INDUSTRY BRIEFS

TANKERS

U.S. COAST GUARD issued a final rule covering double hull oil tankers under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA). The rule sets minimum requirements for space between the two hulls for all vessels trading in U.S. waters. OPA also establishes a phaseout schedule that began Jan. 1 for existing single hull vessels. By 2015, all oil tankers trading in U.S. waters must be double hulled.

EXPLORATION

AUSTRALIA'S Northwest Shelf group 1 Perseus wildcat off Western Australia cut 280 ft of pay in a formation believed to hold reserves totaling more than 2 tcf of gas and 70 million bbl of condensate, reported interest owner Chevron Asiatic Ltd. The discovery lies between giant North Rankin and Goodwyn gas/condensate fields, which feed the Northwest Shelf liquefied natural gas complex, and is likely to be developed from North Rankin platform with directional wells and tiebacks from subsea wells.

REFINING

CALTEX (PHILIPPINES) INC. expects to commission in second half 1997 a $620 million expansion and upgrade of its San Pascual, Philippines, refinery in Batangas province south of Manila. Involved are a capacity expansion to 185,000 b/d from 70,000 b/d and addition of a third crude unit, crude and products storage, catalytic regeneration platformer, and a naphtha hydrotreater.

RUSSIA'S 235,000 b/d Ufa refinery, one of the country's oldest, completed a $700 million revamp. Main focus was installation of a catalytic cracker designed by France's Technip and Institut Francais du Petrole. Negotiations are under way with a number of foreign companies for work related to a new catalytic reformer and catalyst production plant.

CALUMET LUBRICANTS CO., Indianapolis, agreed to acquire Kerr-McGee Corp.'s 7,800 b/d Cotton Valley, La., refinery for an undisclosed sum.

CHILE'S PETROX SA let contract to a venture of Foster Wheeler Power Systems Inc. and BOC Gases to build, own, and operate an 8 MMcfd hydrogen plant at its 89,570 b/d Talcahuano refinery near Concepcion, Chile. The 99.9% pure hydrogen will feed a hydrocracker under construction at the refinery. Commissioning is scheduled for early 1996.

LYONDELL-CITGO REFINING CO. faces $208,500 in fines for 11 alleged safety violations at its 265,000 b/d Pasadena, Tex., refinery. Among other claims, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration alleges the company committed two willful violations related to reporting the illness and death of an employee. Lyondell-Citgo said there is no basis to the allegations of willful violations.

PETROCHEMICALS

HOECHST CELANESE GROUP INC., Dallas, let a $100 million contract to Fluor Daniel, Greenville, S.C., for project management services for a 150,000 metric ton/year vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) plant on Singapore's Sakra Island. Scheduled for completion in mid-1997, it will be the first VAM plant in Southeast Asia.

PETROLEAS DE VENEZUELA SA inaugurated a methanol plant and an Orimulsion tank farm/marine terminal complex at its Jose petrochemical complex in eastern Venezuela's Anzoategui state. The $320 million, 2,000 metric ton/day methanol plant is owned by Supermetanol, a venture of Pdvsa's Pequiven unit, Italy's Ecofuel, and two banks. The $319 million Orimulsion complex includes 160,000 tons of storage capacity and an offshore mooring buoy designed to handle 250,000 dwt tankers. Orimulsion, a boiler fuel that is blended from extra heavy crude, water, and a surfactant, moves to the Jose complex through a 330 km pipeline from Morichal, Monagas state.

RUSSIAN petrochemical producer Metafrax let a $14 million contract to M.W. Kellogg Co. to revamp two methanol reformer furnaces at its Gubakha, Russia, methanol plant. The project will allow Metafrax to increase capacity, cut energy use, and improve efficiency and reliability. The first reformer turnaround is scheduled for this summer, the second in summer 1996.

PETROFINA SA gained control of Montefina SA, which operates a 380,000 metric ton/year polypropylene plant at Feluy, Belgium, by acquiring Montedison SpA unit Himont Inc.'s 50% interest in the company. As part of European Commission approval of Montedison's big polyolefins assets merger with Royal Dutch/Shell Group (OGJ, Jan. 10, p. 34), Montedison was required to pull out of Montefina.

