Table of Contents

OGJ Newsletter

• OGJ Newsletter
  McMoRan Exploration and Texaco have inked an agreement that illustrates the shift in upstream-sector focus taking place among majors and independents.

Letters

• E&P investment
  It is just remarkable to see OGJ spent 7 pages on Colombia and its new plans for attracting E&P investment (OGJ, Nov. 29, 1999, pp. 18-25).
• Gravity and sulfur
  I take exception to the article by Karl R. Pavlovic, titled "Gravity and sulfur-based crude valuations more accurate than believed" (OGJ, Nov. 22, 1999, p. 51).
• Politics of power
  I have read with much interest your editorial of Sept. 27, 1999, (p. 23) and the comments of Armen Sahakian which appear in your Nov. 24, 1999, issue (p. 6).
• Core values
  In reference to Mr. Scott Montgomery's article (OGJ, Nov. 15, 1999, p. 84) pertaining to core values, I would like to clarify one item in the article.
• Lead by example
  Re: Strike a deal, any deal (OGJ, Nov. 8, 1999, p. 19).
• State of the seismic industry
  I really enjoy OGJ and I think it is a fine journal. Great work.

Journally Speaking

• Oily governors
  Normally, when you think of an oilman who has become the chief executive of his state, you think of Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who was an independent operator in Midland, Tex., for several years.

Area Drilling

• Area Drilling
  An ARCO group is drilling Semhari East-1 on the 788,000 acre Hassi Bir Rekaiz block in the northern Ghadames basin 60 miles northeast of giant Rhourde el Baguel oil field.

Equip/Software/Lit

• New gas detection system
  A new multipoint gas detection system consists of an 8, 16, or 32-point gas-stream selector offering parallel purging of all unsettled lines for rapid response together with a dead volume of only 7.4 ml.

Services/Suppliers

• Moves and Promotions
  Ryder Scott Co. LP, Houston, Tex., has named Dr. Grant Robertson as a petroleum engineer.

• The Russian election
  The certain good news from Russia for the oil and gas industry is that the Communist Party no longer controls legislation in the Duma, or lower house of parliament.

• Restructuring of China's oil industry continues as doubts regarding its success loom
  This article is based on an advisory issued by Fesharaki Associates Consulting & Technical Services Inc. (FACTS Inc.), a consulting group directed by Fereidun Fesharaki.
• Duke, Phillips to form midstream gas firm
  Duke Energy Corp., Charlotte, NC, and Phillips Petroleum Co., Bartlesville, Okla., have reached a definitive agreement to merge Duke's gas gathering and processing business-Duke Energy Field Services (DEFS)-with Phil- lips's gas processing and marketing unit, GPM.
• Drilling fluids JV to continue
  The US Department of Justice said Smith International Inc. and Schlumberger Ltd. have agreed to a $13.1 million settlement that will enable them to continue operating a drilling fluids joint venture.
• Tyumen to transfer key subsidiary to Sidanko
  The Clinton administration has blocked $498 million in US Export-Import Bank loan guarantees for Russia's Tyumen Oil Co.
• US reserves values up, deal action flat
  The value of US reserves involved in oil and gas transactions rose in the third quarter of 1999, even though the number of transactions remained relatively flat vs. second quarter.
• Watching Government
  Chem board back on track
  Expectations were high for the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board at its inception 2 years ago.
• INDUSTRY BRIEFS
  A Canadian moratorium on oil and gas exploration on the Georges Bank off Nova Scotia has been extended until yearend 2012.

• EPA issues rule limiting US gasoline sulfur
  Despite the objections of refiners, the US Environmental Protection Agency has issued a final rule that will require the industry to slash the sulfur content of gasoline from an average of 300 ppm (excluding California) to 30 ppm.
• Australia refiners seek mergers, reevaluate gasoline sulfur rule
  Australia has officially acknowledged the financial plight of the country's refining industry with the release in December of the Downstream Petroleum Products Action Agenda.
• FCC catalyst properties can affect cyclone erosion
  Physical properties of fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) catalysts, such as attrition resistance, density, and particle-size distribution, have varying effects on expected cyclone-erosion rates.
• NELSON-FARRAR COST INDEXES
  NELSON-FARRAR COST INDEXES
• Yearly refinery construction indexes listed for 72 years
  Here are yearly values for the Nelson-Farrar refinery inflation cost index since 1926.

• Petrobras inks exploration JVs off Brazil
  Brazilian firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA has signed two more joint-venture agreements for exploration of license blocks off Brazil.
• UPR makes gas find in S. Louisiana
  Union Pacific Resources Group Inc. (UPR), Fort Worth, and partner Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., Houston, have made a gas discovery on the Etouffee prospect with their Continental Land & Fur Co. Inc. 1 well (CLF 1), about 15 miles southeast of Morgan City in Terrebonne Parish, La.
• US crude reserves plunged 7% in 1998
  The US Energy Information Administration reports proved reserves of US crude oil fell 7% in 1998, the largest percentage decline in over 50 years. Crude reserves were 21.03 billion bbl, down 1.5 billion from the end of 1997.
• Several areas of Pakistan could hold giant fields
  Only two giant gas fields-Sui and Mari(?)-have been discovered in Pakistan's 130-year checkered history of petroleum exploration

• Design, equipment changes make possible high C₃ recovery
  Recent advances in the process design of cryogenic gas-processing plants and in their equipment have led to development of a high NGL-recovery process flowsheet that can cost-effectively yield propane recoveries of up to 99%.

• Method measures commingled production, pipeline components
  An analytic method discriminates and quantifies the constituent cuts in commingled reservoir production and pipeline streams.

• System provides new approach for directional drilling
  In collaboration with Japan National Oil Corp., Sperry-Sun, Houston, has designed a completely new approach for rotary steerable drilling.