Correction
Westport Oil & Gas Co.,
Denver, is not a subsidiary of Halliburton Energy Services, as reported incorrectly (OGJ, Feb. 21, 2000, p. 38). Halliburton has no stake in the well described.
Spills
US Environmental Protection Agency
ordered Sunoco Inc., Philadelphia, and affiliate Sun Pipe Line Co. to restore the environment at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Philadelphia, where crude oil that leaked from a cracked joint in one of Sunoco's buried pipelines was discovered last month. About 4,160 bbl of oil spilled, and recovery efforts continue. Sunoco is to continue recovery efforts; monitor wetlands, wildlife, surrounding water, and shorelines; and restore the area to prespill conditions. Sunoco is also to conduct a feasibility study for a leak-detection system.
Companies
PowerGen PLC,
London, agreed to acquired all outstanding shares of LG&E Energy Corp., Louisville, Ky., for $3.2 billion in cash. Each LG&E Energy shareholder will receive $24.85/share. LG&E Energy will become PowerGen's headquarters for its US operations and a wholly owned subsidiary.
Halliburton Co.,
Houston, acquired the 74% of PES (International) Ltd. shares it did not already own. The all-stock deal makes PES a wholly owned unit of Halliburton. PES is a developer of intelligent completions technologies, including the Surface Controlled Analysis and Management System, on which Halliburton's SmartWell technology is based.
AGRA Inc.,
Toronto, is merging with London's AMEC PLC through a cash and stock swap valued at $514 million (Can.) to form the third largest global engineering design firm behind Fluor Daniel Inc. and Bechtel Group Inc., company officials said. Peter Janson, AGRA president and CEO, will join the AMEC board as Americas head of operations.
Canadian Hunter Exploration Ltd.,
Calgary, will acquire 78% of outstanding stock of Argentina's Atalaya SA for $37 million. The firm also offered an additional $14 million to owners of the remaining Atalaya shares, Capex SA and Clan Energy International Fund; the offer stands open until September 2001. This is the first international venture for Hunter, which produces 50,000 boe/d in Alberta and British Columbia. The acquisition will add about 14 MMcfd of natural gas and 87 b/d of condensate to its production. It will also give the Canadian firm a 10% stake in the Chihuidos exploration operating permit and the Sierra Chata concession in Argentina's Neuquen basin.
Texaco Inc.
formed a joint venture with Enron North America Corp. to combine their intrastate natural gas pipeline Bridgeline with Louisiana Resources Co.'s gas storage business. The JV, Bridgeline Holdings LP, will be based in Houston and consist of 1,000 miles of transmission and distribution pipeline, 33,050 hp of compression, and 7 bcf of salt dome storage-with an additional 6 bcf in development. The combined system will have a diversified gas supply, high and low-pressure operating capabilities, and access to the interstate pipeline grid in southern Louisiana and the Henry Hub. Bridgeline Holdings expects sales of more than 1 bcfd of gas.
Petrochemicals
BP Amoco Chemicals
is studying options to debottleneck production at its purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant at Cooper River, SC. Plans call for adding up to 180,000 tonnes of capacity in time to meet North American seasonal demand in 2002. The addition would boost the plant's total capacity to 1.5 million tonnes/ year. Front-end engineering and design for the project are to be completed by yearend. Meanwhile, BP Amoco also is studying options for a new world-scale 700,000-tonne PTA unit to be brought on stream by the end of 2003.
Chemopetrol AS Litvinov,
a Czech joint-stock company member of the Unipetrol Group, let a $48 million contract to Foster Wheeler Corp. unit Foster Wheeler Italiana SPA, Milan, for the engineering, construction, and supply of equipment and materials for a new polypropylene plant to be built at Litvinov in the Czech Republic. The 250,000 tonne/year plant, to start up in 2002, will produce polypropylene under BP Amoco PLC's process license.
Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp.
