U.S. BRIEFS

ACQUISITIONS

TRANSCO ENERGY VENTURES CO., Houston, acquired a majority interest in Tren-Fuels Inc., Austin, previously known as Natural Gas Co. of Texas. Tren-Fuels uses tank trucks to deliver compressed natural gas to fleet vehicles and plans to place as many as 15 more trucks into service by yearend 1991.

GAS PROCESSING

TEMCA LIQUIDS CO., Houston. bought a 50% interest in the 500 MMcfd Cameron Meadows gas processing plant in Johnsons Bayou, La., from operator OXY USA Inc, for an undisclosed price. It was recently tied into North High Island and U-T offshore gathering systems.

PETROCHEMICALS

COASTAL CHEM INC., Cheyenne, Wyo., let a $72 million lump sum contract to Davy McKee Corp., Houston, to design, build, and help start up a 3,000 b/d methyl tertiary butyl ether plant at Cheyenne. The MTBE complex to be complete within 2 years, will consume 23 million gal/year of methanol feedstock.

COMPANIES

XCL SUNRISE INC., Dallas. agreed to acquire the gas marketing, gathering. and exploration business of GasTrak Holdings Inc., Overland Park, Kan., for an undisclosed price. GasTrak owns a purchasing office in Houston. a 34 mile gathering system in Kansas and Oklahoma, and oil and gas leases on almost 40,000 acres near Atchison, Kan.

MARKETING

UNOCAL CORP. and San Diego Gas & Electric formed a joint demonstration venture to set up a compressed natural gas motor fuel outlet at a San Diego area Unocal service station, California's first such project between a utility and an oil company. SDG&E will provide engineering, maintenance, and customer billing, Unocal will operate it, and the two firms will split the expected $200,000250,000 start-up cost.

CHECKER, Phoenix began a motor oil recycling program in several states it plans to introduce throughout the U.S. within 18 months. It will provide reusable oil drain and storage devices so customers can collect and return their used oil to Checker stores for eventual reprocessing.

ENVIRONMENT

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY proposed new auto emissions standards designed to reduce carbon monoxide emissions from cars by as much as 29%/year and expanded emissions controls down to 200 F. from 68 F. About 90% of CO is produced minutes after a cold engine is started. The current standard is 3.4 g/mile, which EPA proposes to increase to 10 g/mile for passenger cars, 12 g/mile for small trucks, and 15 g/mile for trucks weighing more than 3,750 lb,

LABOR

OIL, CHEMICAL & ATOMIC WORKERS Sec.-Treasurer Tony Mazzocchi told United Mine Workers delegates a merger of the two unions into a national energy workers union is at least 1 year away. Such a merger is not likely to occur before OCAW picks a successor to outgoing Pres. Joseph Misbrener at its August 1991 convention, Mazzocchi said during a UMW convention speech in Miami Beach, Fla.

NUCLEAR POWER

PUBLIC SERVICE CO. OF COLORADO plans to convert its mothballed Fort St. Vrain nuclear power plant to gas within 5 years at a cost of about $350 million. The plant, about 35 miles northeast of Denver, would use about 19 bcf/year at 70% capacity. PSC estimates cost of conversion at $300-400/kw of capacity, compared with $600/kw for new combined cycle capacity,

PIPELINES

VIKING GAS TRANSMISSION, Wadena, Minn., began taking requests for interruptible transportation service after accepting a recent FERC order authorizing open access for the 500 mile system. Viking also started a 10 day open season for firm service. After Oct. 10, it will process firm service requests in the order received.

OPI INTERNATIONAL, Houston, started work on three gas gathering and pipeline projects on the Gulf Coast. It began laying a 40 mile, 12 in. pipeline between High Island Blocks A69 and 109, the first of three planned lines for Transtex Gathering Systems Inc. OPI also started laying a 21 mile, 10 in. pipeline for Conoco Inc.'s Grand Isle project, a 9.4 mile, 10 in. line on High Island and a 12.2 mile, 16 in. line on Mustang Island, both for Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp., Houston.

REFINING

HOLLY CORP., Dallas, adopted a $16 million budget, including a $12 million sulfur recovery unit at its Navajo Refining Co. plant, Artesia, N.M., an automated loading rack at its El Paso terminal, oil gathering pipeline. and increased interest in a refined products terminal. Included are $4-5 million for exploration.

GOVERNMENT

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY proposed a consent order with Salomon Inc., a New York crude reseller, to resolve allegations that it violated government price controls from Jan. 1, 1978, through Jan. 28, 1981. Salomon will pay $83.75 million but admitted no violation.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

PMC RESERVE ACQUISITION CO., Dallas, a 50-50 partnership of Pitts Energy Group and EnCap Financial Services, acquired all U.S. leases of Quadra Oil & Gas Inc., Denver, for $3.9 million. The leases are in six states with major fields in Texas. PMC also bought the South Central Kansas producing interests of Mustang Fuel Corp., Great Bend, Kan., for $3.7 million.

HALLIBURTON CO. increased its 1990 capital budget to $395 million from the $355 million authorized in May, More than 80% of the new budget is allocated to the company's oil field services group.

MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE issued a final rule governing safety and pollution prevention equipment used in offshore oil and gas operations. Published in the Sept. 13 Federal Register, the rule reflects recent changes in standards issued by the American Petroleum Institute and American Society of Mechanical Engineers/American National Standards Institute.

NEW YORK GAS & OIL CO. and Petroleum Security Corp. signed a consent order to remediate 63 oil and gas wells in western New York as part of an enforcement action by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. NYGO, which may buy the wells, paid a $70,000 plugging bond and agreed to bring them up to the department's standards,

COGENERATION

CMS GENERATION CO., Dearborn, Mich., and Tondu Energy Systems, Houston, dedicated their 50,000 kw Filer City station cogeneration plant near Manistee, Mich. (OGJ, June 25, p. 24).