Industry Briefs

Futures

New York Mercantile Exchange
set an annual volume record of 109,538,831 contracts traded in 1999, besting a previous record of 95,018,685 in 1998. These volumes include 89,189,928 contracts traded on the NYMEX division and 20,348,903 COMEX-division trades. NYMEX also set a record volume of crude oil futures traded for the year, at 37,860,064 contracts; this topped 1998's 30,495,647 contracts. Meanwhile, NYMEX's board of directors unanimously approved a demutualization plan that will convert the exchange from a not-for-profit membership structure to a for-profit organization.

Drilling-production

Triton Energy Ltd.,
Dallas, received approval from Equatorial Guinea for the development of its Ceiba oil field off Equatorial Guinea (OGJ, Nov. 29, 1999, Newsletter). Initial production of 52,000 b/d of oil is anticipated by yearend 2000. A 2 million bbl-capacity floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel will be used. Triton has yet to finalize all major development contracts, including that for the FPSO, it said. Triton plans to spend $90 million in 2000 on the field's development and $32 million on Equatorial Guinea exploration projects. A 3D seismic survey is planned.

Nigeria's Famfa Oil
tested an appraisal well on Block 216 off Nigeria, about 220 miles southeast of Lagos. Agbami-2, drilled to 15,683 ft TD in 4,800 ft of water, cut 534 ft of pay in five oil-bearing zones and flowed 10,000 b/d of 45° gravity oil with 2,200 psi of wellhead pressure. The well delineates a discovery made in early 1999 (OGJ, Jan. 11, 1999, Newsletter). Holding interests in the block are operator Famfa, Texaco Inc. unit Star Deep Water Petroleum Ltd., and Braspetro-Petrobras Internacional SA. More delineation drilling and technical studies are planned to fully appraise the field, says Texaco.

Phillips Petroleum Co. UK Ltd.
let contract to the newly created consortium Platform Abandonment Combined Technologies (PACT) to plug and abandon all 23 wells in Maureen field in the UK North Sea. PACT-consisting of UWG Ltd., Baker Oil Tools, Baker Atlas, Progenitive Services Ltd., Team Energy Resources, and Claxton Engineering-will set cement plugs downhole across all annu* and within the tubing to permanently seal off the reservoir and wellbore. All of the casing strings and part of the tubing are to be recovered from the seabed, PACT says. The well abandonment program is expected to take nearly 4 months.

Cabinda Gulf Oil Co. Ltd.
a unit of Chevron Corp., announced first oil from Kuito field on Block 14 off Angola's Cabinda enclave. Production is expected to rise to 50,000 b/d from the current 45,000 b/d. A consortium of Coflexip Stena Offshore, Single Buoy Moorings Inc., and ABB Offshore Systems Inc. built and installed the Kuito facilities, and Sedco-Forex drilled and completed the wells. After commissioning, no natural gas will be flared at Kuito, says Chevron. Interests in the field are: operator Cabinda Gulf, 31%; Total Angola, Sonangol, and Agip Angola Exploration BV, 20% each; and Portuguese state firm Petrogal, 9%.

Callon Petroleum Co.,
Natchez, Miss., reported that its OCS-G 16337 No. 2 natural gas well on South Marsh Island Block 261, about 60 miles south of Lafayette, La., blew out and caught fire on Jan. 2. Gas flow has since been stopped, and the fire has been extinguished. At presstime, the well was to be plugged in a few days by Wild Well Control Inc. Callon said all personnel were evacuated safely from the RB Falcon Drilling Rig No. 153.

Dublin International Petroleum (Egypt) Ltd.,
a unit of Tanganyika Oil Co. Ltd., Vancouver, BC, began oil sales from Hana field on Egypt's West Gharib Block, west of the Gulf of Suez (OGJ, Oct. 18, 1999, p. 91). Tanker truck deliveries to the Bakr South storage and export terminal are expected to average 3,000 b/d of oil initially. Operator Dublin International holds a 50% interest in West Gharib; other stakes are TransAtlantic Petroleum Corp. unit GHP Exploration (West Gharib) Ltd., 30%, and Drucker Industries Inc. unit Drucker Petroleum Inc., 20%.

