U.S. BRIEFS

TRANSPORTATION

WESTERN GAS PROCESSORS LTD., Denver, acquired the pipeline assets of Parker Gas Cos. Inc., Tulsa, and its subsidiaries for an undisclosed price. Included were 450 miles of pipeline mainly in the Giddings, Tex., area and their gas gathering and measuring segments. The sale of Parker's gas treating assets, also to Western, is scheduled for Aug. 21 closing.

THE MEGA BORG supertanker, involved in an oil explosion and oil spill off Galveston, was towed out of the Gulf of Mexico on a 2 month trip to Karachi, Pakistan, where it will be scrapped (OGJ, July 23, p. 21).

EXPLORATION

FOREST OIL CORP., Denver, Harbert Energy Corp., Houston, and a unit of Chieftain International Inc., Edmonton, Alta., agreed to drill six wildcats off Louisiana. Operator Forest will hold 50% interest in the venture and Harbert and Chieftain 25% each. The wells are to be drilled to 7,500-17,500 ft in 120-250 ft of water at a combined cost of about $20 million. Blocks involved in the deal are West Cameron 489 and 505, Ship Shoal 296, Eugene Island 323 and 304, and South Timbalier 193.

TEX/CON OIL & GAS CO.'S 1-23 Lavena discovery in Roger Mills County, Okla., cut 128 ft of Pennsylvanian Morrow (Purvis) sand gas pay and flowed 14.8 MMcfd through a 11/64 in.. choke with flowing tubing pressure of 12,015 psi at 18,000 ft. The well, which TEX/CON, Houston, operates with a 46.57% interest, had a calculated absolute open flow of 97 MMcfd.

WAINOCO OIL CORP., Houston, 1 Klein-Sanchez, a horizontal well in LaSalle County, Tex., flowed 990 b/d of oil and 740 Mcfd through a 36/64 in. choke with 225 psi flowing tubing pressure at 6,900 ft vertical depth. Cretaceous Austin chalk displacement was 2,425 ft. Operator Wainoco holds a 50% interest in the discovery.

PROCESSING

AMOCO CHEMICAL CO. let contract to Stone & Webster Engineering Corp. to expand olefins capacity at its Chocolate Bayou plant near Alvin, Tex. The project, scheduled for early 1994 completion, will increase ethylene capacity by about 600 million lb/year and propylene capacity by about 200 million lb/year. Current capacity is 2.4 billion lb/year for ethylene and 800 million lb/year for propylene. Cost, including added transportation and storage facilities outside the plant, will be more than $200 million.

KCI CONSTRUCTORS INC., an affiliate of M.W. Kellogg Co., Houston, began construction of a $450 million residual catalytic cracking unit at Shell Oil Co.'s Norco, La., refinery. It is scheduled for mid-1992 completion.

COMPANIES

WOODS PETROLEUM CORP., Oklahoma City, sold interests in 494 wells in Kansas and the Rocky Mountain, Midcontinent, and Gulf Coast regions for $15 million. Woods also moved its exploration department to Dallas, closed offices in Calgary, Denver, and Pratt, Kan., ended 41 limited partnership drilling programs, and updated its data processing system.

OFFSHORE PIPELINES INC., Houston, will acquire marine construction assets of Brown & Root International Inc. and some of its affiliates for $83 million. The purchase will more than double the size of Offshore Pipelines' fleet.

CONQUEST EXPLORATION CO., Houston, withdrew its bid solicitation and plans to continue normal operations. Conquest said it did not receive acceptable bids for the merger or sale of the company or any of its assets.

FREEPORT-MCMORAN OIL & GAS CO., New Orleans, will merge with a unit of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. Each publicly held share of Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas common stock will be converted into a fraction of a share of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. stock. If the merger is approved by shareholders, the new company will be a wholly owned unit of Freeport-McMoRan Inc.

SUN REFINING & MARKETING CO., Philadelphia, let a 10 year contract worth about $200 million to Andersen Consulting, Chicago, for computer processing and network services. Andersen will acquire and manage Sun's Dallas computer center.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

QUINTANA PETROLEUM CORP., Houston, 1 J.W. Grubbs field extension in Lafayette Parish, La., flowed 10.112 MMcfd of gas and 600 b/d of condensate through a 1%4 in. choke with 7,750 psi flowing tubing pressure from perforations at 15,475-550 ft in Upper Miocene Marginulina textularia sand. The well is in 41-10s-3e, about 1 mile west of Maurice field and 5 miles southwest of Lafayette. Interests are Quintana 65% and TEX/CON Oil & Gas Co., Houston, 35%.

ANR PRODUCTION CO. will increase interests in Altamont-Bluebell field in Duchesne and Uintah counties, Utah, to 42% in 374 oil and gas wells with net production of 3,600 b/d and 10.8 MMcfd. The Coastal Corp. unit also will own 78.45% of a 40 MMcfd gas processing plant, a 330 mile gathering system, and 18 compressors.

ENERGY SERVICE CO. INC. (Ensco), Houston, agreed to sell two Penrod Drilling Corp. semisubmersible rigs to Wilrig AS of Norway in a move designed to facilitate recapitalization of Penrod. The $95 million sale of Penrod 76 and 77 hinges on acquisition of the remaining 31.3% of Penrod's senior debt and equity securities not already owned by Ensco and its affiliated group of investors and R.D. Smith & Co., New York.

MESA LP, Dallas, has drilled 18 of 100 wells planned in the San Juan basin's Fruitland coal formation, where it will spend $33 million on a coalbed methane project. Mesa owns interest in 25,000 acres in the area, where it expects to develop more than 100 bcf of gas at a cost of 30/Mcf and increase net deliverability to 20 MMcfd by 1995.

SHELL OFFSHORE INC. let contract to Nippon Steel Corp. to install flow lines to move gas containing H2S and CO2 to a central processing platform in Mobile Bay's Fairway field. The contract specifies bimetallic pipe of API grade X70 outer body with a corrosion resistant internal liner. The pipe's outer body and liner are joined using a thermal shrink process developed by Nippon.

NERCO OIL & GAS INC., Portland, Ore., acquired more producing leases and undeveloped acreage in Trimble field, Smith and Simpson counties, Miss., from 23 sellers for about $67 million.

INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY & TRADING, Houston, claimed a Frio County, Tex., production record. Its 1 Mathis-Bracewell medium radius horizontal well in Pearsall field flowed 1,408 bbl of oil and 100 Mcf of gas in 10 hr, or at the rate of 3,379 b/d of oil, from Cretaceous Austin chalk. Measured depth is 8,373 ft, horizontal displacement 2,346 ft.