U.S. BRIEFS

TRANSPORTATION

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAS CO. plans to buy 227 MMcfd of spot gas in June at $1.42/MMBTU, the same price it paid through May 21, when it took 551 MMcfd of spot gas.

A WILLIAMS PIPE LINE CO. line spilled more than 75,000 gal of diesel fuel into the Minnesota River from a leak at the Eden Prairie, Minn., river crossing just south of Minneapolis. Fuel spread about 8 miles downstream, and boat traffic was halted while it was contained. Williams officials blamed failure of a check valve and connected high pressure tubing.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

UNOCAL CORP. claimed a world turnkey drilling depth record of 25,260 ft for its 2-33 Annie Bruner development gas well in Beckham County, Okla. The well, in which Unocal owns an 80% interest, cut 92 ft net pay and flowed 18.1 MMcfd through a 34/64 in. choke with 4,040 psi flowing tubing pressure from Siluro-Devonian middle Hunton perforations at 24,462-712 ft. Calculated absolute open flow is 86 MMcfd. Quarles Drilling Corp., Tulsa, spent a total 279 drilling days with its Rig 25 on the well.

FLOYD OIL CO., Houston, purchased for affiliates an average 24% working interest in 65 wells and 2% royalty interest in 23 gas wells in Rusk and Upshur counties, Tex., for $4.3 million. Reserves, in Rosewood and Oak Hill fields, total 16 bcf from upper and lower Jurassic Cotton Valley sands.

TRINITY RESOURCES INC., Houston, agreed to sell interests in 92 Cretaceous Austin chalk oil and gas wells in Lee and Burleson counties, Tex., to an undisclosed major company for $3.8 million.

GEODYNE RESOURCES INC., Tulsa, agreed to buy from Enron Oil & Gas Co., Houston, interests in oil and gas leases for PaineWebber/Geodyne Energy Income partnerships for $30 million. The leases in Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma are producing 125 b/d and 12.9 MMcfd.

ARCO ALASKA INC. let contracts worth about $17 million to Fluor Daniel Inc.'s Alaska office for engineering and technical services in Anchorage and on the North Slope.

SANTA BARBARA PARTNERS, Oklahoma City, bought ARCO's interest in South Cuyama field, Santa Barbara County, Calif., producing about 1,000 b/d of oil and 2.5 MMcfd of gas from 93 wells. The partnership consists of Cuyama Oil & Gas, Oklahoma City, Trio Petroleum Inc., Bakersfield, Calif., and Hallador Production Co., Denver.

UNION PACIFIC RESOURCES CO. expects to drill two gas wells this year near a recent discovery adjacent to Dripping Rock field in Sweetwater County, Wyo. UPRC plans more drilling during 1991 into the estimated 50 bcf reservoir.

YOUNAS CHAUDARY, Houston, and three companies he owns - Pioneer Exploration, Delta Petroleum Inc., and State Energy Investment Inc. - will pay fines of at least $159,082 in a U.S. Justice Department settlement for alleged violations of underground injection control (UIC) rules in Daniels and McCone counties, Mont. Justice said it will be the largest fine involving UIC rules.

GEODYNE RESOURCES INC., Tulsa, purchased oil and gas leases from Muirfield Resources Co., also of Tulsa, for $13.6 million. Geodyne acquired working interests in southern and western Oklahoma and mineral interests in western Oklahoma and Arkoma basin.

ALEXANDER ENERGY CORP., Oklahoma City, bought an interest in 230 producing oil and gas leases, mostly in Northwest Oklahoma, from MFS Production Co. Inc. for about $3.5 million. Reserves are 213,000 bbl and 5.22 bcf, with discounted present worth of $8.2 million.

EDISTO RESOURCES CORP., Dallas, agreed to acquire all outstanding common stock of ESCO Energy Inc., Tulsa. Edisto plans to drill three horizontal wells through Mississippian Bakken shale in the Williston basin and 15 more in Texas' Cretaceous Austin chalk trend by yearend. It expects its fourth quarter 1990 production to increase 100% from first quarter, and projects 1990 revenues of $87 million, an increase of $27 million from 1989.

CLAYTON W. WILLIAMS JR. INC., Midland, Tex., let a multiwell contract to Parker Drilling Co., Tulsa, for horizontal drilling in Cretaceous Austin chalk in Frio County, Tex. Parker has its Rig 7 at the first wellsite, 8 miles east of Dilley, Tex.

PETROCHEMICALS

ETHYL CORP. agreed to buy fixed assets and inventories of Quantum Chemical Corp.'s 30 million gal/year polyalpha olefin plant at Houston for about $48 million. Quantum will operate the PAO unit for Ethyl.

SOLVENTS & CHEMICALS INC.'S Pearland, Tex., plant was jolted by a series of explosions, injuring two workers. Company officials believe sparks from a forklift piercing a steel drum caused the blasts. A resulting fire burned 20 hr. Methanol, naphtha, ketone, acetone, and other chemicals were stored in about 50 tanks and in 55 gal drums at the plant, about 12 miles south of Houston.

ACQUISITIONS

SEAGULL ENERGY CORP., Houston, signed a letter of intent to acquire Wacker Oil Inc., Houston, for $77 million. Wacker holds interests in 114 oil and gas wells, mainly in the Gulf of Mexico and in Texas, Louisiana, and North Dakota, with reserves of 2.6 million bbl and 43.2 bcf.

REFINING

BONNER & MOORE ASSOCIATES INC., Houston, obtained exclusive rights to license the crude assay library of Star Enterprise, a joint venture of Texaco Inc. and Saudi Arabia's state owned Saudi Aramco. The library consists of 147 non-U.S. and 91 U.S. crude assays. More than half the assays in the library were completed in the last 4 years, and all were run at Star's Port Arthur, Tex., assay lab.

AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL PETROLEUM CORP., New York, agreed to process 20,000 b/d of crude oil at its Lake Charles, La., refinery for Quest Energy Co., Houston. American International is to supply Quest with as much as 7 million bbl/year of naphtha, jet fuel/kerosine, diesel fuel, residual fuel, and other products valued at more than $140 million.

COMPANIES

MCDERMOTT INTERNATIONAL INC., New Orleans, reported a marine construction services backlog of $1.619 billion as of Mar. 31, the largest backlog since 1981. Much of it was for fabrication and engineering.

ALTERNATE MOTOR FUELS

PENNSYLVANIA ENERGY OFFICE, Altoona Metro Transit (Amtran), and Peoples Natural Gas Co., Pittsburgh, dedicated the state's first gas powered transit bus. The 16 Mcf capacity bus, part of a 90 day Amtran field test, has a 450 mile range.