Safety
Bureau Veritas
(BV), Paris, became the first signatory of the Ship Safety Charter, a good conduct charter on maritime safety developed through a round table discussion of all chief members of France's petroleum shipping industry. The round table meeting, organized by the French government, was prompted by the break-up of the Maltese tanker Erika and resulting oil spill off France (OGJ, Jan. 24, 2000, p. 28). The charter will be followed by a government memorandum encompassing its main points to be sent to the European Union, the International Maritime Organization, and the Pollution Compensation Fund.
LNG
Nigeria LNG Ltd.
(NLNG), Lagos, acquired two LNG vessels-LNG Edo and LNG Abuja-from Duke Energy International, a unit of Duke Energy Corp., Charlotte, NC. NLNG will add the two vessels to its existing fleet of five to be used to transport LNG from its 7.35-billion cu m LNG plant at Bonny Island in Nigeria's Rivers state to customers in Europe.
Companies
NiSource Inc.,
Merrillville, Ind., withdrew its $74/share unsolicited tender offer for Columbia Energy Group, Herndon, Va. Columbia's board had previously rejected NiSource's offer late last fall (OGJ, Nov. 8, 1999, p. 37). NiSource's withdrawal could create an opportunity for more amiable merger discussions between itself and Columbia, NiSource said.
Celsius Energy Resources Ltd.,
a subsidiary of Questar Corp., Salt Lake City, acquired all the outstanding shares of Canor Energy Ltd. from Northwest Natural Gas Co. unit NI Canada ULC for $87.5 million (Can.). Canor owns and operates more than 800 wells, primarily in Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan. Canor's proven reserves are about 61.1 bcfe. The acquisition also includes another 6.2 bcfe of reserves considered probable, about 150,000 net undeveloped acres primarily in Alberta, and a substantial seismic inventory.
Enterprise Oil PLC,
London, signed an agreement to acquire 100% of ARCO Ireland Offshore Inc., which owns ARCO's Irish exploration interests. The deal will expand Enterprise's exploration activity of its UK and Ireland business unit into the Atlantic margin. Enterprise's existing Irish interests will be added to those acquired and transferred to a new unit called Enterprise Energy Ireland Ltd. Enterprise has already increased its percentage by 3.1% to 18.68% in Clair field west of the Shetland Islands. In addition, Enterprise intends to ink a deal to assume operatorship of Tranche 4, 100 km northeast of Clair field and west of the Shetlands, and increase its stake there to 46.16% from 30%.
Flowserve Corp.,
Dallas, signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ingersoll-Dresser Pumps for $775 million in cash. The transaction will be financed with a combination of bank financing and senior subordinated notes. Flowserve intends to proceed with the integration of the two businesses immediately upon closing the acquisition, which is expected in April.
Cogeneration
El Paso Merchant Energy Co.,
a unit of El Paso Energy Corp., Houston, purchased Dynegy Inc.'s California cogeneration plants for $255 million. With the purchase of Dynegy's cogeneration plants, El Paso Merchant Energy now holds a net equity interest in over 2,900 Mw of North American power plants that either are or will be operational in first half 2000.
Pipelines
Duke Energy
signed a 50-50 accord with the gas pipeline unit of Williams, Tulsa, to build and operate the 674-mile Buccaneer gas pipeline that will deliver up to 882.9 MMcfd to Florida. Before joining Williams's plan, Duke had planned to build the Sawgrass pipeline, which would have followed a route similar to Buccaneer's through the Gulf of Mexico (OGJ, July 19, 1999, p. 36). Coastal Corp., Houston, plans yet another gas line system, for which it applied for Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval early in fourth quarter 1999 (OGJ, Oct. 25, 1999, p. 34).
Premier Transco Ltd.
(PTL), a 50-50 joint venture of BG Group PLC unit BG Energy Holdings Ltd. and KeySpan Energy Development Corp., plans to build a 170-km natural gas pipeline from Belfast to Dublin. PTL, which will hold an open season for the capacity through Apr. 30 to quantify potential volumes, is offering a 15-year, fixed-tariff price of 3.8 pence/ therm for gas transported from Moffat, Scotland, to Dublin. The pipeline, with an estimated construction cost of £120 million (Irish), will be an extension of an existing PTL-owned and operated system from Moffat to Belfast. Depending on industry response, construction is slated to begin in 2001 with completion expected in fall 2002.
