INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

PETROCHEMICALS

LUCKY ENGINEERING CO., South Korea, let contract to ABB Lummus Crest Inc. on behalf of Indonesia's PT Graha Swakarsa Prima to provide styrene technology for a 120,000 metric ton/year ethylbenze to styrene monomer unit PT Graha plans as part of a $500 million petrochemical complex in West Java. Other plants at the complex will produce acrylonitrile butadiene, styrene resin, and high impact polystyrene.

LNG

NKK CORP. installed three 100,000 kl liquefied natural gas storage tanks near Kaohsiung, Taiwan, as part of state owned Chinese Petroleum Corp.'s $1.26 billion, 1.5 million metric ton/year LNG import expansion project. Taiwan received its first cargo of LNG earlier this year (OGJ, Apr. 9, p. 40).

ACQUISITIONS

BARCLAYS DE ZOETE WEDD AUSTRALIA LTD. acquired for about $525 million (Australian) 200.2 million shares, about 30% of the total outstanding, in Woodside Petroleum Ltd. from Broken Hill Pty. Co. Ltd. unit BHP Petroleum (North West Shelf) Pty. Ltd. Woodside leads the combine that operates Australia's Northwest Shelf LNG project. BHP retains about 10% interest in Woodside.

AMERADA MINERALS CORP. OF CANADA, owned by Amerada Hess Corp. and Poco Petroleums Ltd., agreed to acquire Placer Cego Petroleum Holdings Ltd. for $305.5 million (Canadian) from Placer Dome Inc. Involved are reserves of about 237 bcf of gas and 9 million bbl of liquids, about 250,000 net undeveloped acres, and nine gas processing plants in British Columbia and Alberta. Placer Cego will be reorganized with Amerada acquiring most of the exploration acreage and about 80% of producing leases and Poco retaining ownership of Placer Cego, which will hold the rest of the producing leases.

MOSVOLD SHIPPING AS, Kristiansand, Norway, acquired Bechtel Investments' controlling interest in Dual Drilling Co., Dallas, for $170 million. Dual owns 10 heavy self-contained platform rigs, seven deepwater jack ups, and 15 land rigs.

ENSERV CORP., Calgary, agreed to acquire ATCO Well Servicing from ATCO Enterprises Ltd., also of Calgary. Included are five single service rigs, 14 double service rigs, 11 boilers, and related equipment. The deal is to close in mid-July.

REFINING

HONDURAS' SOLE REFINERY, the 14,000 b/d Refineria Texas de Honduras SA plant at Puerto Cortes, was hit by a wildcat strike of 2,000 workers in action that was linked to widespread labor unrest in the country late last month. Workers reportedly locked themselves inside the plant with the intention of shutting down operations.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

CHINA'S DAQING oil field complex topped its first half production target by more than 2,880 b/d at 552,340 b/d. Shengli, China's second biggest oil field, topped its first half target by 320 b/d at 332,400 b/d and increased reserves by 292 million bbl.

CAIRN ENERGY PLC acquired, subject to government approval, two units in the U.K. North Sea's Forties field from Ranger Oil (U.K.) Ltd. for $9.8 million.

ROWAN COS. INC. will move the Rowan Juneau jack up to the North Sea from the Gulf of Mexico in the fourth quarter after extensive modifications for hostile environment work. Built in 1977, the Marathon LeTourneau Class 116 rig was equipped in 1989 with a skidoff package to permit drilling over a fixed platform.

EXPLORATION

CHINA NATIONAL OFFSHORE OIL CORP. and Texaco Petroleum Mij. (Nederland) BV agreed to conduct a 10 month geological study of prospects in the Bohai Sea. Depending on results, Texaco will consider a new exploration and development agreement with Cnooc.

CONOCO INC. UNIT Continental Netherlands Oil Co. BV agreed to take a farmout on the 47 sq km Haulerwijk block operated by Bula Oil Netherlands BV in the Netherlands. Conoco will fund a seismic program to earn a 40% interest in the block, which offsets the concession containing giant Groningen gas field.

PIPELINES

NKK CORP. shipped about 1,000 tons of API X80 42 in. line pipe to Nova Corp. of Canada for use in a 2 km long gas pipeline linking the existing Foothills pipeline with Nova's systems in Alberta and Saskatchewan, part of a capacity expansion.

ALBERTA NATURAL GAS CO., Calgary, filed a National Energy Board application for an $82 million expansion of its pipeline system. Work, involving installation of three new compressors and modification of three compressor stations at Crowsnest, Elko, and Moyie, B.C., is to be complete in 1993.

KHALDA PETROLEUM CO., Cairo, expects its 95 km, 10 in. Egyptian gas pipeline from Salam to the Mersa Matruh area to be on stream by yearend. Khalda is a venture of Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. 50%, Conoco Inc. 25%, Phoenix Resources 20%, and Samsung Ltd. 5%.

COMPANIES

BCE INC., Montreal, plans to sell a 49.9% interest in Encor Inc., Calgary, for more than $100 million. Investors in Canada and the U.S. will be offered 14.8 million $7 units that will include three common shares and two warrants with rights to purchase additional shares. Encor formerly was Dome Canada Ltd.

COSEKA RESOURCES LID., Calgary, has been granted court protection until Aug. 31 from receivership or bankruptcy action by creditors owed $160 million. North Canadian Oils Ltd. is involved in a takeover bid for Coseka that requires approval by creditors. Some have rejected a takeover offer because it would involve a writedown of loans. North Canadian already owns 46.6% of Coseka.

TANKERS

VENEZUELA'S LAGOVEN SA let contract to Sumitomo Heavy Industries to boost capacity of its Ambrosio and Morichal crude oil tankers by 130,000 bbl each. The move is designed to cut transportation costs in the Caribbean Sea area and the U.S.

LIBERIAN TANKER Chenki spilled about 1,400 bbl of oil in the Suez Canal after grounding June 29. The 68,319 dwt vessel developed a rudder fault and grounded at Kabrit, north of the Port of Suez at the canal's southern entrance. Canal workers used chemical dispersants to break up the oil.

PANAMIAN FLAG TANKER Shamrock Ocho remained afloat with undetermined damage after colliding June 28 with a Japanese freighter that sank off Honshu Island, Japan. An undetermined volume of oil spilled from the freighter into Kanmon Strait.