(FCF) will become Taiwan's largest producer of PTA with the start-up of its plant in Ilan County. FCF spent $327 million to set up the plant at Lungte industrial park, only to discover the manufacturing technology it imported was not commercially applicable. Drawing on its experience with two other PTA plants, FCF is renovating production equipment and expects to have the facility on line by mid-2001. Its projected output, combined with annual production of 950,000 tonnes at its Yunlin plant, will give FCF total capacity of 1.5 million tonnes/year.
Refining
ExxonMobil Corp.
started construction of a new delayed coker at its 465,0000 b/d Baytown, Tex., refinery. The 40,000 b/d unit will enable ExxonMobil to boost yield of lighter products from heavy crudes, including Maya, which is to be delivered to the refinery under a supply agreement with Petroleos Mexicanos at a volume of 65,000 b/d (OGJ, Oct. 5, 1998, p. 40). Contractors and responsibilities are Bechtel Corp., delayed coker; Fluor Daniel Co., modifications to exisiting process and utility units; TPA Inc., sulfur recovery facilities; and GDS Inc., site clearance, coke handling, and control systems. Completion is slated for second half 2001.
American International Petroleum Corp.
(AIPC), New York, agreed to lease part of its Lake Charles, La., refinery to privately held Maretech Corp. for 1 year with options, in a deal valued at $8 million. Maretech is leasing the atmospheric distillation unit for processing its own crude supply into low-sulfur naphtha and gas oil feedstock, in addition to finished jet fuel and distillates. The asphalt and vacuum distillation segments will continue to operate outside the Maretech agreement, says AIPC.
Azzawiya Oil Refining Co.,
a unit of Libya's National Oil Corp., selected certain Institut Fran
Pipelines
BP Amoco
is to acquire El Paso Energy Corp.'s one-third stake in the Destin Pipeline Co. LLC natural gas system for $160 million. BP Amoco, which already held a one-third share in Destin, exercised its right of first refusal against an unnamed buyer's bid for the stake (OGJ, Jan. 17, 2000, p. 24). Shell Oil Co. holds the remaining third of the 255-mile, 1 bcfd system. El Paso is shedding its Destin stake to meet regulatory approval to buy Sonat Inc., Birmingham, Ala.
Pakistan's Economic Coordination Committee
issued a letter of support to Pak Arab Refinery Co. Ltd. (PARCO) for laying a proposed 800-km light refined products pipeline from Karachi to Mehmood Kot near Multan, Punjab province (OGJ, Mar. 29, 1999, p. 30). The pipeline project, which will initially transport about 5 million tonnes of product, is linked to PARCO's proposed refinery at Mehmood Kot. The project is already behind schedule by over a year, and further delay might cause the government losses in billions of rupees in the form of transportation charges for crude oil to be imported to the refinery. Under the original plan, the pipeline was to have been ready by September 2000, when the refinery is slated for start-up.
Exploration
Advantage Resources Selva LLC,
a unit of Advantage Resources Inc., Denver, signed a definitive contract with Peruvian state agency Perupetro SA to explore and develop Peru's northern jungle Block 87 (OGJ, Jan. 31, 2000, p. 42). Perupetro estimates that Advantage will invest a minimum of $29 million for an exploration program, which will involve drilling four wells. Advantage will first reprocess and interpret 300 line-km of 2D seismic and acquire a further 200 line-km. Earlier, Advantage had said it was seeking two partners for the project.
PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd.,
Calgary, made what it is calling a "potentially significant" natural gas discovery off Nova Scotia, which could lead to a new field development project. Two exploratory wells-PP-3C and PI-1B-were drilled beneath Panuke oil field, and each flowed more than 50 MMcfd of gas. The find is 155 miles southeast of Halifax, NS, and about 19 miles from the Sable Island area, where gas field development is under way. By yearend, Sable gas production is expected to reach more than 500 MMcfd; its reserves are estimated at 3.5 tcf. PanCanadian has a 100% interest in the Panuke area gas discoveries and says it will drill two more wells there this spring to determine reserves and commercial potential.