A GROUP led by the Philippines' Chempil Group obtained $53.4 million in loans to finance construction of Philippines' first polypropylene plant, a $124 million, 160,000 metric ton/year plant in Bataan province west of Manila. Chempil's partners are BASF AG, Sumitomo Group, Itochu Corp., and Thai Petrochemical Industry Co. Ltd.

COMPANIES

NUEVO ENERGY CO. bought Amoco Production Co.'s 43.75% working interest in the Marine I permit off Congo through a stock purchase of two Amoco Congo units. Included is Yombo oil field, in which Nuevo acquired net oil production of about 4,300 b/d and net reserves of 18 million bbl.

YPF SA, Buenos Aires, will guarantee Maxus Energy Corp.'s outstanding long term debt of about $1 billion upon effecting its acquisition of the Dallas company (OGJ, Mar. 6, p. 32). YPF took the step to ease concerns Maxus debtholders had about the deal.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

NORSK HYDRO AS submitted a second development proposal for Njord field on Block 6407/7 in the Norwegian Sea. Plans call for a $900 million development with a steel semisubmersible production vessel with offshore loading of oil into shuttle tankers and first production in October 1997. Njord reserves are an estimated 200 million bbl of oil and 245 bcf of gas. An earlier $1.4 billion Njord development plan was shelved in 1991.

NORSK HYDRO let a 5 year, $77 million contract to Kvaerner AS, Oslo, to supply gas turbines for all of Hydro's oil and gas installations off Norway. Kvaerner will design a standard generator package to avoid repeats of engineering for each order. First delivery will be two generator sets for Njord field development.

NORWAY'S Den norske stats oljeselskap claims a length record for a coiled tubing application. Statoil ran 7,125 m of 1.5 in. coiled tubing in working over a Statfjord B platform well in the North Sea that deviated as much as 85 from vertical. That beat a previous record of about 6,000 m of coiled tubing in a single well.

STATOIL let a $48 million contract to Kvaerner for hookup of Sleipner T treatment platform in the North Sea. Work on the platform, to be installed in development of West Sleipner gas field, is to begin in May 1996, with hookup to be complete by Oct. 15, 1996.

ELAN ENERGY INC., Calgary, agreed to buy all of Amoco Canada Petroleum Ltd.'s interests in the Elk Point/Lindbergh area of Alberta for $126 million (Canadian). Assets include proved oil reserves of more than 43 million bbl and about 140 undeveloped and 50 developed sections of land. The leases produce 7,500 b/d of 12 gravity oil.

ASHLAND EXPLORATION INC., Ashland, Ky., completed acquisition of certain West Virginia natural gas leases from Waco Oil & Gas Co., Glenville, W.Va., and from United Meridian Corp., Houston, in separate transactions. Combined, the acquisitions give Ashland more than 1,200 gas wells in West Virginia producing 13 MMcfd on a leasehold of almost 60,000 acres.

COFLEXIP STENA OFFSHORE and Deeptech International Inc., both of Houston, signed a letter of intent to form a venture to supply floating production systems (FPSs) to operators in the Flex trend and deepwater areas of the Gulf of Mexico. The venture, DeepFlex Production Partners LP, will acquire two second generation semisubmersible rigs to be converted into FPSS, with the first scheduled for installation in early 1996, DeepFlex ultimately may own as many as six FPSS.

CROSS TIMBERS OIL CO., Fort Worth, agreed in two transactions to acquire producing leases in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas for a combined $24.1 million. Cross Timbers will acquire for $20 million interests in producing oil and gas leases in Hugoton and Panhandle fields from Apache Corp. that are part of a package Apache is buying from Texaco Exploration & Production Inc. Cross Timbers also will buy interests in Northwest Oklahoma from Meridian Oil Inc. for $4.1 million. Involved are reserves totaling 28.8 bcf of gas and 1.2 million bbl of oil and combined production of 7 MMcfd and 400 b/d.

