Aviva Petroleum Inc. said the Trans-Andean pipeline has been repaired and production from its Colombian wells has recommenced. Previously, the company said it had to shut-in its wells because guerrilla attacks on the pipeline had rendered it inoperable (OGJ Online, Oct. 18, 2000).
Equitable Resources Inc. and Orion Power MidWest LP, a unit of Orion Power Holdings Inc., reported an agreement to upgrade and expand Orion's natural gas distribution system to its MidWest's Brunot Island power plant. Orion Power is reactivating its combined cycle capability and is converting simple cycle oil-fired units to natural gas. Orion Power expects the conversion to natural gas to be completed by May 2001 and the reactivation to be completed by mid-2002. An Equitable unit will install 24,600 ft of 16-in. steel distribution pipe and upgrade four district regulator stations. Upon project completion, Orion Power will enter into a 10-year transportation agreement with Equitable to transport up to 100,000 dekatherms/day of natural gas to the site.
Another regulatory hurdle has been cleared for go-ahead of the Papua New Guinea to Queensland natural gas pipeline project, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission granting interim authorization for Santos Ltd. and ExxonMobil Corp. to join the collective gas marketing arrangements of the Chevron Niugini Ltd.-led project partners. ExxonMobil and Santos Ltd. are interest holders in the Hides gas field, and their participation is seen as a vital cog in the project�s success. Hides reserves are necessary to enable sufficient gas to be available for Australian market needs for 20 years terms.
Pemex Gas y Petroquimica Basica, a unit of Mexican oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, has awarded BJ Pipeline Inspection Services, a unit of BJ Services Co., a contract to provide a range of integrated pipeline services for PGPB's primary pipeline, which runs between Cactus in Chiapas State and Guadalajara in Jalisco State. BJ did not reveal the worth of the deal, but called it a "multi-million dollar contract." Inspection services on the 1,231-km, 14-24-in. LPG pipeline commenced in April 2000, with plans to complete the integrated pipeline services contract in January 2001.
