U.S. BRIEFS

COMPANIES

FREEPORT MCMORAN INC., New Orleans, plans to sell at least $750 million in assets by mid-1991, including at least $600 million worth of oil and gas leases, to reduce debt. The company intends to reduce Freeport-McMoRan Copper Co. Inc.'s ownership of Freeport Indonesia Inc. to 80% from 91.1% and said it expects its long term debt to be about $1.6 billion by yearend 1991.

BAKER HUGHES INC., Houston, ended talks involving the sale of its Baker Hughes Tubular Services Inc. unit. Baker Hughes said the offered price was not high enough.

ENVIRONMENT

OWNERS of five vessels involved in a July 28 collision that spilled 700,000 gal of jet fuel in the Houston Ship Channel agreed to pay state and federal agencies more than $156,000 to study the spill's effect on fishing grounds and wetlands in the area. The study will be conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Interior, and Texas Water Commission.

GAS PROCESSING

A 50-50 JOINT VENTURE of Mitchell Energy & Development Corp., Woodlands, Tex., and Transco Energy Co., Houston, completed its 60 MMcfd capacity gas processing plant in Bee County, Tex. The plant, about 65 miles northwest of Corpus Christi, can produce 110,000 gal/day of ethane, propane, butanes, and natural gasoline.

PIPELINES

LEVIATHAN GAS PIPELINE CO., Houston, signed a letter of intent for a $75 million contract to Offshore Pipelines Inc., Houston, to build an 80 mile oil gathering pipeline off Louisiana. The contract calls for OPI to lay 12 and 16 in. pipe in about 600 ft of water from East Cameron South Addition Block 338 to Eugene Island South Addition Block 330. OPI says it will be the first deepwater gathering system in the Gulf of Mexico.

A FEDERAL JUDGE in Bismarck, N.D., ruled ANR Pipeline Co., Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America, Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., and Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. may seek binding arbitration while a lawsuit filed against them by Dakota Gasification Co. is pending. The suit claims the four pipelines are trying to break contracts requiring them to buy a set portion of gas produced at Dakota's Great Plains coal gasification plant near Beulah, N.D.

GOVERNMENT

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY and Health Administration and Environmental Protection Agency agreed on a working relationship for enforcement of safety and environmental regulations at plants and facilities subject to their jurisdiction. Their fiscal 1991 joint enforcement work plan will target the petrochemical industry and lead smelters.

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY proposed a settlement requiring the former Mt. Airy Refining Co. and its stockholders to pay $2 million plus interest to resolve allegations it violated federal petroleum price and allocation rules during Jan. 1, 1977-Jan. 28, 1981. In agreeing to the accord, Mt. Airy, which was dissolved in August 1983, did not admit to any wrongdoing.

PETROCHEMICALS

MITSUI & CO. (U.S.A.) INC. selected an isobutane dehydrogenation process owned by United Catalysts Inc., Louisville, Ky., for a grassroots 500,000 metric ton/year methyl tertiary butyl ether plant in Deer Park, Tex., next to Mitsui's international terminal. Completion is expected early in 1992. The $200 million plant will be operated by Global Octanes Corp.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

SEAGULL ENERGY CORP., Houston, terminated an agreement to buy producing oil and gas leases from Mesa LP, Dallas. Seagull told Mesa it was unable to obtain financing commitments by a Dec. 14 deadline. The agreed purchase price was $351 million, not $531 million, correcting an earlier Oil & Gas Journal report (OGJ, Dec. 17, p. 26).

NOMECO OIL & GAS CO., Jackson, Mich., disclosed results of three confirmation wells on High Island South Addition Block 523 off Texas. The first well cut 77 ft of net pay at 9,538-9,964 ft but was not tested. A second well flowed 200 b/d of oil and 5 MMcfd of gas from 9,041-60 ft. The third well was unsuccessful. Nomeco plans to begin production from the block in late 1991 or early 1992.

TAYLOR ENERGY CO. will spend more than $7.5 million to install a production platform on Matagorda Island Block 603 off Texas. The two deck, 560 ton unit will be carried by barge to the site this month and installed in 88 ft of water. In March 1991, Taylor plans to install a production platform on North Padre Island Block A-59, also off Texas.

UNION PACIFIC RESOURCES CO., Fort Worth, acquired individed interests in 82 oil and gas wells in Lee County, near Giddings, Tex., with gross daily production of 600 b/d and 2.253 MMcfd. Most of the wells are operated by Santa Fe Minerals Inc., Dallas. Dan A. Hughes Co., Beeville, Tex., and a group of interest owners sold their nonoperated interests in the leases for an undisclosed price.

REFINING

TEXACO REFINING & MARKETING INC. let contract to Bechtel Corp. to design and provide procurement for improvements to its 49,000 b/sd Bakersfield, Calif., refinery. The project mainly involves building a sulfur removal complex and modernizing the coker, crude vacuum unit, naphtha hydrotreater, and off site facilities.

EXPLORATION

DIAMOND SHAMROCK OFFSHORE PARTNERS, Dallas, reported its federal lease 12079 wildcat on South Pass Block 72 off Louisiana logged about 50 ft of net gas pay in multiple Lower Pleistocene sands. Diamond Shamrock, the master limited partnership of Maxus Energy Corp., plans development drilling in the South Pass area in 1 991 and expects to begin production in mid-1992.

MICHIGAN'S Department of Natural Resources will conduct a lease sale Mar. 20, 1991, in Lansing. The sale will cover 101,111 acres in 23 counties.

ACQUISITIONS

VARCO INTERNATIONAL INC. acquired Totco division of Exlog Inc., a unit of Baker Hughes Inc., for $20 million and 2,346,041 shares of Varco common stock.

MSR EXPLORATION LTD., Beverly Hills, Calif., completed the $4.8 million purchase of Houston Petroleum Co., Houston, which has 25,000 gross acres under lease. The purchase was a stock for stock exchange. MSR advanced Houston Petroleum $650,000 as part of the trade.