Tuskar Resources PLC,
Dublin, announced first oil from Obe field on Block OML 110 off Nigeria. Production from Obe No. 4 well is exceeding the expected 4,000 b/d and will be transported via the Crystal Sea floating production, storage, and off- loading vessel, licensed from Brovig Offshore ASA subsidiary Green Sea AS (OGJ, July 12, 1999, p. 34). Production revenue will be shared between Tuskar and Cavendish Petroleum Nigeria Ltd.

Gas supply

Western Australian gas utility
AlintaGas signed a 10-year, $200 million natural gas sales contract with each of the sellers in the North West Shelf Venture. Partners in the venture are: Woodside Energy Ltd., 50%; BP Developments Australia Pty. Ltd., 16.7%; Chevron Asiatic Ltd., 16.7%; BHP Petroleum (North West Shelf) Pty. Ltd., 8.3%; and Shell Development (Australia) Pty. Ltd., 8.3%. The contract involves supply of more than 37 MMcfd of gas, in addition to North West Shelf gas volumes slated for sale to AlintaGas under an earlier contract. Deliveries are slated to begin in 2002.

Pipelines

Coastal Corp.'s ANR Pipeline Co.,
Great Lakes Gas Transmission Co., and TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. will jointly offer through Mar. 31 about 100 MMcfd of natural gas transportation service on their respective systems between Chicago and Dawn, Ont. ANR and Great Lakes are making transportation service available for 5¢/ dekatherm/day, and service provided by TransCanada is biddable for as low as 2¢/dekatherm/day for firm service and 1¢/dekatherm/day for interruptible service.

National Iranian Gas Co.
and Iran's Oil Industries Engineering & Construction let contract to Gaz de France engineering unit Sofregaz for an undisclosed sum for design and construction of two compressor stations to increase transmission capacity of the IGAT 2 natural gas pipeline in Iran. The two stations, S3 and S6, will include, respectively, four and three compression sets, each driven by a 25-Mw gas turbine. The contract is for project management, engineering, procurement, and construction supervision. Sofregaz will supply the compression sets and related equipment.

Gas gathering Affiliates of
Enron Corp., Houston, and Northern Border Partners LP, Omaha, acquired interests in the Northern Header gathering system from CMS Energy Corp. unit CMS Field Services for an undisclosed sum. CMS will remain project manager and retain a majority interest in the system. The three firms will expand the system-renamed Bighorn Gas Gathering LLC-to serve a more extensive area of the Powder River basin in northeastern Wyoming. Capable of gathering more than 250 MMcfd of coalbed methane gas, Bighorn cocnsists of 60 miles of existing gathering line; 40 additional miles are under construction.

Exploration

Chevron Corp.
made an oil and gas discovery on Main Pass 77 Block on the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf, according to partner Apache Corp., Houston. The group brought new-fault discovery well A-22 ST onto production at a rate of 19.3 MMcfd of gas and 1,500 b/d of oil through a 7/16-in. choke with 5,900 psi flowing tubing pressure. Operator Chevron holds a 48.4% interest in the well. Other stakes are: Apache, 26.2%; Contour Energy Co., 18.06%; Sabco Oil & Gas, 6.5%; and Key Production Co., 0.84%.

Sherritt International Corp.
and its partners completed a directional well in Seboruco field on the north coast of Cuba. During the first 4 days of testing, Seboruco 1, drilled to 3,148 m, flowed 2,500 b/d of oil. Partners in the venture are operator Sherritt, Pebercan Inc., and Maurel & Prom. The group expects to finish drilling a second well by the end of January.

Fusion Oil & Gas NL,
Perth, signed a farmout agreement with the participants in the production-sharing contract covering Areas A and B off Mauritania. The participants-Woodside Mauritania Pty. Ltd. and British-Borneo International Ltd.-have committed to drill a single exploration well, which can be drilled on either area, before January 2001. The deal also covers partial funding of a $12.8 million 3D seismic survey covering 3,500 sq km in both areas.

