INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

LNG

SOUTH KOREA agreed to buy another 2 million tons/year of liquefied natural gas from Indonesia under a 20 year contract, with deliveries to begin in 1994. South Korea's earlier contract called for purchases of 2 million tons/year of LNG from Pertamina. Seoul also agreed to buy 50,000 b/d of Indonesian oil from Pertamina under a long term contract when Indonesia increases production in November.

EXPLORATION

SANTA FE ENERGY RESOURCES INC., Houston, signed three exploration and development contracts covering a total 5.9 million acres in Argentina and Bolivia. The two agreements with Bolivia's government will permit Santa Fe to explore and produce in the Charco region, near the Paraguay border, with seismic operations expected to begin in March 1991. The Argentina production sharing contract will permit preliminary seismic work, scheduled to begin in mid-1991.

ESSO PRODUCTION MALAYSIA tested a discovery well off northeastern Malaysia at about 3,000 b/d of oil, producing from 1,650-1,980 m. The well, drilled by an equal partnership of Esso and state owned Petronas Carigali Sdn. Bhd., is 500 km northeast of Kuala Lumpur.

REFINING

MOBIL CORP. completed a $100 million upgrade of its Jurong, Singapore, refinery, which involved installation of a 23,000 b/d medium pressure hydrocracker and a 12,000 b/d isomerization dewaxer. Mobil said the project will enable it to convert heavy fuel oil to diesel oil and kerosine more efficiently than conventional hydrocrackers.

SHOWA SHELL SEKIYU KK commissioned a 16,000 b/sd reformate treater at its Kawasaki, Japan, refinery using the FiberFilm Aquafining corrosion prevention process licensed by Merichem Co., Houston. The treater is part of a continuous catalytic regeneration reformer designed by JGC Corp., Yokohama.

EXPORTS-IMPORTS

TURKEY agreed to buy 675,000 tons of crude oil from China. Turkey's state ministry said it may buy 2 million tons of oil from China in 1991 .

CHINA will buy 300,000 metric tons of crude, 20,000 metric tons of urea fertilizer, and 12 metric tons of rubber from Indonesia under a recently signed contract. The contract also provides for China to purchase 250,000 metric tons of urea in the long term.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

CALTEX PACIFIC INDONESIA is renegotiating a production sharing contract with Indonesia's state owned Pertamina for 8,314 sq km Coastleplant Blocks A and B, which contain eight fields in Riau province. Caltex, whose present contract on the blocks expires in 1993, said it hopes renegotiation will result in an 88-12 revenue split in favor of Pertamina.

DORSETT EXPLORATION LTD., Calgary, plans to buy producing leases and related gas gathering and processing assets in the Plain Lake area of Central Alberta from Amoco Canada Petroleum Co. Ltd. The leases, covering 15,594 acres, include royalty and working interests in 29 producing gas wells and 28 shut-in or suspended wells. The reserves are dedicated to Western Gas Marketing Ltd. contracts and will be processed through the Plain Lakes plant.

CHINA placed its largest polymer injection project in trial operation in Daging oil field in Heilongjiang province. Beijing's Xinhua News Agency disclosed no details.

DEKALB ENERGY CO., Denver, unit Dekalb Energy Canada Ltd. will trade certain Alberta oil and gas leases with Shell Canada Ltd. Dekalb will exchange its working interest of less than 1% in the proposed Caroline Swan Hills Gas Unit for Shell's 4.80% interest in the Sundre Unit No. 1 and 15.22% interest in the Sundre Rundle B Pool Unit. The firms will also exchange cash and other properties.

TRANSPORTATION

AZERBAIJAN resumed gas deliveries by pipeline to Armenia through the Kazakh compressor station, ending an interruption that began Aug. 20 because of civil unrest, Izvestia reported. Armenia had been receiving about 1.4 million cu m/day through the pipeline, about 60% of its total fuel balance, before the blockade.

ALBERTA'S Energy Resources Conservation Board approved plans by Federated Pipe Lines Ltd., Calgary, to lay a 158 km, 32,000 b/d natural gas liquids pipeline from the Shell Canada Caroline gas processing plant to connect with Federated's present line in the Bonnie Glen, Alta., area. Construction of the $22 million pipeline is scheduled to begin in late 1991, subject to environmental clearance, with start-up planned for December 1992.

BURMAH CASTROL PLC, Swindon, England, agreed to sell its last two tankers, the ultralarge crude carriers Stena King and Stena Queen, to Concordia Maritime AB, Sweden, for $47.4 million. The two vessels have been operating on a 7 year bareboat charter to Concordia, part of the Stena group, since fall 1988.

OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM (CALEDONIA) LTD. resumed crude oil flow through its U.K. North Sea pipeline between Claymore field and the Flotta terminal in the Orkney Islands. It was shut down for 8 days to replace a 4 mile section of the line. Throughput resumed at 40,000 b/d and will soon return to the normal average 200,000 b/d. The line handles oil from Oxy's Claymore and Scapa fields, Texaco North Sea's Tartan, Highlander, and Petronella fields, and Ivanhoe/Rob Roy operated by Amerada Hess.

CANADA'S National Energy Board will conduct a hearing Dec. 10 in Ottawa on a filing by Trans Quebec & Maritimes Pipeline Inc. to hike tolls on its gas pipeline system by 10.6% in 1991 and 2.5% in 1992. Trans Quebec asked NEB to approve an increase in its monthly toll to $6.387 million from $5.776 million Jan. 1, 1991, and to $6.547 million Jan. 1, 1992. The system is jointly owned by TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. and Nova Corp. of Alberta.

ALTERNATE FUELS

OIL INDIA LID. estimates shale formations in India could yield 70 billion tons of oil, which is 100 times the country's proved reserves of conventional oil. Oil India figures an extraction cost of $25/bbl and processing cost of $10/bbl.

COMPANIES

GULF OIL CO. OF NIGERIA plans to spend $2.27 billion on exploration and production in Nigeria during 1990-94, OPEC News Agency reported. Spending will peak at $551 million in 1993.