Tight markets for refined products west of the Rocky Mountains and around El Paso are responsible for a flurry of petroleum product pipeline work under way in 1998 and 1999. Here, Four Four Construction, Farmington, N.M., lowers in a 17-mile, 10-in
The latest entrant in the pipeline scramble to bring western Canadian natural gas to the Midwest and Northeast U.S.-as well as to eastern Canada-has taken key steps forward. St. Clair Pipelines (1996) Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Westcoast Energy Inc., Vancouver, B.C., late last month filed an application with Canada's National Energy Board (NEB) for construction of the Canadian portion of the TriState pipeline project. CMS Energy Corp., Dearborn, Mich., has filed an application for
This liquefied petroleum gas storage depot in southern Thailand is part of a midstream gas sector in that country getting squeezed at both ends as a result of the Asian economic slump. Not only is the slump in Asian gas demand reducing potential supplies in the Asia-Pacific region, the petrochemical industry that would receive feedstocks from gas processing facilities also is mired in the doldrums. Photo courtesy of Petroleum Authority of Thailand. [44,244 bytes]
President Bill Clinton has proposed a $1.8 trillion budget for fiscal year 2000 that omits funding for further purchases of oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Independent producers have urged the U.S. government to buy crude for the SPR to help reduce the oversupply on the world market. Energy Sec. Bill Richardson said that, later this month, he may propose "some innovative ways" to acquire oil for the SPR off-budget.
The U.S. Congress is beginning to react with legislation to help smaller producers survive the current crude oil price depression. Rep. Wes Watkins (D-Okla.) refiled his bill that would allow marginal production a maximum $3/bbl tax credit when oil prices fall below $14/bbl, or 50¢/Mcf if gas prices fall below $1.56/Mcf. The credit would have a 10-year carryback and apply against both regular and alternative minimum taxes. It would apply only to future production.
Heavy rains in Buenos Aires caused rising floodwaters in the Rio de la Plata estuary to break through a barrier built to contain crude oil that was spilled Jan. 15 when a Royal Dutch/Shell tanker collided with a German container ship (OGJ, Jan. 25, 1999, p. 46). The rising waters-about 2 m above normal levels-allowed the spill to spread about 4 km up the Atlantic coast as well as contaminate the river banks. About 1,573 bbl of crude oil leaked from the tanker after the collision. Several
The science of global warming changed course last October, even if the politics of global warming did not. "Our most fateful new challenge is the threat of global warming," declared U.S. President Bill Clinton last month in his state-of-the-union address to Congress, holding climate-change politics stubbornly on an errant heading. "Nineteen ninety-eight was the warmest year ever recorded. Last year's heat waves, floods, and storms are but a hint of what future generations may endure if we
The correct selection of drilling fluids should be based on the entire mud circuit, encompassing and integrating both rheological and hydraulic criteria during the design phase, instead of delegating a passive role to drilling fluid properties while placing greater emphasis on mud pump parameters.
The 65,000-cu m LNG Lerici was built by Fincantieri and delivered in 1998 to SNAM to serve the Italian LNG terminal of La Spezia. The vessel derives its name from the village of Lerici in the Golfo di Spezia. (Photograph from Fincantien Shipyard, Genoa, and Ciba Specialty Chemicals, U.K.) The world's LNG industry may have sailed into the doldrums last year, after setting some records in 1997. Economic turbulence in Asia has blown considerable uncertainty over many of the world's LNG
Timing of expansion plans for some oilsands plants in northern Alberta are coming under scrutiny because of continuing weak oil prices. Shell Canada Ltd., Calgary, says plans for a $3.4 billion (Canadian) upgrader project in Alberta will now go to its board for approval later than originally planned. Shell's Muskeg River project includes a mine near Fort McMurray, an upgrader at Scotford, and a pipeline connecting the two. Shell said a decision on the project will be made in the second
The U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) provides data that give insights into the effect of bonuses on the dynamics of fiscal system analysis and design. Much of the focus of fiscal system/contract analysis, design, and negotiations in the upstream sector of the petroleum industry is on the division of profits such as government or state "take." Take statistics associated with various countries' fiscal systems and contracts are important and widely used, but these statistics have weaknesses.
Mitsui Petrochemical Industries Ltd., Japan's second largest petrochemical company, has decided to proceed with plans for a $180 million phenol plant on Jurong Island, site of Singapore's massive new petrochemical complex under development. Against the backdrop of a depressed Asian petrochemical market, this will be Mitsui's second major investment in the island republic and a boost for Singapore's new chemical hub. There is also a possible third Mitsui investment in the offing.
THE NEW INTEGRATED GASIFICATION combined-cycle (IGCC) plant in Priolo, Sicily, is about 97% complete, according to Foster Wheeler Italiana, Corsico, Italy. The plant is owned by Isab Energy, a company formed by Erg Petroli SpA (51%) and Edison Mission Energy (49%). Erg Petroli is 80% owned by ERG SpA and 20% owned by Agip Petroli SpA. Foster Wheeler Italiana completed the basic design in April 1993. The plant's feed will be about 132 tons/hr of asphalt from the solvent deasphalting unit of
In Europe, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has been phased out for food contact applications, but now the anti-PVC lobby has turned on the toy industry. Environmental group Greenpeace said, "The production and disposal of PVC causes large quantities of carcinogenic and hormone-disrupting chemicals to be released to the environment. These include dioxin, phthalates, vinyl chloride, and ethylene dichloride, as well as cadmium, lead, mercury, other heavy metals, and organochlorines."
FERC will continue to promote competitive markets for energy in 1999, says James Hoecker, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chairman. He contends that energy products and services are increasingly commoditized, and FERC wants to facilitate entry and exit, minimize discrimination and inefficiencies, and help firms manage risk.
The U.S. Department of Energy has signed a contract leasing two pipelines from its Bryan Mound, Tex., Strategic Petroleum Reserve site to Exxon Pipeline Co. A 40-in., 46-mile line extends to the ARCO Pipeline Co. tank farm at Texas City, and a 30-in., 4-mile pipeline extends to the nearby Jones Creek tank farm.
History has shown that the largest fields in a given basin are usually discovered early in its exploration. Today in the developed areas of the U.S. and Canada each successful exploratory well yields on the average less than 100,000 bbl of oil. Only one exploratory well in seven is successful. The odds of discovering a large oil field were much greater in the early days of exploration. For example: The first well in Pakistan's Sind Province hit giant Sui gas field. The first wildcat in
Major structural changes are afoot in Latin America's energy sector. Mexico has taken a key step toward ending the state monopoly on the nation's electric power industry. If the reform is successful, it will attract $25 billion in investments to develop 13,000 MW of new capacity needed in the next 7-10 years to meet power demand that is growing 6%/year.
Questar Corp.'s Celsius Energy Resources Ltd. unit plans to drill as many as 10 wells on the undeveloped portion of properties acquired from Reserve Royalty Corp. for $3.1 million. The properties, containing 4.8 bcfe of proved reserves, 90% gas, are in the Cecil Lake, Donis, East Clark Lake, Martin, Oak, Red Creek, Sikanni, Silver, and Taylor Flat areas. The deal included 24 oil and gas wells, 133 km of proprietary seismic data, and working interests in numerous gas gathering and processing
