U.S. BRIEFS

TANKERS

THE COAST GUARD is seeking public comment on a planned rule requiring double hulls on oil tankers under construction or conversion since June 30, 1990. All single hulled tankers must be converted or retired by 2015. The rulemaking will set technical standards for double hull construction. It was mandated by a law Congress passed this year.

COAST GUARD crews transferred about 830,000 bbl of Alaskan crude from the 815 ft Keystone Canyon to the 669 ft Kenai tanker about 150 miles west of San Francisco. The Keystone Canyon, operated by Keystone Shipping Co., had a 20 ft vertical crack in its starboard ballast tank. Coast Guard said no oil was spilled during the transfer in 10-12 ft waves and 10 mph winds.

PIPELINES

IROQUOIS GAS TRANSMISSION SYSTEM ordered 98 miles of 24 in. pipe from Berg Steel Pipe Corp., Panama City, Fla., for $30 million. The pipe is needed for the final sections of the 370 mile gas pipeline Iroquois is building through New York and Connecticut.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

SEAGULL ENERGY CORP. will pay Mesa LP $531.25 million and assume about $9 million in liabilities, mainly related to gas contract imbalances, for producing properties with proved reserves of 315.7 bcf of gas and 8.1 million bbl of liquids plus 253,450 net producing and 133,190 net undeveloped acres. Seagull also will pay Mesa on Apr. 1, 1994, no more than $37.5 million, based on how much the average weighted price of gas sold from the properties in 1991-93 exceeds $1.975/Mcf.

SONAT EXPLORATION CO., Houston, agreed to buy almost all U.S. oil and gas reserves of Sunshine Mining Co., Dallas, for $150 million cash. Involved are 1,084 wells in Oklahoma and Wyoming with proved reserves of 7.5 million bbl and 154.7 bcf. Closing is expected in January 1991 subject to board approvals.

CONOCO INC. acquired 107 oil and gas wells in Webb County, Tex., with proved reserves of 300,000 bbl and 18 bcf from Forest Oil Corp., Denver, for about $39 million.

NERCO OIL & GAS INC., Vancouver, Wash., acquired working interests of 38-40% in McPac field off Texas from operator Adobe Resources Corp., New York, for about $22 million. The field, on Matagorda Island Block 487 and Brazos Block 488, includes three wells producing about 40 MMcfd of gas and 105 b/d of condensate. Two more wells are planned.

HARKEN ANADARKO PARTNERS LTD. (HAP), a limited partnership of Harken Energy Corp. (16%) and an affiliate of Aeneas Venture Corp. (84%), plans to spend $13 million to drill 50 medium depth development gas wells in the Anadarko basin. Managing general partner Harken Energy will contribute to HAP almost all its producing U.S. oil and gas properties. For its share, Aeneas' affiliate will trade part of its U.S. oil and gas holdings.

CHUSKA ENERGY CO., a unit of Arctic Red Resources Corp., expects to drill 30-40 wells in algal reef mounds on the Navajo reservation in the Paradox basin in 1991. Chuska has a 40% interest in 54,000 acres of tribal land in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. About 150 reef mounds have been identified in the area, where six of eight Chuska wildcats have been successful. A recent step-out is producing 821 b/d of oil and 1.1 Mcfd of gas through a 24/64 in. choke, hiking Chuska-Navajo venture production to 3,100 b/d and 8.1 MMcfd.

GRACE OFFSHORE CO. paid units of Blystad Group plc $22.9 million for two offshore rigs, a cantilever mat supported jack up rated to 200 ft of water and a slotted mat supported jack up rated to 250 ft of water.

GEODYNE RESOURCES INC. limited partnerships will pay about $28.7 million to Oryx Energy Co. for unspecified oil and gas properties. In a separate deal, a group of companies including Amerada Hess Corp., Amoco Corp., and ARCO will purchase properties from Oryx valued at $30.3 million.

COMPANIES

FREEPORT-MCMORAN INC. will pay more than $263 million for all 7,578,500 shares of its stock held by The Fund American Companies Inc. and subsidiaries, subject to approval of Freeport-McMoRan's bank group. The offer of $34.75/share is based on FMI's common stock closing price Nov. 30, 1990.

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION cleared the way for Pennzoil Co. to spend $291 million for as much as 3.9 million shares of Chevron Corp. The purchase will hike Pennzoil's Chevron holdings to 35.9 million shares, increasing its stake to almost 1 0% from 8.8%. In August, FTC delayed the purchase, saying it needed more information.

ZAPATA CORP. stockholders approved a financial restructuring plan, contingent on the company retiring by Dec. 20 at least two thirds of its outstanding subordinated debentures. If enough debenture holders don't accept its offer by deadline, Zapata likely will have to file for protection under federal bankruptcy laws. Zapata's outstanding subordinated debentures total $77.6 million.

GOVERNMENT

MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE proposed a rule allowing it to penalize offshore oil operators for violating its rules without giving them notice and time to correct the violations. MMS will take that action when there is a threat of serious, irreparable, or immediate harm or damage to aquatic life, property, mineral deposits or the marine, coastal, or human environment. The maximum civil penalty would be $20,000/violation/day.

REFINING

ERGON INC., Jackson, Miss., will double yield to 6,500 b/d in the naphthenic hydroprocessing unit at its Vicksburg, Miss., refinery. Ergon also plans to revamp a heavy crude distilling unit and construct a new hydrogen unit. All work is to be complete by early 1992. A second hydroprocessing unit is in preliminary design, with start-up expected in mid-1993.

COASTAL DERBY REFINING CO. expects to complete by June 1991 a 20 ton/day sulfur recovery unit at its 30,000 b/d refinery in Wichita, Kan. By recovering about 7,000 tons/year of sulfur, the new unit will trim the refinery's sulfur emissions by 96%. Construction began earlier this month.

ENVIRONMENT

BIOREMEDIAL CLEANUP of oil spills and environmental maintenance services for industrial sites are being offered in North America and selected non-U.S. areas by a joint venture of two Texas companies. Emtech Environmental Services Inc. will manage and staff bioremediation projects, and Alpha Environmental Inc. provides oil eating microbes and equipment for application.