Pioneer Natural Resources Co.,
Dallas, found oil with the first well drilled on Neuquen basin acreage in Argentina that it acquired in November. The Borde Colorado 1006 well was drilled on a new structure defined by 3D seismic and flowed 450 b/d of oil at a depth of 1,500 m. The well-drilled on the Al Sur de la Dorsal block adjacent to two producing fields-sets up three to four more wells to be drilled this year, says Pioneer. The company plans to drill 14 wells on those newly acquired blocks this year, plus another 50 on its Al Norte de la Dorsal acreage. It also is shooting and processing 3D seismic in both areas.
Harken Energy Corp.,
Houston, tested its Canacabare 1 well on Alcaravan association contract block in Colombia's Llanos basin. The well flowed naturally at 500 b/d of oil with no water. Harken anticipates higher production rates with the use of downhole equipment. Testing was delayed by prolonged rainy seasons in 1998-99 that prevented mobilization of the rig and heavy equipment to and from the well site. The well, about 40 km northeast of Harken's producing Palo Blanco field, does not yet have a pipeline connection.
Retail marketing Agip do Brasil,
a unit of Italy's ENI, agreed to acquire from Shell Brasil 285 service stations and 6 fuel terminals in the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Goi
Drilling-production
Shell UK Exploration & Production
is adapting its Trident platform concept to develop Skiff gas field in the southern UK North Sea. The 400-tonne minimum-facilities unit is being built by Keith Yeaman Engineering and is to be installed 72 km off the Norfolk coast in April. The platform-built at a cost of only £5 million and small enough to be installed with a drilling rig-is a first for the North Sea, says Shell, which added that it should set the standard for fast-track development of similar small gas prospects in those waters. The £70 million Skiff project includes four production wells.
BP Amoco
let a contract valued at $26 million to Transocean Sedco Forex Inc., Houston, for use of the Discoverer 534 dynamically positioned ultradeepwater drillship. The contract calls for BP Amoco to drill two firm wells and one optional well in the Gulf of Mexico. The first well is planned as an exploration well in the Crazy Horse prospect area, and the second is to be drilled in the Mad Dog area. Drilling is to begin in April and take 180-220 days, following a 7-10 day upgrade of certain systems on the rig. The drillship is completing work for Elf Exploration in the gulf in 7,000 ft of water.
Baker Oil Tools
claimed a world's record for the longest slimhole perforating gun assembly during a horizontal completion for Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) in Oman. The 987-ft assembly, consisting of 19/16-in. OD guns, allowed workers to perforate an entire productive interval quickly and efficiently, said company officials. A Baker Hughes Inteq Galileo coiled tubing rig conveyed the guns to a perforating depth of 5,597 ft at the top shot in a 27/8-in. OD pipe. A Baker Oil Tools Model D firing head hydraulically detonated the guns, armed with Baker Atlas Predator shaped charges.
Grampian Enterprise Ltd.,
Aberdeen, in concert with UK Offshore Operators Association, will hold the third in a series of initiative sessions that allow small and medium-sized companies to present innovative technologies to the oil and gas industry. The sessions stem from findings of the Innovation & Technology Workgroup of the Oil & Gas Industry Taskforce stating that UK continental shelf production could be sustained beyond 2010 at near-present levels through the use of innovative technologies.
LNG
Tuntex Gas Corp.,
an affiliate of the Tuntex Group, got government approval to build an LNG receiving terminal at the Kuantan industrial park in northern Taiwan. The park is being built at a cost in excess of $2.97 billion and will cover 1,174 hectares, including 230 hectares of reclaimed land, a water area of 368 hectares, and a designated offshore area of 576 hectares. Its harbor will have 10 jetties, with as many as three for the sole use of the LNG station, which will be able to accommodate 137,000 cu m capacity carriers. The terminal will have the capacity to receive 6 million tonnes/year of LNG.