INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

TANKERS

A CANADIAN DOUBLE HULLED tanker ran aground and punctured its hull without loss of oil between the Detroit River and Lake Erie July 4. The outer hull was pierced when the 330 ft Nancy Gauchier, carrying 31 390 bbl of oil en route to Port Colborne, Ont., from Sarnia, Ont., lost power passing through the Livingstone Channel and ran onto rocks. Owner is Socanav Inc., Montreal. Canadian law requires tankers to be double hulled.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

MAXUS ENERGY CORP. started up its Intan B platform off Indonesia at about 26,000 b/d from four wells. A fifth well was expected on stream last week. Combined flow from Intan A and B platforms off Southeast Sumatra is 50,000 b/d, restricted by limits of temporary processing facilities until permanent facilities are installed late this year. Flow from Intan and nearby Widuri fields is to peak at about 220,000 b/d in first half 1991.

YEMEN agreed to award production sharing contracts to Agip SpA, Phillips Petroleum Co., Chevron Corp., and Sharjah's Crescent Petroleum in an area of the Shabwa basin relinquished by the U.S.S.R.'s Technoexport (OGJ, June 25, p. 31). The acreage is near Amal and West Iyad fields under development by the Soviet company on a service contract basis.

AMERADA HESS LTD. let a $250 million contract to McDermott Scotland to design, build, and install twin steel platforms to develop Scott oil field in the U.K. North Sea. Earl & Wright also will provide design services. The 450 million bbl field is due on stream in 1993.

BP EXPLORATION CO. (COLOMBIA) LTD. let contract to Parker Drilling Co., Tulsa, to modify two Parker rigs to drill two 16,000-18,000 ft wells in the foothills of Colombia's Llanos basin. Rig 216 has been modified and spudded 2A Cusiana. Work is under way on Rig 221, and that rig will spud a well by mid-August.

PIPELINES

TITAS GAS let a $30 million contract to Spie Batignolles unit Spie Capag to lay a 78 mile, 24 in. and 61 mile, 12 in. gas pipeline in Bangladesh from a gas field near Ashunganj to a fertilizer plant under construction near Tarakandi. Another Spie Batignolles unit, Horizontal Drilling International, will drill five river crossings for the project, which is financed by the Asia Bank for Development. Work is to begin by the end of October and be complete June 30, 1991.

REFINING

THAILAND'S state owned Bangchak Petroleum Co. let a $99 million contract to Chiyoda Engineering & Construction to debottleneck and revamp an idle 20,000 b/d distillation unit at its refinery outside Bangkok. Plans call for unit capacity to double. Total refinery distillation throughput is 73,000 b/d. In response to a 1989 tender, Chiyoda also has bid $240 million to install a 14,000 b/d resid cracker at the plant.

DEUTSCHE BP and Deutsche Agip started an engineering study for a $73 million catalytic cracker expansion at their jointly owned 102,000 b/d Vohburg/Ingolstadt refinery in Bavaria, West Germany. Current cat cracker capacity is 18,700 b/d, but the amount of expansion isn't disclosed. Construction is to begin in 1992, and start-up is slated for 1993-94.

EXPLORATION

ARGOSY ENERGY INTERNATIONAL, a unit of Garnet Resources Corp., Houston, 1 Linda flowed 1,340 b/d of 28 gravity oil on 72 hr commingled test of Villeta U, Villeta T, and Caballas sands at 8,750-9,100 ft. It is on a structure separate from Argosy's 1,660 b/d 1 Toroyaco oil strike 2 1/2 miles northwest. A confirmation to 1 Toroyaco flowed water from Villeta sands, and Argosy is moving the rig at that site to drill a confirmation to 1 Linda. Plans also call for a wildcat 6 miles northeast of 1 Linda. Both are to spud by Aug. 1.

CANADA-NEWFOUNDLAND OFFSHORE PETROLEUM BOARD issued a call for bids on 15 parcels covering 8.8 million acres off Newfoundland. Nine are in virgin territory off the west coast of Newfoundland, two parcels are in the South Whale basin, three in the Flemish Pass area. and one in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin. Closing for bids is Nov. 13.

ACQUISITIONS

STE. NATIONALE ELF AQUITAINE signed a final agreement to purchase Amoco Corp.'s U.K. refining and marketing operations effective Aug. 1 (OGJ, Feb. 5, p. 34).

AN AFFILIATE of Oranje-Nassau Energie BV (ONE), Amsterdam, acquired Petro Canada Inc.'s Spanish subsidiary Petro-Canada Espanola SA. Involved in the deal are a 10.45% interest in the 13,000 b/d Casablanca offshore oil field and interests in two other concessions. ONE, along with the two largest Dutch banks and the largest Dutch insurance company, formed Oranje-Nassau Energie Participatie Mij. BV a few years ago to acquire production.

GAS PROCESSING

A JOINT VENTURE of Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. and units of Agip SpA and Phillips Petroleum Co. will construct a $300 million gas processing plant in Nigeria's Rivers state. It will recover 480,000 metric tons/year of ethane, propane, and butane and 150,000 tons/year of pentanes from associated gas currently reinjected or flared in Obiafu and Obrikom oil fields. The gas liquids will provide feedstock for a proposed $1 billion petrochemical plant at Eleme by NNPC.

ALBERTA plans to provide as much as $46.8 million for engineering studies on the OSLO oil sands project in northern Alberta, following a similar pledge by Ottawa last month (OGJ, July 9, Newsletter). Meantime, indications are that the project's upgrader will be at Edmonton instead of the Fort McMurray mine site.

PETROCHEMICALS

A DOW CHEMICAL LED venture plans a $23.2 million, 25,000 metric ton/year polyurethane plant in Thailand's Rayong province. It plans a 1992 startup for the plant, based on Dow technology. Interests in Pacific Plastics (Thailand) are Dow 49%, Siam Cement Co. 48%, and Thai investors 3%.

PETROLEOS MEXICANOS let contract to Spie-Batignolles, France, and Mitsui & Co., Japan, for a feasibility study covering site assessment and technical and financing concerns for an aromatics plant the state oil company plans in Mexico. It is to be complete by yearend.

CIA. ESPANOLA DE PETROLEOS SA, Madrid, and UOP Inc., Des Plaines, Ill., are offering a new technology for linear alkylbenzene. It involves alkylating linear olefins with benzene over a solid, heterogeneous catalyst. The companies say it cuts investment costs and uses a noncorrosive catalyst.