INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

COMPANIES

AMOCO CORP. won a $600 million cash settlement from the Iran-U.S. claims tribunal in the Hague, settling all claims and counterclaims. Amoco's claims stem from seizure of assets during the 1978-79 Iranian revolution.

PIPELINES

PACIFIC COAST ENERGY CORP., Vancouver, let a $55 million contract to Banister Pipelines, Edmonton, for construction of the Vancouver Island section of the Vancouver island gas pipeline project in British Columbia. Banister will lay 186 miles of 410 in. line from Victoria to Campbell River. Construction is to begin this month and be complete in late summer 1991.

EXPLORATION

BP EXPLORATION plans further drilling after its 23/16a-4 appraisal flowed 4,860 b/d of oil and 2.52 MMcfd of gas through a 40/64 in. choke near Norwegian waters in the U.K. North Sea.The well is 2.2 miles north of the 23/16a-3 discovery in 1989, which flowed 29.6 MMcfd of gas and 1,190 b/d of condensate. BP's interest is 62.8%.

SANTOS LTD.'S 2 Talbot appraisal flowed 4,700 b/d of 52 gravity oil and 2.6 MMcfd of gas through a 11/4 in. choke on drillstem test of two Triassic sandstone zones at 4,982-87 ft and 4,997-5,026 ft on Permit AC/Pl2 in the Timor Sea off Australia (OGJ, June 18, p. 21). Total depth is 5,469 ft. Santos is moving the Robert F. Bauer drillship to Permit WA 147, where it will drill the 1 Kite wildcat. Another wildcat on AC/P12 prospect Anson, between Talbot and the Montara oil discovery in AC/P7, will spud in July.

SUN SUDAN OIL CO. closed its office in Khartoum after completing an unsuccessful exploration program in Sudan.

ISRAMCO INC., New York, halted production tests at 17,400 ft in the 2 Yam wildcat off Israel due to mechanical problems. During tests, the well initially flowed 800 b/d of 470 gravity, sulfur free oil through a 20/64 in. choke with 967 psi flowing tubing pressure from undisclosed limestone pay. The well encountered formation temperature of 358 F. and bottomhole pressures of about 13,000 psi. Isramco plans more drilling to test the deep oil zone and has begun production tests of a gas zone at 12,900 ft in 2 Yam.

PETROCHEMICALS

ALBERTA ENERGY LTD., Calgary, shelved plans for a $1 billion petrochemical complex at Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. The plant was to go on stream in 1993 with capacity of 500,000 metric tons/year of ethylene and 130,000 metric tons/year of propylene. AEC said the project will be reactivated if market conditions improve.

A JOINT VENTURE of Petro-Canada and Finland's Neste Oy let contract to Catalytic Distillation Technologies (CDT), Pasadena, Tex., to provide MTBE technology and start-up advisory services for its proposed 530,000 metric ton/year MTBE plant at Edmonton. Total installed cost of the plant, to be complete in 1991, is about $9 million.

SAMSUNG GENERAL CHEMICALS CO. LTD. let contract to CDT to provide technology for a 31,000 metric ton/year isobutylene unit at its new Seosa, South Korea, ethylene plant. Total installed cost of the unit, to be complete in 1991, is about $7 million.

EXPORTS-IMPORTS

L&J ENERGY SYSTEMS INC. applied to Canada's National Energy Board for a license to export about 64.1 bcf of gas during 15 years from a point near Iroquois, Ont., to supply its proposed cogeneration plant at Lowville, N.Y.

ACQUISITIONS

GULF CANADA RESOURCES LTD. purchased Imperial Oil Ltd.'s 22.8% interest in Interhome Energy Inc. for $492.3 million (Canadian), completing its acquisition of Interhome, which includes Home Oil Ltd, and Interprovincial Pipe Lines Ltd. Gulf Canada will seek regulatory approval for a merger of Gulf and Home as a unified oil company to operate separately from Interhome.

DU PONT will acquire Fibremakers, the biggest supplier of continuous filament nylon and polyester in Australia, from JGL Investments for $150 million.

CONOCO U.K. LTD. plans to acquire all offshore U.K. assets of Triton North Sea Operators Ltd. for about $61 million. Involved are interests in 12 North Sea blocks, including Alba oil field, Anglia gas field, and an undeveloped gas/condensate field in Block 16/27b.

RESEARCH

ETHYL SA plans,to build an $8 million alpha olefins/polyalpha olefins research and development center at Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain la Neuve, about 19 miles south of Brussels. Ethyl has a $120 million AO/PAO complex under construction at Feluy, Belgium.

MARKETING

IROQUOIS BRANDS LTD. acquired all outstanding stock of Benzole Oil (U.K.) Ltd. for $8 million cash and $6.8 million debt assumption. Benzole owns seven gasoline/convenience store outlets in northern England. Included is an agreement to increase gasoline supplier purchase guarantees for Conoco Inc., Texaco Inc., and Petrofina SA affiliates to $2.7 million.

REFINING

MITSUBISHI OIL CO. LTD. let contract to M.W. Kellogg Co. for basic engineering and technology for a 25,000 b/d residual fluid catalytic cracker for the Sendai, Japan, refinery of its Tohoko Oil Co. unit. Kellogg will complete work and provide technology by yearend.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

YEMEN estimates its oil reserves at 4.75 billion bbl, according to government press reports. That breaks out to 3.75 billion bbl in the south and 1 billion in the north. North and South Yemen recently merged.

GROUPS led by Occidental Petroleum Corp. and British Petroleum Co. plc affiliates let contracts totaling more than 5 million to IMI Yorkshire Alloys Ltd., Birmingham, U.K., for seawater pipeline systems for their respective Piper field redevelopment and Bruce field development projects in the U.K. North Sea.

TANKERS

SHANGHAI'S Hudong shipyard launched a 62,200 dwt oil tanker for an undisclosed shipping company in Chile.

IMPERIAL OIL LTD.'S Imperial Bedford products tanker struck ice June 14 and took on water through a 6 ft hole in her engine room 90 miles off Labrador. Imperial said the vessel was in no danger of sinking nor was it a threat to the environment. The tanker was ballasted with water after delivering 120,000 bbl of gasoline to Goose Bay, Lab.