INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

LNG

ABU DHABI GAS LIQUEFACTION GO. let a $1 billion contract to Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. to build as many as four 135,000 cu m LNG carriers for expansion of its LNG complex at Das Island, Abu Dhabi. The first vessel will be required for deliveries to Tokyo Electric Power Co. starting in 1994.

ACQUISITIONS

ELF AQUITAINE NORGE AS received Norwegian government approval to purchase all shares of Norwegian Oil Consortium AS & Co. and Norwegian Oil Consortium AS-collectively Noco-for 1.95 billion kroner effective last Jan. 1 . Noco's assets include five blocks in the Ekofisk area involving interests in Valhall, Tor, and Hod fields. The purchase is expected to hike Elf's Norwegian production by more than 23,800 b/d this year.

RWE-DEA, Hamburg, completed the $590 million acquisition of Vista Chemical Co. pending shareholder approval (OGJ, June 17, p. 30). RWE-DEA now owns 98.9% of Vista's total outstanding shares through a merger of Vista and its Alpha Acquisition Corp. unit.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

KUMKOL OIL FIELD in Central Kazakhstan, U.S.S.R., began production and is expected to peak at 60,000 b/d. Oil moves through the trans-Kazakhstan pipeline.

STATOIL (U.K.) LTD. agreed to acquire a 5% interest in Victor gas field in the southern U.K. North Sea from BP Exploration for $30 million, following a similar deal recently between Superior Oil (U.K.) Ltd. and Sovereign Oil & Gas plc (OGJ, May 13, p. 41). Victor production via an unmanned platform is to average 148 MMcfd in 1991. After the transactions are complete, interests in the field will be operator Conoco (U.K) Ltd. 20%, Superior 45%, BP 20%, Statoil 10%, and Sovereign 5%.

SANTOS LTD.'S 1 Wallawanny wildcat flowed slightly more than 400 b/d of crude through a 1/2 in. choke from Basal Jurassic at 6,1906,207 ft in the Eromanga basin of Southwest Queensland. The discovery is about 20 km southwest of production and pipeline facilities at Jackson and 6 km west of Jarrar oil field on the Naccowlah block of ATP-259 permit. It is the first discovery and fifth well of a 12 wildcat campaign Santos and partners plan on the permit. Interests are Santos 48%, Delhi Petroleum (Esso) 32%, Claremont Petroleum 10%, Ampol Exploration 7.5%, and Oil Co. of Australia 2.5%.

SANTOS 4 Tarwonga appraisal well on the Toolachee block of PELs 5 and 6, South Australia, flowed 8.3 MMcfd through a 1/2 in. choke on drilistem test of Permian Patchawarra at 7,580-7,624 ft. The well is 60 km southeast of Moomba and 450 m west of 2 Tarwonga. Santos operates the well for interest owners Santos Group 60%, Delhi 30%, and Sagasco Resources 10%.

BOW VALLEY INDUSTRIES LTD. unit Southern Cross (Tanjung) Ltd. bought a 25% interest in production in the Tanjung Raya enhanced oil recovery area of Indonesia. Southern Cross is in partnership with state owned Pertamina 50% and Bonham (Tanjung) Ltd. 25%. Bow Valley said the region has about 600 million bbl of original oil in place.

GULF OF SUEZ PETROLEUM CO. (Gupco) in last month produced its 3 billionth bbl of oil in Egypt, an average of 300,000 b/d the past 28 years. Jointly owned by Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. and Amoco Egypt Oil Co., Gupco operates 90 platforms in the Gulf of Suez and has drilled almost 800 offshore and on shore wells in Egypt, 304 of which currently produce 430,000 b/d of oil.

PETROCHEMICALS

URUMQI GENERAL PETROCHEMICAL WORKS acquired technology from four undisclosed U.K. and U.S. companies for a 75,000 metric ton/year purified terephthalic acid unit and a 55,000 metric ton/year paraxylene unit to provide feedstock for the second phase of a polyester complex in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. First phase construction of the polyester complex is to be complete by 1992, the second phase by 1995.

REFINING

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO OIL CO. LTD. let a $200 million project management and basic engineering services contract to M.W. Kellogg Co. for an upgrading to double capacity at its 116,000 b/d Pointe-a-Pierre, Trinidad, refinery. The contract includes modernization, conversion of a hydrotreater to a hydrocracker, upgrading of a catalytic reformer, adding a fluid catalytic cracking unit, and upgrading all instrumentation. Scheduled completion is in 1994.

EXPLORATION

GARNET RESOURCES CORP., Houston, and Texaco Petroleum Mij. (Nederland) BY, signed an exploration agreement covering Garnet's 244,000 acre West Hazro block in Southeast Turkey, calling for Texaco to conduct seismic surveys in exchange for a 50% interest in the block. Texaco will have an option to drill, assuming 75% of costs and Garnet 25%. Completion costs and later activity on the licenses will be shared 5050.

HARKEN ENERGY CORP., Dallas. let contract to Deutsche Tiefbohr AG, Bad Bentheim, Germany, to provide land drilling services and equipment for Harken's Jarim prospect off Bahrain (OGJ, May 13, p. 41). The contract represents a significant portion of the $7 million drilling and completion cost estimated for the well. Drilling is to commence in early October, after construction of a 3 mile long dredged channel and three artifi-cial islands.

SANTOS 47 Gidgealpa exploratory well cut two gas zones in Jurassic Poolowanna on the Moomba block of PELs 5 and 6, South Australia. On drillstem tests at 6,461-6,508 ft and 6,511-42 ft, the well flowed 6.8 MMcfd and 6.25 MMcfd, respectively, through a 1/2 in. choke. Site is 25 km northwest of Moomba and 900 m southwest of 2 Gidgealpa. Santos Ltd. operates the well for interest owners Santos Group 60%, Delhi 30%, and Sagasco Resources 10%.

TRANSPORTATION

FIRE at a gasoline terminal in northern Paris injured 13 firefighters and forced evacuation of 2,000 residents and workers in the area. Cause of the fire was not known at presstime, but it broke out during pipeline repair at a storage site owned by Total Cie. Francaise des Petroles. The fire was confined to the pipeline to the terminal and did not ignite nearby gasoline storage tanks.

EXPORTS-IMPORTS

VENEZUELA will supply Costa Rica with 10,000 b/d of diesel fuel and 6,000 b/d of gasoline until repairs can be made to the latter's refinery and tank farms, damaged by an earthquake. Venezuela, which normally supplies Costa Rica with crude at preferential credit terms under the San Jose accord, also will extend Costa Rica credits of as much as $35 million for public works and other projects.

Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.