INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

GOVERNMENT

INDIA'S petroleum ministry estimates oil sector spending at $33 billion in its eighth fiscal planning period,1990-95, up sharply from $10.863 billion in the seventh plan. The estimate breaks out, in billions of dollars, as Oil & Natural Gas Commission 17.4, refining 5.4, marketing 5.2, Gas Authority of India Ltd. 4, and Oil India Ltd. 1.1.

COGENERATION

ESSO BV let contract to Comprimo BV, Amsterdam, for a 40,000 kw cogeneration plant to supply power and steam at its Rotterdam refining and petrochemical complex. It is to start up in mid-1991.

TRANSPORTATION

A PUMP ROOM EXPLOSION killed three crew members June 24 on the 227,400 dwt Rapana tanker in the North Sea, about 10 miles southwest of Oslo. The vessel, owned by Royal Dutch/Shell Group, was under charter to the Swedish company Skaugen and carrying 511,000 bbl of Iranian heavy crude. The resulting fire was contained in the Pump room, and no oil was spilled. The vessel moved under its own power to the Firth of Forth, Scotland, for inspection of damage by Shell teams.

IRAN let contract to France's ETPM, Italy's Soc. Micoperi, and South Korea's Ssangyong for repairs to Kharg Island oil terminal, heavily damaged in the war with Iraq, OPEC News Agency reported. Work will take 24-27 months.

FIREFIGHTERS extinguished within 24 hr a June 21 blaze caused by a lightning strike at a western Siberia oil tank farm, the Soviet press reported. Four tanks caught fire, spilling more than 70,000 bbl of oil at Karkateyevy oil terminal near Nefteyugansk, Tyumen province. Press reports said lightning rods and pipeline valves failed and chemical foam was not available.

EXPLORATION

AMOCO NETHERLANDS PETROLEUM CO. and partners tested 50.3 MMcfd of gas and 1,062 b/d of condensate at its P/15-12 wildcat in the Dutch North Sea. Drilled to 11,060 ft in a Triassic reservoir in about 88 ft of water, the well is Amoco's fourth success on the block.

INDIA'S Oil & Natural Gas Commission drilled a 4.6 MMcfd gas discovery off Porto Novo in the Cauvery basin. ONGC also reported a 250 b/d step-out to its oil and gas discovery at Adiyakkamangalam in the Thanjavur district of the onshore portion of the Cauvery basin. Other ONGC Cauvery basin onshore wildcats are planned or under way at Tagattur, Tiruvarur, Tattancheri, Nannilam, and Narimanam.

PLUSPETROL SA, Buenos Aires, and partners BHP Petroleum Argentina Inc. and International Finance Corp. soon will drill delineations to their oil discovery in the CNO-11 Oileros area of Argentina's Salta province. Their Pp. St. C. X-1001 (Cuchuma) well flowed 430 b/d of oil plus 5% water from pay at 1,191-1,224 ft and 377 b/d of oil and no water from 1,257-86 ft.

UNOCAL CORP. and partners Union Pacific International Petroleum Corp. and Nedlloyd BV soon will spud the first wildcat, 1 Ramirez, on Block 13 in the southern portion of Ecuador's Oriente jungle region. The group plans two more wildcats this year, bringing to seven the number of exploratory wells drilled under a 1988 commitment to state owned Petroleos del Ecuador.

ACQUISITIONS

A SWISS COURT lifted a temporary ban on acquisition of Swiss refiner/marketer Gatoil (Suisse) by a group led by Libyan controlled Tamoil SpA. The ban came after Ste. Nationale Elf Aquitaine and Agip (Suisse) alleged irregularities in bidding for the company (OGJ, June 11, p. 30).

SHELL OVERSEAS TRADING LTD. acquired a 51 % interest in China Gulf Oil Co. Ltd., which owns lube base oil manufacturing and blending plants at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, from Gotco Ltd. State owned China Petroleum Corp. will continue to hold the remaining 49%. Capacity at the Kaohsiung plant will increase to 5,200 b/d by yearend from 4,700 b/d, and a new blending plant is under construction.

REFINING

REPSOL PETROLEO SA will install a 24,000 b/d catalytic reformer unit at its 160,000 b/d Tarragona refinery in Northeast Spain, using UOP Inc. technology. It is due on stream in late 1992.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

BP NORWAY LTD. UA started up Gyda oil and gas field in the Norwegian North Sea June 21 , 9 months ahead of schedule. Oil flow, currently 20,000 b/d, will build to 60,000 b/d in the next few months. Developing the 200 million bbl, 105 bcf Gyda reserve cost $1.29 billion. Oil and gas moves via pipeline into the Ekofisk complex and the Norpipe systems to Teesside, England, and Emden, West Germany.

BP EXPLORATION let these construction contracts worth $311 million for its $2.6 billion Bruce gas/condensate field development in the U.K. North Sea: drilling platform jacket to Dragados, Almeria, Spain; drilling module to Eiffel, formerly CFEM, Marseilles; jacket and process/control module for process/utilities/quarters platform to RGC, Methil, Scotland; accommodation module and helideck to SLP Ltd., Lowestoft, England; and cellar deck to Redpath Offshore Ltd., Teesside.

OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM (CALEDONIA) LID. boosted estimated reserves in Saltire field in the U.K. North Sea by more than 30% to 120 million bbl after appraisal well 15/17-22z flowed 9,635 b/d of 43 gravity oil and 13 MMcfd of gas through a 11/64 in. choke. Oxy and partners plan a $600 million development involving a new platform linked to Piper field production facilities, with startup set for second half 1992.

PETROLEOS DEL ECUADOR soon will start production of 11,000 b/d of oil from a unitized area covering overlapping Payamino and Coca fields in the northern Oriente jungle region of Ecuador. Combined reserves are estimated at 45 million bbl. British Petroleum Co. plc discovered Payamino on Block 7, now held by Oryx Energy Co., Dallas. Unit operator Petroecuador discovered Coca.

GAS PROCESSING

ESSO EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION KHORAT let a $2.3 million contract to Thailand's Sino-Thai Engineering & Construction for construction related to its $8.3 million gas processing plant planned in Nam Phong gas field in Thailand's Khon Kaen province. Start-up is slated for yearend.

PETROCHEMICALS

ENICHEM ANIC let contract to Setpoint Inc., Houston, to upgrade instrumentation at its ethylene plant in Priolo, Sicily. In this second phase of an automation project, Setpoint will install controls and optimizers to the quench area, compressors, and fractionation sections, as well as upgrade the process computer system.