Westcoast Energy Inc.,
Vancouver, BC, signed certain long-term contracts with producers in the Fort Liard, NWT, area to transport gas and process it at its Fort Nelson, BC, plant. The contract area includes recent significant discoveries by Chevron Canada Resources Ltd. and Ranger Oil Ltd., Calgary. The West Liard Valley Producers Group has began work on a pipeline to connect to the Westcoast main line.
A fire
that erupted in a Nigeria National Petroleum Corp.-owned and operated refined products pipeline outside Ogwe village in eastern Nigeria's Abia State killed 17 people, the state oil firm said. The fire broke out on the pipeline after people seeking to illegally tap the pipeline reportedly broke a valve on the line.
Saipem SPA,
the engineering and construction arm of Italy's ENI, and its construction consortium partners began initial work on the subsea portion of the Blue Stream pipeline project from Russia across the Black Sea to Turkey (OGJ, Jan. 31, 2000, p. 39). Blue Stream Pipeline Co. BV is an equal joint venture of Gazprom and ENI. Saipem's partners are Bouygues Offshore SA, Katran-K, Mitsui & Co., Sumitomo Corp., and Itochu Corp. Initial subsea work includes detailed onshore and offshore engineering, surveys along certain portions of the pipeline, and field testing of certain pipelaying equipment and operating systems of the Saipem 7000 pipelay vessel.
Refining
BP Amoco PLC
and UOP LLC, Des Plaines, Ill., will form an alliance for the support, delivery, and implementation of technology and services to BP Amoco's refineries. This alliance will support the continuing technological needs of refinery operations and new product development by recommending and implementing the most effective technology and creating new technology options. Also, services will be provided in areas such as process design, equipment reliability, operational excellence, and optimization. Affected by this agreement are 80-120 BP Amoco refining technology group employees at Naperville, Ill., and Sunbury, UK; these workers will be offered jobs at UOP's Des Plaines, or Guildford, UK, offices, say the partners.
Hovensa LLC,
a joint venture of Amerada Hess Corp. and Petroleos de Venezuela SA, received $600 million in financing underwritten by Bank of America. Hovensa will use the funding for the construction of a 58,000 b/d delayed coker for its 545,000 b/d refinery at St. Croix, VI, and to pay down debt. Construction is to start in June and be complete by mid-2002.
Petrochemicals
EC Erdölchemie GMBH
(EC), Worringen, Germany, let contract to ABB Lummus Global, Bloomfield, NJ, for the engineering of a new ethane cracker train at its ethylene plant at Worringen, near Cologne. EC-a company held equally by Bayer AG and Deutsche BP AG-says the new train will increase ethylene production capacity of the 820,000 tonne/year plant by 180,000 tonnes. Start up of the new unit is slated for mid-2002.
Drilling-production
Triton Energy Ltd.,
Dallas, signed a multiyear lease with Bergesen DY Offshore AS, Oslo, for use of the 275,000-dwt Berge Charlotte floating production, storage, and offloading vessel in the development of Ceiba field off Equatorial Guinea. The country granted approval to Triton last month to begin the field's development (OGJ, Jan. 17, 2000, p. 26). Through another agreement, Cooper Cameron Corp.'s Cameron division will provide wellheads, subsea production trees, pipeline end manifolds, and the subsea and surface-installed production control system for four wells.
Kerr-McGee Corp.,
Oklahoma City, and Pendaries Petroleum Ltd., Houston, drilled their first appraisal well on Block 04/36 in China's Bohai Bay; the well follows a discovery well drilled by the partners earlier this year (OGJ, Jan. 3, 2000, p. 30). The CFD 11-1-2 well was drilled to 5,082 ft and cut 210 ft of net oil pay in the Minghuazhen and Guantao formations. Flow test results indicate a combined rate of 1,400 b/d from three zones, and reserves are estimated at 100 million bbl. An additional appraisal well will spud in late March to further evaluate the lateral extent and size of the reservoir. Interest holders in Block 04/36 are operator Kerr-McGee (81.8%) and Pendaries (18.2%).
Enterprise Oil PLC
shut in production Feb. 6 to begin debottlenecking work in Pierce field in the UK North Sea. Enterprise hopes to attain a 20% increase in production-to 65,000 b/d of oil from 54,000 b/d-through certain modifications being performed during the shut-down, which was expected to last 10 days. Partners in the field are operator Enterprise, 73.99%; Ranger Oil (UK) Ltd., 15.6%; MOC Exploration (UK) Ltd., 3.7544%; Agip (UK) Ltd., 3.7284%; and Petrobras North Sea Ltd., 2.925%.
