development contract with Perupetro SA, Peru's oil regulator, for Block 39 in the Maranon basin. The area adjoins Block 67 where the Denver company last year discovered heavy oil in the three wells it drilled.
• Rio Muni oil find adds luster off W. Africa
  Exploration interest is growing off central West Africa with recent announcement of a significant oil discovery off Equatorial Guinea's Rio Muni enclave.
• Two firms advance Kazakhstan projects
  Two US companies reported progress on a planned gas field development and studies of several undeveloped fields in Kazakhstan.

• People and preservation
  As a global population landmark stirred the usual fears about feeding humankind last week, US President Bill Clinton moved to limit planetary bounty for the sake of nature.

• Russian oil and gas production-sharing agreements promising but worrisome
  Russia has found what has been purported to be a panacea for its economic woes-the production-sharing agreement (PSA), soon to be widely implemented in the country's oil and gas sector.
• Elf assesses Angola finds, plans developments
  Elf Aquitaine SA and partners have hit the exploratory jackpot on Block 17 off Angola.
• Watching the World
  Wind force builds
  European authorities have voiced concerns about the ability of wind power to meet 10% of electricity demand by 2020, as proposed.
• Industry Briefs
  Davis Petroleum Corp., Denver, and Questar Exploration & Production Co., a unit of Questar Corp., Salt Lake City, made a natural gas discovery in Galveston Bay about 30 miles south of Houston.

• Reed-Hycalog: US rig activity at 47-year low
  US rig activity fell to a 47-year low this summer, according to the latest census by Reed-Hycalog.
• JV to develop Legendre field off Australia
  A consortium of three firms will shortly begin development of Legendre North and South oil fields on the North West Shelf off Western Australia.

Area Drilling

• Area Drilling
  A group led by Tanganyika Oil Co., Ltd. hopes to place two wells on production soon on the West Gharib Block onshore west of the Gulf of Suez.

Equip/Software/Lit

• Equipment/Software/Literature
  Indicator offers range of process monitoring displays

Journally Speaking

• The art of forecasting
  Forecasting future economic and oil industry activity can be challenging.

Letters

• Hold on to your Wallets
  Congratulations on your forthright characterization of the recent jaw-boning emanating from certain government officials regarding the pipeline alternatives being considered by the development consortia operating in the Caspian Basin.

Services/Suppliers

• MOVES AND PROMOTIONS
  Technip, Paris, France, has named Daniel Valot chairman and chief executive officer, succeeding Pierre Vaillaud who has retired.

OGJ Newsletter

• OGJ Newsletter
  Oil markets are returning to normal following the unsustainable highs that held them aloft during the first few days after OPEC's September meeting.