APACHE closed its purchase of 315 oil and gas fields from Texaco for an adjusted purchase price of $571 million (OGJ, Feb. 20, p. 100). Involved are net reserves totaling about 133 million bbl of oil equivalent.

BARRETT RESOURCES CORP., DENVER, received approval from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to double well density to 16 wells/section for 81 sections in Grand Valley, Parachute, and Rulison fields in western Colorado's Piceance basin. It allows addition of about 299 potential infill wells targeting the Cretaceous Mesaverde group-Williams Fork formation.

READING & BATES CORP.'S Jim Cunningham and M.G. Hulme Jr. semisubmersible rigs received contract commitments in Southeast Asia and the Gulf of Mexico at average rates of about $53,000/day, compared with immediate prior contracts of about $35,000/day. R&B said the current world supply of 54 third and fourth generation semis is fully committed, bolstering day rates for semis.

MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE let a $1.4 million contract to Dames & Moore's Santa Barbara, Calif., office to study future development of oil and gas fields off southern California. Companies holding leases there also are contributing funds to the study, due to be complete in July 1997.

THE FIRST CARGO OF CRUDE lifted from Camar field in the Java Sea off Indonesia was sold to Sinochem International Oil (Hong Kong) Ltd, reported Camar interest owner Stirling Resources NL. Camar production, 2,500-2,700 b/d at present, is expected to increase in March with installation of artificial lift in a well on the field's northern lobe.

PIPELINES

U.K. DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY and the Health and Safety Commission published proposals for gas pipeline safety regulations after the U.K. gas market is liberalized in 1996. Each gas pipeline system will require a written safety case for system management, to be approved by the Health and Safety Executive, mirroring safety rules covering all U.K. offshore installations (OGJ, Feb. 14, 1994, p. 25).

CALLON PETROLEUM CO. signed an agreement with Chevron Pipe Line Co. covering offshore gas gathering services via Callon to onshore connections with major gas transmission pipelines in Mobile County, Ala. Pipelaying is to begin at midyear on a 12 in. pipeline linking Chevron U.S.A. Production Co.'s Mobile Block 864 central production facilities with Callon's Mobile gathering line on Tract 73 in Alabama state waters. The agreement calls for Chevron to buy firm capacity commitments from Callon for gas deliveries through the 100 MMcfd system for 15 years beginning in mid-1996.

KUWAIT will let a $430 million contract to China's state owned China Petroleum Engineering Construction Corp. to build the No. 27 and No. 28 crude gathering centers in western Kuwait and lay a pipeline linking them with the 390,000 b/d Mina al-Ahmadi refinery on Kuwait's coast.

GOVERNMENT

RUSSIA'S GOVERNMENT granted exemptions from its oil export tax to the Tatex and Geoilbent joint ventures. Tatex, a combine of Global Natural Resources Inc., Houston, and Tatarstan's Tatneft, produces 5,200 b/d in Tatarstan. Geoilbent, made up of Benton Oil & Gas Co. and two Russian companies, produces more than 5,000 b/d from North Gubkinskoye field in western Siberia. The tax works out to about $4/bbl.

CANADA'S Energy Resources Conservation Board and Public Utilities Board merged as the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board to cut costs and overlap and improve operating efficiencies. Both boards' main functions will continue as they are, with no near term changes planned for contacts, office locations, or information sources.

TERMINALS

KUWAIT OIL CO. let a $50 million contract to National Petroleum Construction Co. of Abu Dhabi for a catenary anchor leg mooring (CALM) buoy project. The contract covers engineering, procurement, and construction of two CALM buoys, pipeline end manifolds, 48 in. and 20 in. subsea pipelines, and a control system capable of loading very large crude carriers. Completion is due in January 1996.

STORAGE

COM-TEK RESOURCES INC., London, and a Chinese group are developing a coastal site at Suimork in China's Guangdong province as a 188,700 bbl capacity oil tank farm initially to meet local storage needs and later to serve proposed power plants in the region. A pier will be converted to handle tankers with 5,000 metric ton capacity. Project cost is $4.5 million. Storage capacity will be expanded as demand rises.