Pakistan's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has rejected a gas pricing proposal by Lasmo PLC that had sought the same price the government agreed in August 1999 with OMV AG, operator of Miano gas field. The refusal is aimed at convincing gas producers to agree on using the traditional pricing formula rather than considering the OMV agreement as a blueprint for a new formula.
A proven (known) petroleum system has operated and is operating in the South Caspian basin linking Mio-Pliocene reservoirs with Oligo-Miocene and Miocene source rocks.
Mobil Exploration & Producing Peru, the operator of Block 78 in Peru's Madre de Dios basin, will undertake a series of studies in the northwestern portion of the block and evaluate drill cuttings from the Karene 3X well, drilled by Cities Service Co. (later acquired by Occidental Petroleum Corp.) in 1976.
An oil discovery by Dana Petroleum PLC and Ghana National Petroleum Corp. (GNPC) on their first joint exploration well in the Western Tano contract area off Ghana indicates potential reserves in both shallow and deep waters, officials said.
Carigali-Triton Operating Co. (CTOC)-a joint venture of Malaysian state oil firm Petronas and US firm Triton Energy Corp.-has chosen a consortium headed by France's Technip SA to serve as turnkey contractor to develop the $800 million Cakerawala gas development project in the Gulf of Thailand.
The worldwide consumption of ethyl acetate and butyl acetate is expected to rebound by 2008 as chemical manufacturers switch to these solvents to reduce the release of volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere, according to a study by Tecnon (UK) Ltd., London. The study predicts production of ethyl acetate will grow by 3.7%/year until 2008, and production of butyl acetate will grow by 1.4%/ year.
A major Caspian region oil export pipeline must be approved soon to keep exploration active, witnesses have told a US Senate foreign relations subcommittee.
Having just completed its merger with ARCO (see story, this page), BP Amoco PLC agreed to sell ARCO's Alaskan North Slope properties to Phillips Petroleum Co. for $7 billion after resolving ExxonMobil Corp.'s objections. ExxonMobil had sued to block the sale, claiming that it had right of first refusal under a 1964 agreement (OGJ, Apr. 3, 2000, p. 30).
The new business-to-business (B2B) wave of computerized electronic-commerce technology is probably generating equal amounts of "buzz and biz," but there is still substantial beef behind the hyperbole, said a panel of energy experts at a recent 2-day industry conference in Houston.
Oil markets are expected to improve as a result of the production increases that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries engineered in Vienna in late March, although another production increase will be necessary before yearend.
The New York Mercantile Exchange will launch on May 4 a Middle Eastern sour crude oil futures contract based on the reported average prices of Oman and Dubai crude oils. The contract unit will be 1,000 bbl, and it will be the exchange's first cash-settled energy contract. Delivery points will be normal export-quality Dubai oil delivered FOB at the Fateh terminal in Dubai and Omani oil delivered FOB at the Mina al Fahal terminal in Oman.
Caesar II Version 4.20 is an update of this company's Windows (95/98/ NT) software for pipe stress analysis and design, which provides new applications for offshore plus several new and updated codes.
Lone Star Steel Co., Lone Star, Tex., has named Rusty Fisher and Paul Leatherwood vice president, line pipe sales, and vice president, purchasing services, respectively.
