INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

TANKERS

U.S.S.R. increased its capacity to export liquefied petroleum gas. A new tanker built in West Germany to transport LPG and chemicals made its first voyage from the Baltic port of Riga to western Europe and Mediterranean countries. France has been a leading buyer of Soviet LPG.

PIPELINES

BRAE GROUP obtained a 50% interest in Scottish Area Gas Evacuation system, which will deliver Brae area gas reserves to U.K. markets when complete in late 1992. Mobil North Sea Ltd., operator of Beryl field, will construct "he 1.15 bcfd SAGE line and a terminal at St. Fergus, Scotland.

COMPANIES

AMOCO CANADA LTD. will pay off all outstanding senior notes issued on its takeover of Dome Petroleum Ltd. Amoco will pay the Bank of Montreal $95.1 million, reducing the company's outstanding debt to about $3 billion.

TOTAL PETROLEUM (NORTH AMERICA) LTD., Paris, authorized management and retained Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. to assess a spinoff of its Canadian oil and gas operations into a separate public company.

BRITISH COLUMBIA gas producers and state owned British Columbia Petroleum Corp. agreed to form CanWest Gas Supply Inc., Vancouver, an independent producer owned concern. CanWest will serve and develop markets on behalf of 150 producers in Northeast British Columbia.

BURMAH CASTROL PLC, London, sold for immediate settlement 139.9 million shares, 29.7% of issued share capital, in Premier Consolidated Oilfields plc for about 138 million. It is recorded on Burmah Castrol's accounts at 60 million, yielding a gain of about 78 million.

POOL ENERGY SERVICES CO., Houston, reached a nonbinding agreement to sell its oil tools operations to an undisclosed foreign concern controlled by investors in Malaysia and Indonesia for about $24.5 million. The oil tools operations mainly involve selling and renting oil field equipment and providing solids control services outside the U.S. Closing is expected in 2-3 months.

AKER AS, Oslo, sold an 11.6% interest in Saga Petroleum to several Norwegian industrial, banking, and insurance concerns for 990 million kroner ($157 million).

MARKETING

AM/PM INTERNATIONAL, a unit of ARCO, will open more than 500 mostly nongasoline am/pm convenience stores in Thailand during the next 10 years in a joint venture and licensing contract with a group of Thai investors. The investors will own 80% of the venture--am/pm Thailand Ltd.--and am/pm International will own 20%.

REFINING

AMOCO CORP. closed the sale of oil refining and marketing assets of its Amoco (U.K.) Ltd. unit to Soc. Nationale Elf Aquitaine (OGJ, July 16, p. 48).

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

RANGER OIL LTD., Calgary, bought interests in four Alberta properties from Gulf Canada Resources Ltd., acquiring proved and probable reserves of 975,000 bbl of liquids and 20.8 bcf of gas. Ranger had an interest in the properties and operated three of them.

DISCOVERY WEST CORP., Toronto, acquired about 10 bcf of gas reserves in the Birch/Wavy area of East Central Alberta from several sellers for $5.409 million. Most of the purchases involve wells or leases in which Discovery already owns interests.

NORTHERN OCEAN SERVICES LTD. of the U.K. expects to place in service a 20 million heavy lift vessel by the 1991 North Sea construction season. The project will involve widening and lengthening the former MV Hiryu diving support vessel/crane barge and installing a new power system and thrusters. The crane will be uprated to capacities of 300 tons in 200 m of water and 150 tons in 400 m.

BP EXPLORATION reported its production was not affected by a national strike by more than 5,000 maintenance and catering workers on U.K. North Sea oil and gas platforms. The national strike was called when several hundred workers were sacked after they held a 1 day strike over safety.

PETROCHEMICALS

THAI PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY CO. LTD. let contract to Uhde GmbH, Dortmund, to construct a 15,000 ton/year expandable polystyrene plant near Rayong, Thailand, 200 km southeast of Bangkok. The $38 million contract includes engineering, equipment, erection, and commissioning. it is to be complete in second half 1992.

SHELL CHEMICALS U.K. let contract to M.W. Kellogg Ltd. for a $123 million, 100,000 metric ton/year, low density polyethylene plant at Carrington, England. Shell earlier hired Kellogg to build a 130,000 metric ton/year polypropylene plant next to the LDPE unit and let contract to Kellogg for a propylene polishing unit at the site.

EXPLORATION

OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM (CALEDONIA) LTD.'S 14/19-25 well flowed 2,650 b/d of 32 gravity oil through a 1 in. choke. The well, drilled to 9,728 ft, is a possible extension of Scapa field in the U.K. North Sea. Operator Oxy has a 36.5% interest, Texaco Britain Ltd. 23.5%, Union Texas Petroleum Ltd. 20%, and Lasmo North Sea Ltd. 20%.

CIE. GENERALE DE GEOPHYSIQUE of France agreed with the U.S.S.R.'s Murmansk Trust to operate the Soviet flagged SV Akademik Nemchinov seismic vessel in the Barents and North seas. The vessel will conduct nonexclusive surveys in Soviet and other international waters using a Soviet air gun and data acquisition equipment supplied by CGG.

AMOCO MEDITERRANEAN PETROLEUM CO. signed a 7 year production sharing contract with Malta covering 4,218 sq km in Blocks 2 and 3, Area 3, in the Mediterranean Sea. The contract's initial 3 year phase calls for geophysical surveys and exploratory drilling. Operator Amoco has a 60% interest, BHP Petroleum (Mediterranean) Inc. 40%.

BP EXPLORATION'S 211/7a-5 wildcat flowed at a stabilized rate of 6,470 b/d of oil and 9.79 MMcfd of gas through 40/64 in. choke. Site is about 6 km north of Magnus field. Total depth is 10,663 ft.

CHEVRON INTERNATIONAL LTD. (BOLIVIA) will explore the 2.5 million acre Caipipendi block under an agreement reached with the Bolivian government. In the first 2 years, Chevron will conduct seismic and gravity surveys and geological field work on the block in the Andean foothills, about 400 miles southeast of La Paz and 200 miles south of Santa Cruz.