INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

COMPANIES

PHILLIPS Petroleum Co. Iran received a $92 million settlement from the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in compensation for an expropriated one-sixth interest in two oil fields off Iran. A tribunal award of $110 million to Phillips last June did not dispose of a counterclaim by Iran for oil received by Phillips under purchase contract. The current settlement, minus a $1 million statutory fee deducted by the U.S. Treasury Department, disposes of all claims and counterclaims.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

MAXUS Southeast Sumatra Inc. expects to resume production of 35,000 b/d of oil within 30-60 days following a Jan. 21-22 fire aboard the Lan Shui production/storage vessel that forced a shut-in of Intan-A platform off Sumatra. Damage was limited to the vessel's engine room and accommodation areas. There were no personnel injuries or oil spills.

BECKENWORTH INC. of Liberia bought Rig 4 from Stewart & Stevenson Services Inc., Houston, for about $3 million. The inland posted barge, to be operated by Techfor-Cosifor of Paris, will begin work this year under long term contract with Shell Oil of Nigeria after extensive modifications in Texas. Beckenworth is a holding company owned by Techfor-Cosifor.

MAGELLAN PETROLEUM (NT) Pty. Ltd. reported natural gas sales of a record 5.66 bcf during second half 1989 from Mereenie and Palm Valley fields in Central Australia's Amadeus basin. The volume was up 20% from the same period of 1988. Magellan expects next month to report a "significant" increase in Palm Valley's estimated reserves.

PREMIER CONSOLIDATED Oilfields plc's confirmation of its Beechnut discovery in U.K. North Sea Block 29/9b flowed 1,173 b/d of oil from Permian Zechstein pay after drilling to 15,216 ft. The discovery well had a combined flow of more than 9,300 b/d in 1985.

HOME OIL LTD., Calgary, bought a 21.3% interest in the Leismer East Natural Gas Unit No. 1 in Northeast Alberta from Esso Resources Canada Ltd. for $45 million. It's the first sale of $500 million in assets that Esso agreed to as a requirement for regulatory approval of its takeover of Texaco Canada Inc. The purchase gives Home additional gas reserves of 55 bcf and increases its interest in the unit to 78.1%. Leismer field provides gas for the Syncrude Canada Ltd. oilsands operation at Fort McMurray, Alta.

SAUDI ARABIAN Oil Co. installed a leased Cray-2 supercomputer system at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Main use of the system, with memory of more than 2,000 megabytes, is reservoir simulation.

SICHUAN PROVINCE, China's No. 1 gas producing area, increased its gas flow to 6.2 billion cu m last year and aims for 6.5 billion cu m this year. Last year's production was up 660 million cu m from 1988. Sichuan gas reserves and production account for more than 50% of China's total.

EXPLORATION

SEISMOGRAPH SERVICE (England) Ltd., Keston, Kent, will upgrade its MV Seisventurer geophysical vessel for triple streamer operations in this year's North Sea season. Cables will be diverted up to 150 m separation, which will allow collection of six subsurface lines/sail line. That will reduce acquisition time for 3D seismic surveys.

A COMBINE made up of Hadson Petroleum International of the U.S. 30%, Ultramar Exploration of the U.K. 20%, and state owned Korea Petroleum Development Corp. 50% was drilling below 350 m at a projected 3,200 m wildcat in the East China Sea, 200 km south of South Korea's Cheju Island. Korea Drilling Co. Ltd.'s Doo-Sung semisubmersible is on the hole.

BRITISH GAS PIC drillstem tested 120 b/d of oil at a wildcat near Beckering, Lincolnshire, about 120 miles north of London. The well, on License PL256 held by British Gas subsidiary Gas Council (Exploration) Ltd., is suspended awaiting planning consent for long term tests.

GULFSTREAM RESOURCES Canada Ltd., Toronto, reported "significant oil shows" in the Tertiary Lisama formation at its 1 Trigo Este wildcat on the Gamarra association contract in the middle Magdalena Valley of Colombia. Gulfstream disclosed no details of the shows in the well, in which it owns a 30% interest.

TRANSPORTATION

CIA. ARRENDATARIA del Monopolio de Petroleos SA, Spain's national oil products distribution company, plans to lay a 94 mile, 10 in. products pipeline from Corunna to Vigo in Northwest Spain. The project is slated for completion in mid-1991.

PROCESSING

THAILAND issued a permit to a unit of Royal Dutch/Shell Group for construction of a 150,000 b/d refinery slated for start-up in 1994, Kyodo News Service reported. Ownership of the $756 million (U.S.) plant will be Shell 30%, Thai government 25%, Caltex Co. 15%, and the public 30%. Shell earlier offered to build an 85,000-100,000 b/d refinery at Rayong (OGJ, June 26, 1989, p. 30).

MITSUBISHI Petrochemical Co. will build a 300,000 ton/year ethylene plant at Kashima, Japan, about 55 miles northeast of Tokyo. The unit, to start up in 1992, could be expanded to 450,000 tons/year if demand warranted.

IRAN'S National Petrochemical Co. let a $30 million contract to Lummus Crest of Holland and Krupp Koppers of West Germany to plan reconstruction of the petrochemical complex at Bandar Khomeini, Iran, heavily damaged early in the Iran/Iraq war. The contract includes supervision of construction of a 1.3 million ton/year LPG unit and three utilities.

ATOCHEM Espana SA, the Spanish unit of France's Atochem SA, will boost polystyrene capacity at El Prat de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain, to 75,000 tons/year from 50,000 tons/year. The expansion is due on stream in June.

SAMSUNG (MALAYSIA) is negotiating to buy a 20-30% interest in a 200,000 b/d refinery complex proposed at Malacca, Malaysia, by state owned Petroliam Nasional Bhd. OPEC News Agency reported Samsung wants an interest in the refinery's sour crude train as a source of naphtha feedstock for its $1.4 billion petrochemical complex targeted for 1992 completion in South Korea.

WESTERN DESERT Operating Petroleum Co. let a turnkey contract to Technip Geoproduction, Paris, for construction of a 330 MMcfd onshore gas processing plant as part of an expansion of Abu Qir gas field in the Mediterranean Sea off Egypt.