Table of Contents

• Power study ignores gas
  The US Department of Energy overlooked something in the recommendations it published last week on the subject of electric power outages: natural gas.

• Court battles, OPEC's market grip underscore the need for a coordinated US energy policy
  This March is an emblematic month for US energy policy schizophrenia.
• Myth of spare capacity setting the stage for another oil shock
  The fundamental driver of the 20th century's economic prosperity has been an abundant supply of cheap oil.
• Watching Government
  Energy buzz
  Congress has done a pretty good job of ignoring oil and gas issues the past decade.
• Occidental to buy Altura Energy for $3.6 billion
  Occidental Petroleum Corp. is buying Altura Energy LP, Texas' biggest oil producer, from BP Amoco PLC and Shell Exploration & Production Co. for $3.6 billion in a move that will immediately boost Oxy's worldwide production by 36%.
• Pakistan seeks oil investments
  Pakistan has begun a privatization program and is trying to boost potential investors' confidence by introducing a privatization law, says Altaf M. Salim, chairman of Pakistan's privatization commission.
• Shell agrees to sell its interest in CO₂ unit to Kinder Morgan
  Shell Exploration & Production Co. agreed to sell its 80% interests in Shell CO₂ Co. Ltd.-the largest US transporter and marketer of carbon dioxide-for $185.5 million to Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, which already holds the other 20%.

• Worldwide drilling activity shrank by 25% in 1999
  As with other upstream industries, the worldwide drilling industry suffered from the crude price crash of spring 1998.

• MMS finally issues oil royalty reform rule
  After 4 years and four revisions, the US Minerals Management Service has issued a final rule revising how producers calculate the cash royalties they owe on production from federal lands.
• Waterfracs prove successful in some Texas basins
  Several operators have found that waterfracs with minimal proppants effectively stimulate low-permeability gas formations in several Texas basins.

• Associations hit pending 15 ppm diesel sulfur rule
  Nine industry groups are urging the US Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw a pending rule that would slash the sulfur content of automotive diesel fuel to 15 ppm in 2006 from the current 500 ppm.
• BP Amoco makes strategic lubes acquisition
  BP Amoco PLC has agreed to buy lubricants giant Burmah Castrol PLC, Swindon, UK, for £3 billion ($4.7 billion).

• Study underscores effectiveness of antifoaming agent in DGA sweetening process
  Laboratory studies of polysiloxane (DB-31), an antifoaming agent used in diglycolamine (DGA) gas-sweetening units, indicate that DB-31 substantially reduces the DGA solution surface tension and thereby reduces foaming.

• Formosa Group plans petchem complex
  Three Formosa Plastics Group companies have announced plans to spend $110.3 billion (Twn.), or $3.6 billion (US), to build 15 petrochemical production units at FPG's petrochemical complex in Yunlin County, Taiwan.

• Gulf of Mexico lease sale proves low-key
  Although 63 companies submitted bids at central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale No. 175, observers said it was a decent but unspectacular turnout with many near-minimum bids.
• Jurassic gas at Panuke oil field heats Scotian shelf exploration
  Basins on and off Canada's east coast number among the world's most-watched exploration areas.
• Myanmar's Mann field awaits search, investment
  A large onshore oil field in Myanmar has responded to initial production enhancement work and is in line for a large waterflood project later this year.
• Northeast BC yields Devonian Pine Point gas
  Union Pacific Resources Inc., Fort Worth, hopes to start gas production in mid-2000 from underdeveloped Klua field in a remote area of Northeast British Columbia.
• Phillips appraising giant Bohai Bay field
  Phillips Petroleum Co. is appraising giant Penglai 19-3 field in Bohai Bay to determine its commercial potential.

• Industry Briefs
  A gasoline spill of 12,000 bbl was contained Mar. 10 about 10 miles north of Greenville, Tex., after leaking from a pipeline owned by Explorer Pipeline Co., Tulsa.

Area Drilling

• Area Drilling
  Mera Petroleums Inc. and Millennium Energy Inc., Calgary, began reviewing seismic data on the 332,800-acre Salinas block in the Guajira basin granted under new fiscal terms.

Equip/Software/Lit

• Equipment/Software/Literature
  The new series TFXP portable transit time flowmeter features advanced noninasive flow measurement technology that provides a measuring system with accuracy, versatility, ease of installation, and dependability.

Services/Suppliers

• MOVES AND PROMOTIONS
  J.D. Fields & Co., Inc., Houston, Tex., has named Yuki Matsunaga vice president of international to assist with further broadening the company's business to international markets.

OGJ Newsletter

• OGJ Newsletter
  What may be the biggest sale of E&P assets ever will also drastically alter the landscape in one of North America's most critical petroleum provinces while clearing the way for one of history's biggest mergers.

Journally Speaking

• Changing Assets
  One result of the roller coaster ride that crude oil prices have taken during the last 2 years has been the sale of noncore assets by many companies.