INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

March 18, 1991
VEBA OIL and Petroleos de Venezuela SA are negotiating a joint purchase of PCK Schwedt AG's 230,000 b/d refinery at Schwedt, Germany. Pdvsa also plans to acquire a bigger interest in Erdoel Raffinerie Neustadt GmbH's 144,000 b/d refinery at Neustadt, Germany, where Pdvsa holds a 12.5% interest in a joint venture with Veba.

REFINING

VEBA OIL and Petroleos de Venezuela SA are negotiating a joint purchase of PCK Schwedt AG's 230,000 b/d refinery at Schwedt, Germany. Pdvsa also plans to acquire a bigger interest in Erdoel Raffinerie Neustadt GmbH's 144,000 b/d refinery at Neustadt, Germany, where Pdvsa holds a 12.5% interest in a joint venture with Veba.

A JOINT VENTURE OF Indonesia's state owned Pertamina, British Petroleum Co. plc, and C. Itoh agreed to begin construction of a 120,000 b/d refinery at Tanjong Uban on Pulau Bintan, about 80 km southeast of Singapore. The project will be Indonesia's first under a presidential decree signed last year allowing foreign shareholders in its refining industry.

A REPSOL SA UNIT and Venezuela's state owned Pequiven SA will build a $21 million specialty waxes unit at Pequiven affiliate Maraven SA's Cardon refinery in western Venezuela. It is to produce 30,000 metric tons/year of industrial waxes from feedstock provided by Maraven for domestic and export sales. Repsol Derivados and Pequiven each will hold a 49% interest in the venture, with the remaining interest set aside as a public stock offering.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

COLOMBIA'S STATE OWNED Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos approved a request by Garnet Resources Corp., Houston, to begin oil production from 1 and 2 Toroyaco and 1 and 2 Linda wells in Putumayo area. Garnet expects combined production to start at 3,100 b/d by midyear (OGJ, Feb. 4, p. 22).

AMOCO NETHERLANDS PETROLEUM CO. filed with the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs a plan to develop gas reserves in Blocks P/15 and P/18 in the Dutch North Sea. Amoco plans to install a 500 MMcfd central gas processing/condensate separation and stabilization platform on its Rijn oil field production platform in P/15 and six remote satellite producing facilities. It expects to start production at about 250 MMcfd in 1993.

TOTAL OIL MARINE PLC will seek U.K. government approval to develop Dunbar field in Blocks 3/14a and 3/15 in the U.K. North Sea. The field, previously known as South Alwyn, is about 15 1/2 miles south of Total operated North Alwyn oil and gas field. Total will install a 2428 slot satellite platform in 475 ft of water and tie it back to North Alwyn.

SHELL FRANCE sold its Paris basin interests. Shell sold its 246 b/d Hautefeuille properties to Triton France and Chateau-Thierry exploration acreage to Conoco Inc. Both properties were held 50-50 with Total Cie. Francaise des Petroles. Shell France's sole remaining interest in France is its first Paris basin discovery, the 127 b/d St. Martin de Bossenay field that is expected to be depleted in 2-3 years.

CO-ENERCO CORP., Calgary, completed its $15.3 million purchase of producing oil and gas leases in Alberta from Amoco Canada, Encor Energy Corp. Inc., and Maligne Resources Ltd. (OGJ, Jan. 21, p. 28).

ACQUISITIONS

BROKEN HILL PTY. CO. LTD., Melbourne, signed a merger agreement with Hamilton Oil Corp. under which BHP will pay $40/share for all outstanding Hamilton common stock it doesn't own, pending tender of a majority of non-BHP shares (OGJ, Feb. 18, p. 40).

RWE-DEA, Hamburg, extended to Apr. 8 its $55/share cash tender offer to acquire all common stock of Vista Chemical Co. (OGJ, Jan. 21, p. 28).

EXPLORATION

OIL INDIA LTD. (OIL) earmarked $100 million for exploration in Rajasthan in 1991-95. Plans call for 22 wildcats with total footage at 224,407 ft. OIL is targeting reserves additions of 971 bcf of gas and 49.6 million bbl of oil under the program. It is about to test 4 Tanot, drilled to 7,546 ft, and is drilling 2 Ramgarh to a planned 5,249 ft.

HUDBAY OIL (MALACCA STRAIT) LTD. 1 DC wildcat on Padang Island, Indonesia, flowed a combined 31 MMcfd of gas and 686 b/d of 54 gravity condensate from four zones in Paleogene Menggala and Pematang. Total depth is 8,798 ft. Gas contained 13% carbon dioxide and a trace of hydrogen sulfide. The well, on a Malacca Strait production sharing contract, is 110 miles east of Singapore. Hudbay, a unit of Lasmo plc, said it is the first major gas discovery in deeper pay in the Central Sumatran basin.

ELF AQUITAINE NORGE AS'S 25/5-4 wildcat in the Norwegian North Sea flowed 26.1 MMcfd of gas and 1,503 b/d of condensate through a 20.3 mm choke from Lower Jurassic sandstone at about 10,394 ft. The well, near Frigg and Heimdal fields, was drilled by the Dyvi Stena semisubmersible rig in 394 ft of water. Interest owners are Den norske stats oljeselskap AS 50%, operator Elf 30%, and AS Norsk Shell 20%.

COMPANIES

BRITISH PETROLEUM CO. PLC opened a regional exploration and production office in Caracas to oversee current E&P activities in Latin America and the Caribbean Sea region, BP is a partner with Venezuela's state owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA for marketing Orimulsion, a boiler fuel that is a mix of extra heavy Orinoco belt crude and surfactant in a water emulsion.

GOVERNMENT

JAPAN will, starting in April, increase to 3.84 million bbl from 3.65 million bbl the official standard volume for a 1 day supply of oil it uses to figure strategic reserve levels.

TRANSPORTATION

INDIA'S GOVERNMENT approved Gas Authority of India's (GAIL) proposed $280 million gas distribution system for Bombay, leaving financing to GAIL. Plans call for imports of metering equipment, which may be hindered by difficulty in raising foreign currency credit due to India's current balance of payments problems.

A.C.P., Antwerp, acquired Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s 50% interest in the Antwerp Gas Terminal (AGT), a liquefied petroleum gas and industrial gases storage terminal at Antwerp. Total value of the deal to Oxy is $37.7 million, including a cash payment and retirement of Oxy's share of AGT debt.

TRANSCANADA PIPELINES LTD. filed a request with Canada's National Energy Board for a 19.6% average 1991 increase in gas pipeline tolls. NEB, which granted the firm an interim 12.1% hike from 1990 rates, scheduled a May 14 hearing on the request. TransCanada says much of the 1991 increase is to be spent to expand its system from western Canada to markets in eastern Canada and the U.S.

Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.