U.S. BRIEFS

PETROCHEMICALS

AMOCO CHEMICAL CO. plans to replace the catalyst at its 500 million lb/year Cedar Bayou, Tex., polypropylene plant with an Amoco high yield catalyst. It will begin the upgrade in second quarter and expects to complete it in mid-1992. Amoco said the new catalyst will not affect capacity but will improve product quality and reduce air, water, and solid emissions.

AN EXPLOSION in the ethylene oxide purification system at Union Carbide Corp.'s Seadrift plant at Port Lavaca, Tex., destroyed an ethylene oxide refining column and caused major damage to a glycol ether unit and pipe racks near the column. A polyethylene unit received superficial damage. The Seadrift plant produces about one third of Union Carbide's ethylene oxide and about two thirds of its polyethylene.

COMPANIES

MITCHELL ENERGY & DEVELOPMENT CORP., Woodlands, Tex., projects 1992 fiscal year exploration and production spending of $92 million, down 7.4% from $99.3 million spent during fiscal 1991, which ended Jan. 31. Transmission and processing spending is expected to increase 26.9% to $37.7 million from fiscal 1991 outlays of $29.7 million. Mitchell's development drilling partnership, MEC Development Ltd., plans fiscal 1992 spending of $55.5 million, up 18.1% from $47 million the prior year.

GRACE PETROLEUM CORP., Oklahoma City, reached a settlement with an undisclosed interstate pipeline company, resolving all of its claims against the pipeline arising from gas sales contracts. Grace plans to sell to other markets the gas that had been sold under current contracts. It expects first quarter 1991 after tax net income to benefit by about $1.5 million from the accord.

GAS PROCESSING

MAXUS ENERGY CORP., Dallas, will build a 160 MMcfd gas processing plant at an undetermined site in the Texas Panhandle. The plant, to be on stream by January 1993, will remove carbon dioxide, sulfur, and nitrogen prior to pipeline injection. It will also extract natural gas liquids, helium, and other products.

TRANSPORTATION

DIAMOND SHAMROCK REFINING & MARKETING CO., San Antonio, plans to lay a 270 mile, 14 in., 70,000 b/d crude pipeline from Wichita Falls, Tex., to its McKee refinery in the Texas Panhandle. When complete in mid-1992, the pipeline will link the McKee unit with ARCO and Texaco oil pipelines from the Texas Gulf Coast and with Basin Pipeline from West Texas.

ARCO formed ARCO Transportation Alaska Inc., Anchorage, to manage its transportation interests in Alaska, including the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and the Kuparuk, Cook Inlet, and Kenai pipelines. It takes over this function from ARCO Transportation Co., Long Beach, Calif., ARCO's marine and transportation division.

MOBIL OIL CORP. paid a $200,000 fine to New York, under a consent order with the state Environmental Conservation Commission, in connection with gasoline spills at two Nassau County, N.Y., terminals and alleged use of the terminals without licenses. Mobil also agreed to bring water conditions at its Glenwood Landing and Inwood terminals into compliance with state environmental laws and secure state licenses for those sites. The settlement stems from gasoline spills at Inwood in 1985 and Glenwood Landing in 1979.

ENDEVCO INC., Dallas, completed financing for Phase IA of its $15.2 million Hattiesburg Gas Storage Co. project near Hattiesburg, Miss., with 15 year construction and term loan financing through Union Bank of California. Endevco, as managing partner, and First Reserve Gas Storage Inc., Greenwich, Conn., each own 50% of the storage site. They plan to convert a third salt dome LNG storage cavern to a 1 bcf gas storage facility with 100 MMcfd withdrawal and 50 MMcfd injection capacity.

REFINING

STAR ENTERPRISE let a 3 year contract to Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Pasadena, Calif., for maintenance of its 240,000 b/sd Convent, La., refinery. Jacobs will maintain the light ends unit, cat cracker, powerformers, and all utilities under the contract. Jacobs is designing a 25,000 b/d light cycle gas oil hydrotreating unit for the refinery under a prior contract.

CITGO PETROLEUM CORP. brought back on stream two catalytic cracking units at its Lake Charles, La., refinery it had shut down after a Mar. 5 explosion and fire at a third cat cracker (OGJ, Mar. 11, p. 44). Citgo shut down the two units, with a combined 80,000-90,000 b/d cracking capacity, as a safety precaution.

ACQUISITIONS

KAISER-FRANCIS OIL CO., Tulsa, completed its purchase, for about $7 million, of Waterford Energy Inc., Houston, and moved Waterford headquarters to Tulsa. Waterford owns interests in more than 250 oil and gas leases, mostly in the Oklahoma Panhandle, and has net gas reserves of more than 8 bcf.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

GEODYNE PRODUCTION CO., Tulsa, agreed to buy interests in 92 fields mainly in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, and Wyoming from BHP Petroleum (Americas) Inc. for about $52 million. Geodyne is buying the leases, which hold about 720 total wells and 100 BHP operated wells, on behalf of its sponsored partnerships under the PaineWebber/Geodyne Energy Income Programs. It also has an option to buy a second group of mostly oil leases from BHP with a combined allocated value of about $18 million.

SEAGULL ENERGY CORP., Houston, completed its $194 million purchase of producing oil and gas leases, reserves, and undeveloped acreage from Mesa LP, Dallas (OGJ, Feb. 18, p. 34).

ORYX ENERGY CO., Dallas, plans this summer to combine its regional offices in Midland, Tex., and Oklahoma City into a Northern Region office in Oklahoma City. It expects to reduce total staff by about 30, but the consolidation does not affect field offices. Oryx also plans to trim its reserves and business planning and environmental affairs staffs in Dallas and transfer some of its Dallas technology group to Oklahoma City and Houston.

POWER GAS CORP., McLean, Va., and Sithe Energies U.S.A. Inc., New York, formed a joint venture to explore, develop, and produce gas from about 8,000 acres in Wyoming County, N.Y. Power Gas will operate the venture, and Sithe will use production for its power projects.

EBCO U.S.A. INC., Oklahoma City, will auction 550 U.S. oil and gas leases in 12 states at a no minimum production sale Apr. 11 in Dallas.