A combine led by India's Reliance Group
was awarded 12 of the 25 exploration blocks offered in India's first licensing round under its new exploration licensing policy (OGJ, Apr. 26, 1999, p. 24). Other block winners are: state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp., Indian Oil Corp., Oil India Ltd., Russia's Gazprom, Mosbacher Energy Co., and Cairn Energy PLC.

Seven Seas Petroleum Inc.,
Houston, applied to Colombian state firm Ecopetrol to declare as commercial Guaduas field in the Magdalena basin. If the application is approved, Ecopetrol will pay half the development costs and reimburse Seven Seas and its partners for 50% of certain direct exploration costs, to be paid through Ecopetrol's share of future production. If Ecopetrol elects not to participate, the Seven Seas group can develop the field on a sole-risk basis, paying 100% of development costs. Ecopetrol could then take a 50% stake, following payment out of future production of 200% of the group's sole-risk expenditures.

Gas processing

Saudi Aramco
let contract to Foster Wheeler Energy Ltd., Reading, UK, for the development of a new gas processing complex near Haradh, Saudi Arabia. Foster Wheeler will provide preliminary engineering, procurement, construction management, and other services for Saudi Aramco's Haradh gas project by 2004. During the first year of production, the plant will process 1.4 bcfd of gas, plus recover elemental sulfur and condensate.

Petrochemicals

Formosa Plastics Corp.
(FPC) is planning a test run of its new 200,000 tonne/year ethyl vinyl acetate plant at its naphtha cracking complex in Taiwan's Yunlin County. If the test run is successful, the plant could begin commercial production by the end of January. The plant will eventually process ethylene feed produced by the complex's No. 2 naphtha cracker, slated to be built during the second phase of the Yunlin project. Until this second cracker is completed, Formosa will obtain most of its feedstock on the spot market.

Refining

TotalFina SA
let contract to ABB Lummus Global BV and Bouygues-Offshore unit Sofresid SA for basic design of an integrated gasification combined-cycle plant to be built at TotalFina's Gonfreville l'Orcher refinery. The 365-Mw plant will be owned by TotalFina, Electricit

Mobil Oil Australia Ltd.
confirmed it will cut production from its Port Stanvac refinery in Adelaide by 40% this year. The announcement follows the close of a fuel-swap arrangement in South Australia with Shell Co. of Australia Ltd. and BP Australia Ltd. The production cut decision may indicate increased pressure on ExxonMobil Corp. to exit Australia's refining sector, as speculation is increasing that the firm may eventually import all its Australian fuel needs from its other Asia-Pacific refineries. ExxonMobil says it has no plans to close Port Stanvac or its Altona refinery in Melbourne, despite mounting losses and low margins.

Taiwan
ordered a halt to the production of leaded gasoline effective Jan. 1, 2000. Estimates peg leaded-fuel cars at 70,000, all of which will need to be modified or replaced.

Companies

Duke Energy Field Services Inc.
(DEFS), a unit of Duke Energy Corp., Charlotte, NC, acquired 2,300 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines and interests in six gas processing plants in central Oklahoma from Conoco Inc. and Mitchell Energy & Development Corp., The Woodlands, Tex., in separate transactions. The assets will become part of the recently announced DEFS-Phillips Petroleum Corp. midstream joint venture (OGJ, Jan. 3, 2000, p. 24). Mitchell will gain DEFS's interests in the UP Bryan Plant, Ferguson Burleson, and Austin chalk gas gathering and processing systems in central Texas.

Santa Fe Snyder Corp.,
Houston, agreed to two acquisitions that will increase its global production and reserves. The firm bought an additional 33.34% interest in the Angus-Manatee complex in the Gulf of Mexico from Marathon Oil Co. for $160 million. The purchase increases to 49% Santa Fe Snyder's stake in the complex, operated by Shell Deepwater Development Inc. The deal includes equity in an eight-well subsea manifold tied back to Bullwinkle platform and six blocks in the Green Canyon area. The firm also agreed to acquire TotalFina's 30% interest in a Sumatra concession for an undisclosed sum. Santa Fe Snyder says the deals are part of its plan to focus on basins where it has a competitive advantage.