INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

Feb. 5, 1990
INSTITUTE COSTARRICENSE de Electricidad (ICE) of Costa Rica received a $182.8 million loan from Inter-American Development Bank for a $264.1 million electrical power project. ICE will build the 55,000 kw Miravalles 11 geothermal plant, the 24,000 kw Toro I and 66,000 kw Toro 11 hydroelectric plants, and a substation and expand six other substations. A/S NORSKE SHELL let a 1.1 billion kroner ($168 million) contract to Kvaerner Rosenberg, Stavanger, to build the 18,500 metric ton decks for a

ALTERNATE FUELS

INSTITUTE COSTARRICENSE de Electricidad (ICE) of Costa Rica received a $182.8 million loan from Inter-American Development Bank for a $264.1 million electrical power project. ICE will build the 55,000 kw Miravalles 11 geothermal plant, the 24,000 kw Toro I and 66,000 kw Toro 11 hydroelectric plants, and a substation and expand six other substations.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

A/S NORSKE SHELL let a 1.1 billion kroner ($168 million) contract to Kvaerner Rosenberg, Stavanger, to build the 18,500 metric ton decks for a concrete production platform to be installed in Draugen field in the Haltenbanken area off Central Norway. Contract is scheduled for completion in early 1993.

DEEP SEA MOON LTD. of Liberia completed the purchase of the Chancellorsville drillship from Atwood Oceanics Inc., Houston, for about $8 million. Atwood Oceanics will continue to operate the rig under a 1 year charter. The unit, formerly at work off Indonesia, is being outfitted in Singapore for a contract off Western Australia.

CHINA OIL & NATURAL GAS CORP. (Congc) drilled a company record number of wells on a platform in onshore/offshore Shengli field in Shandong Province and the Bohai Sea. Xinhua News Service reported Congc drilled 42 wells on the single platform to an average depth of 2,962 m and an angle of 63.75. Congc completed the drilling program, which Xinhua called one of the key tasks in China's seventh 5 year plan (1 986-90), 1 year ahead of schedule.

GLOBAL NATURAL Resources Inc., Houston, is seeking bids for its 1.7% interest in a joint venture that produces oil and gas from Badak and Nilam fields in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, under a long term production sharing contract with state owned Pertamina. In 1989 the interest accounted for about $6.7 million of Global's gross revenues and $2.8 million of its net income.

TRANSPORTATION

SHELL EASTERN Petroleum let a turnkey contract to Bechtel Singapore (Pte.) Ltd. for engineering, procurement, and construction services for a $30 million pipeline system in Singapore. Five miles of twin 10 in. lines, to be completed early in 1991, will carry products from Shell's tank farm on Pulau Bukom Island in Singapore Harbor to a distribution terminal on Singapore's main island, replacing barge delivery. One line will transport white products such as gasoline, the other low sulfur and high sulfur fuel oil.

NOVA CORP., Calgary, reports record shipment on its Alberta pipeline system of 2.83 tcf of gas in 1989, up 3% from 1988 levels. In 1989 Nova shipped 2.19 tcf to other markets in Canada and the U.S., about flat with 1988. Deliveries in Alberta last year rose 13% from 1988 to 629 bcf. Nova plans a $3 billion expansion of its system, including capital spending of $525 million for the contract year beginning November 1990, up from $400 million in 1989.

GUERRILLAS BOMBED Colombia's Cano Limon pipeline again, shutting down throughput of 200,000 b/d and causing an oil spill along a 2 mile stretch of a river near the Venezuelan border. Crews last week still were repairing damage from the Jan. 25 bombing, the 115 th since 1985. The line, which delivers crude from the Llanos basin to a marine export terminal at Covenas on the Pacific coast, had just started up Jan. 21 after being shut down by a Jan. 18 bombing.

EXPLORATION

GROUPS led by Ste. Nationale Elf Aquitaine drilled two oil discoveries in Gabon. The Hylia Marine wildcat flowed 1,575 b/d of 24 gravity oil on the Eyena permit 17 miles northwest of Grondin field and 11 miles offshore. Onshore, the Elf-Shell Gabon combine gauged 630 b/d at the 1 Avocette well on Ogooue Dianongo permit 16 miles north of Rabi-Kounga field.

TOTAL SYRIA and partners found oil on the 9,330 sq km Al Bishri permit in the Euphrates Valley in eastern Syria. The Wadi Aabeid well flowed 6,800 b/d of 15-20 gravity oil from an interval at 6,3966,757 ft. Total owns a 60% interest in the permit, and units of Petrofina SA and Lasmo plc have 20% each.

YACIMIENTOS PETROLIFEROS Fiscales SA awarded an exploration/development agreement to Mobil Exploration Argentina Inc. and Pluspetrol SA covering the 2.2 million acre Block CNE 11 in Argentina's Northeast basin. It adjoins Block CNE 16, in which the two also hold substantial interests. Operator Pluspetrol holds a 25% in the contract, Mobil 75%.

GARNET RESOURCES CORP., Houston, reported another oil discovery in the Putumayo area of Southwest Colombia. The 1 Linda flowed at a combined rate of 570 b/d of 28.3 gravity oil through a 3/8 in. choke on 36 hr drillstem tests of the Villeta U and T and Caballos sands at 8,747-9,095 ft. It is on a separate prospect 21/2 miles southeast of Garnet's Toroyaco strike (OGJ, Oct 9, 1989, p. 42). Plans call for a Toroyaco confirmation well after completing the Linda well and an expanded seismic program on the risk sharing contract area.

PROCESSING

AMOCO CORP. started detailed negotiations to sell its refining/marketing operations in Britain to Ste. Nationale Elf Aquitaine. Amoco has about 2% of the U.K. gasoline market and a 70% interest in the 102,000 b/d refinery at Milford Haven, Wales, operated by Amoco U.K. Ltd. Elf has 450 gasoline stations in the U.K. and 2.3% of the market. Amoco's exploration and production activities and chemical and synthetic fiber operations in the U.K. are not included in negotiations.

BRITISH PETROLEUM CO. PLC'S international refining/marketing company, BP Oil, will merge its European transnational units, Atlantic division, and continental division into a single organization known as BP Oil Europe. The new company, based in Brussels, will be responsible for coordinating BP's European downstream oil business.

PETROLEOS DEL NORTE SA, a Spanish refiner held 53.53% by state owned Repsol SA, abandoned plans to set up a gasoline retail network in southern France. Repsol's new strategy concentrates its marketing efforts in northern Spain.

QATAR Petrochemical Co. earned $115.38 million last year, an increase of 14% from 1988. Production amounted to 295,000 tons of ethylene, 181,000 tons of polyethylene, and 52,000 tons of sulfur.

GOVERNMENT

SPAIN signed two agreements to provide Algeria and Brazil with technical aid in energy conservation. State owned Instituto para la Diversification y el Ahorro de Energia will help both countries implement energy saving programs, including cogeneration projects. The Algerian contract is worth $5 million, the Brazilian contract $3 million.

Copyright 1990 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.