Petrobras Colombia Ltd.
completed its Venganza-4H well in Matachin field on the Espinal block in Colombia's Magdalena Valley. The well's interest holders are operator Petrobras; CMS Oil & Gas Co., a unit of CMS Energy Corp., Dearborn, Mich.; and Colombia state oil firm Ecopetrol. CMS says the well, drilled to 7,875 ft TD, is the first horizontal well to be drilled in the area. On test, the well flowed 7,000 b/d of 28° gravity oil on natural flow from the Guadalupe formation.
Schlumberger Oilfield Services
will participate in a joint industry project to study the feasibility of testing wells without the flaring of hydrocarbon fluids or the transport of collected liquids for remote disposal. Schlumberger will act as primary researcher for a consortium that is to include BP Amoco, Conoco Inc., and Norsk Hydro AS. Following results of the feasibility study, the partners will create an in-depth development plan.
Exploration
Repsol-YPF SA
and partners made an oil discovery on the Khalda Offset concession in Egypt's Western Desert. On test, Neith South 1X well-which flowed 2,778 b/d of 43-46° gravity oil and 4.5 MMcfd of natural gas through a 1-in. choke-encountered two zones at 14,380-14,464 ft in Jurassic Khatatba. Partners in the well are operator Repsol, 50%; Apache Corp., Houston, 40%; and Novus Petroleum Ltd., Sydney, 10%. The partners intend to drill two additional wells to appraise the discovery. When paired with seismic surveys and geologic evaluation, says Apache, the discovery opens up a new east-west play concept, the 50-mile Zarif structural trend.
Houston Exploration Co.,
Houston, and its partners made an oil and natural gas discovery on Vermilion Block 408 in the Gulf of Mexico. On test, the Vermilion Block 408 No. 1 well, in 380 ft of water about 115 miles off Louisiana, flowed 3,040 b/d of oil and 11.1 MMcfd through a 30/64-in. choke with 2,955 psi flowing tubing pressure. Drilled to 8,000 ft TD, the well cut 167 ft of net pay in a single sand. Well interest holders are operator Houston Exploration, 25.5%; McMoRan Exploration Co., New Orleans, 28.5%; Halliburton Energy Services unit Westport Oil & Gas Co., Houston, 24.5%; Samedan Oil Corp., a unit of Noble Affiliates Inc., Ardmore, Okla., 20%; and an individual investor, 1.5%. The partners intend to abandon the well temporarily as they make development plans for the area.
Tankers
Arab Maritime Petroleum Transport Co.
(AMPTC) procured $120 million in financing from a group of senior arrangers led by ANZ Investment Bank to fund the acquisition of two product carriers for chartering to Vela International. AMPTC also will use the loan to build a new Suezmax crude tanker. AMPTC is owned by member states of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Methanex Corp.,
Rotterdam, received its newest vessel-the 100,000-dwt Millennium Explorer, which is owned by Mitsui OSK and operated by a subsidiary of Methanex. The vessel is expected to reduce Methanex's shipping costs by about $5 million/year. It will deliver methanol to Rotterdam and Houston from Methanex's 3 million tonne methanol production hub at Punta Arenas, Chile. To accommodate the large tanker, Vopak invested 7 million euros to expand its Europoort terminal and jetties and to develop a Rotterdam pipeline grid to transfer methanol to industrial consumers and other Vopak terminals. Methanex says it's the world's largest chemical tanker.
Gas supply
Lundin Oil AB,
Stockholm, signed a 20-year, 250 MMcfd natural gas supply agreement with Malaysian state oil firm Petronas and Viet Nam state oil firm Petrovietnam for gas from Block PM-3 in the Commercial Arrangement Area (CAA) between the two countries. Also, Petronas and Petrovietnam have approved the second and third phases of development of PM-3 (OGJ, Oct. 18, 1999, p. 34). First gas delivery is slated in second half 2003, along with 40,000 b/d of initial liquids production expected. Block interest holders are operator Lundin (41.44%), Petronas Carigali Sdn. Bhd. (46.06%), and Petrovietnam Exploration & Production (12.5%).
