U.S. BRIEFS

Oct. 15, 1990
ALL DEFENDANTS in a lawsuit involving alleged price fixing of Wyoming tight sands gas settled with all plaintiffs, including Missouri and Kansas. Occidental Oil & Gas Corp. will pay $13.4 million this year and $11.1 million in 1991, while Amoco Production Co. will pay $16.6 million this year and $13.9 million in 1991. Oxy also agreed to sell 49.5 billion BTU/day, and Amoco 60.5 billion BTU/day, to certain plaintiffs at a premium over spot prices for 20 years. A third defendant, Williams

COURTS

ALL DEFENDANTS in a lawsuit involving alleged price fixing of Wyoming tight sands gas settled with all plaintiffs, including Missouri and Kansas. Occidental Oil & Gas Corp. will pay $13.4 million this year and $11.1 million in 1991, while Amoco Production Co. will pay $16.6 million this year and $13.9 million in 1991. Oxy also agreed to sell 49.5 billion BTU/day, and Amoco 60.5 billion BTU/day, to certain plaintiffs at a premium over spot prices for 20 years. A third defendant, Williams Natural Gas Co., also settled (OGJ, Oct. 8, p. 50).

PIPELINES

KERN RIVER GAS TRANSMISSION CO., Tulsa, is ready to begin laying its Wyoming-California pipeline based on shippers promptly confirming sufficient volumes under their firm contracts. Kern River, which expects to begin receiving 36 in. pipe early in December, said construction of the 904 mile system from Opal, Wyo., to Bakersfield, Calif., will take about 1 year.

COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION CORP. filed a quarterly purchased gas adjustment with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to increase its commodity sales rate to $3.5381/Mcf from $2.94 effective Nov. 1.

FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION granted a final certificate for Delta Pipeline Co. to lay and operate a 24 in., 190 mile Arkoma basin gas line in eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas (OGJ, Sept. 3, p. 22).

TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT'S Research and Special Programs Administration issued a rule requiring states to adopt one-call pipeline damage prevention programs as a condition of receiving grants for their pipeline safety compliance programs. About 39 states have damage prevention programs.

LNG

PANHANDLE EASTERN CORP. agreed to supply liquefied natural gas to the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Houston, as part of a field test of alternative fuels for city buses. Panhandle Eastern units Trunkline LNG Co. and Pan National Gas Sales Inc. will provide the fuel for five Metro buses converted to burn LNG.

ACQUISITIONS

NYCAL CORP. purchased stock and notes from Claremont Petroleum (USA) Pty. Ltd. and Moage Inc., both of Sydney, to acquire an 82% interest in Woodbine Petroleum Inc., Dallas. At the same time, Woodbine paid Nycal $4 million for U.S. producing oil and gas leases and a minority interest in a gas pipeline.

ENVIRONMENT

EDS, Dallas, signed a 5 year contract to design and install computer and communication systems for the Marine Spill Response Corp., Washington. EDS also will help develop knowledge based systems for coordinating oil spill response efforts and integrating tide, current, weather, spill direction, and other data.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

ORYX ENERGY CO., Dallas, completed 18 horizontal wells, including three discoveries, in the Pearsall field area of South Texas last quarter. The wells flowed at a combined rate of 13,100 b/d of oil and 7 MMcfd of gas on tests. Oryx has so far drilled 55 horizontal wells, 12 of them discoveries, in the Pearsall area and expects to complete 20 more by yearend. Since January, Oryx has increased its Pearsall oil production 230% to 22,000 b/d and gas production 450% to 11 MMcfd.

SHELL OIL CO. let a $120 million contract to Belleli SPA-Italy, Mantova, to build a tension leg platform for Auger field in 2,952 ft of water in the Gulf of Mexico. The platform is scheduled to start producing 40,000 b/d of oil and 141.3 MMcfd of gas in 1993.

A&M PETROLEUM CORP. agreed to buy all tangible assets, including nine drilling rigs, of Stone & Webster Inc. unit Saw Drilling Inc., Victoria, Tex. A&M plans to hire more than 70 employees in the Houston and Victoria areas.

SEAGULL ENERGY CORP., Houston, signed a letter of intent to buy producing leases from Mesa LP, Dallas, for $376 million cash and about $50 million in assumed debt. The leases, mostly in the U.S. Midcontinent, Rocky Mountain, and offshore Gulf Coast regions, hold total proved reserves of 10.5 million bbl of liquids and 384 bcf of gas. Mesa could receive as much as $50 million more from the purchase on Apr. 1, 1994, depending on how much the average wellhead price on the acquired leases exceeds $2/Mcf during 1991-93.

MAYNARD OIL CO., Dallas, acquired an interest in five producing leases in Hockley County, Tex., from Sun Operating LP for $13.7 million. The leases, covering 860 acres in northeastern Levelland field, will boost Maynard's net production by about 525 b/d.

ENSIGN OIL & GAS INC., Denver, traded its partial interests in 72 Hugoton field wells for Amoco Production Co.'s interests in 12 Hugoton field wells, all in Finney, Haskell, and Seward counties, Kan., on an equivalent BTU basis.

KERR-MCGEE CORP.'S Transworld Drilling U.K. Ltd. agreed to sell its largest jack up rig, Mr. Mac, to Norway's Smedvig AS for $84 million.

EXPLORATION

SEAGULL ENERGY CORP., Houston, tested two of six pay sands in its 1 OCS G-9037 gas/condensate discovery in Galveston Area Block 273 off Texas. The well flowed 2.9 MMcfd and 96 b/d through a 14/64 in. choke with 3,200 psi flowing tubing pressure from pay at 9,642-54 ft, and 3.3 MMcfd through a 14/64 in. choke with 2,153 psi flowing tubing pressure from pay at 8,764-80 ft.

LOUISIANA LAND & EXPLORATION CO., New Orleans, 1 Fee wildcat in the Bayou Raphael area of Lafourche Parish, La., cut more than 150 ft net pay in three gas and four oil zones. It flowed at stabilized rates of 288 b/d of 32 gravity oil through a 12/64 in. choke with 1,191 psi flowing tubing pressure from 12,079 100 ft and 3.5 MMcfd of gas and 96 b/d of 49 gravity condensate through a 12/64 in. choke with 3,746 psi flowing tubing pressure from 11,598 624 ft.

RESEARCH

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY let a 3 year, $32.7 million contract to Energy Research Corp. (ERC), Danbury, Conn., to test molten carbonate fuel cell stacks and systems using coal gas and natural gas. The first test will be of a 20 kw stack at a Dow Chemical Co. plant in Placquemine, La. ERC also plans to build and test three 100 kw stacks, two at the Pacific Gas & Electric Research Center, San Ramon, Calif., and a third at an ERC facility to be built in Danbury.

Copyright 1990 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.