U.S. BRIEFS

ALTERNATE FUELS

CONSUMERS POWER CO., Jackson, Mich., agreed to buy electricity from three waste to energy projects in Michigan-35,000 kw from Pollard Generating Station Inc., Montrose, 1,500 kw from the Granger Renewable Resources Inc., Lansing, Landfill No. 1 in DeWitt township, and 1,000 kw from Granger's Venice township plant.

O'BRIEN ENERGY SYSTEMS, Philadelphia, brought its 1,200 kw Orange County, Calif., and 1,000 kw Lafayette, N.J., biogas power plants on stream.

ENVIRONMENT

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY will present environmental excellence awards to Phillips Petroleum Co. for its hazardous waste management program at the Phillips Research Center, Bartlesville, Okla., and for a Tulsa storage site.

COMPANIES

CHEVRON CORP will solicit bids on four asphalt terminals in Cincinnati and Marietta, Ohio, Louisville, Ky., and Springdale, Pa. It expects to decide by yearend whether it will sell the terminals.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

FREEPORT MCMORAN OIL & GAS CO., New Orleans, began producing gas on East Cameron Block 311 off Louisiana, with average sales of 35 MMcfd. It has completed six development wells in Pleistocene sand from its East Cameron platform in 200 ft of water about 198 miles southwest of New Orleans.

JEGEROIL CORP.,New York, plans three more gas wells, to be drilled at 3 month intervals, on its Falkner prospect in Woods County, Okla., after completing its 35-1 Falkner Pettit and 36-1 Falkner Parker. On a 16 hr open choke test, the Falkner Parker well flowed at a rate of 1.516 MMcfd.

BULA RESOURCES (HOLDINGS) PLC, Dublin, 2 Gouger in Pearsall field, Frio County, Tex., flowed 1,256 b/d of oil and 1.5 MMcfd of gas. The horizontal well, the first of 15 Bula plans in South Texas, was drilled to 9,912 ft with 3,747 ft displacement.

PRIMEENERGY CORP., Stamford, Conn., agreed to buy all oil and gas leases, partnership interests, and other assets of Merrico Inc., Ardmore, Okla., and its Merrico Resources unit for $10.5 million cash.

MAPLE GAS CORP. agreed to buy all casinghead gas production from Comstock Resources Inc.'s Bivins Ranch lease in the Texas Panhandle for 15 years (OGJ, July 9, p. 36). Maple also will install a cryogenic processing plant with 20 MMcfd capacity, to increase to 40 MMcfd by Apr. 1, 1991.

ORYX ENERGY and Triton Oil & Gas Corp. 1 Boyne directional well flowed 250 b/d of 29 gravity oil from perforations at 3,500-5,000 ft in Miocene Monterey shale in Barham Ranch field, Santa Barbara County, Calif. Its 2 Boyne well flowed 398 b/d.

COLUMBIA GAS DEVELOPMENT CORP., Houston, bought Texaco Inc.'s interest in Main Pass Block 30 off Louisiana. Net reserves purchased are 1.6 million bbl of oil equivalent.

TUCKER DRILLING CO. INC., San Angelo, Tex., opened its North Texas drilling division in Wichita Falls and acquired two rigs with depth capacities of 10,000 ft and 7,200 ft for $220,000.

EXPLORATION

MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE, Alaska OCS Region, will conduct public hearings on the draft environmental impact statement for Sale 126/Chukchi Sea in Barrow Aug. 27, Wainwright Aug. 28, Point Lay Aug. 29, and Anchorage Aug. 31 (OGJ, Aug. 13, p. 30).

UNION PACIFIC RESOURCES CO.'S OCS-G 7773 A-7 discovery well off Louisiana flowed 15 MMcfd of gas and 72 b/d of condensate through a 19/64 in. choke with 6,750 psi flowing tubing pressure from 48 ft of Pliocene sand. It is the first well in South Timbalier South Addition Block 214, 100 miles southwest of New Orleans.

UNION TEXAS PETROLEUM CORP., Houston, cut 30 ft of gas pay in Pliocene sand below 6,200 ft with the first well drilled in East Cameron Block 246, 130 miles south of Lafayette, La. It plans to start production at 15 MMcfd.

PIPELINES

ALL AMERICAN PIPELINE CO., Santa Barbara, Calif., began laying an 11 mile, 24 in. pipeline from Exxon Corp.'s Las Flores Canyon complex west to All American's main line near Gaviota, Calif.

ENERCORP RESOURCES INC., Houston, agreed to buy a 150 mile Texas intrastate gas pipeline from Morgas Co., Conroe, Tex., for $21.5 million. The 12 in. main line runs from a point 20 miles northeast of Madisonville, Tex., south along Interstate 45 to just north of Houston. It links up with six lateral lines to gas supplies and markets.

COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION CO., Charleston, W.Va., will pay $25.1 million to and cancel its gas sales contract with Kentucky West Virginia Gas Co., Pittsburgh, under a proposed settlement filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Columbia Gas also agreed to change its transportation contract with Equitrans Inc., Pittsburgh, to open access.

TRUNKLINE GAS CO. and ANR Pipeline Co. began gas transportation service on the Lebanon lateral between Grant County, Ind., and Lebanon, Ohio (OGJ, July 30, p. 36).

WYOMING-CALIFORNIA PIPELINE CO. let contract to Harris Group Inc. to engineer six compressor stations for the planned 670 mile WyCal pipeline. By early 1991, Harris will procure seventeen 5,500 hp turbine compressors for the project.

NEW YORK STATE ELECTRIC & GAS CORP., Binghamton, N.Y., agreed to buy Columbia Gas of New York Inc. from Columbia Gas System Inc., Wilmington, Del. Regulatory approvals are expected by yearend.

GAS PROCESSING

MITCHELL ENERGY & Development Corp., Woodlands, Tex., and Temco Liquids Co., Houston, are moving three portable cryogenic processors to Bee County, Tex., from other Texas sites. The units will process as much as 60 MMcfd of gas, producing about 110,000 gpd of ethane, propane, butane, and natural gasoline.

REFINING

TENNECO NATURAL GAS LIQUIDS let contract to UOP, Des Plaines, Ill., to design a 12,500 b/d methyl tertiary butyl ether plant at its La Porte, Tex., complex.

DISCOVERY OIL LTD., Los Angeles, executed an option allowing it until Oct. 1, 1991, to buy stock of CAS refinery, Lafayette, La. The 15,000 b/d CAS plant was fitted recently with a naphtha splitter, and in July began processing 8,000 b/d of crude.