U.S. BRIEFS

ALTERNATE FUELS

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY agreed with Encoal Corp., La Jolla, Calif., to jointly fund $72 million to build and start up a 1,000 ton/day LFC process demonstration plant at Triton Energy Corp.'s Buckskin mine near Gillette, Wyo., in the Powder River basin. It is scheduled to be in service in first quarter 1992.

THE FORMER TENNOL ENERGY 26.4 million gal/year fuel ethanol plant on the Tennessee River in Jasper, Tenn., will be auctioned Sept. 12 by Oliver's Auctioneers.

COGENERATION

ENERGYNORTH INC., Manchester, N.H., Tenneco Cogeneration Development Co., General Electric Co., Nordic Power Inc., and Concord Steam Corp. agreed to jointly develop a 56,000 kw cogeneration plant in Concord, N.H., at an expected $65 million cost.

TRANSPORTATION

THE EXXON VALDEZ tanker was expected to return to service in mid-July under the name Exxon Mediterranean after repairs, outfitting, and sea trials. Exxon Shipping Co. said the ship will enter foreign service, probably loading crude in the Mediterranean or Middle East.

EXXON CO. U.S.A. sued Alaskan boat owner Jim Robinson, also known as Kenneth Harvey Robertson, for $2.5 million, claiming he used falsified logs and invoices to defraud the company after the Exxon Valdez oil spill last year. Exxon hired 12 of Robinson's boats for more than $3 million to help with the cleanup and claims it was falsely billed for about $1.5 million. It also seeks $1 million punitive damages.

PHILLIPS 66 NATURAL GAS CO. will add a residue outlet at its Cimarron gas processing plant with laying of an 8.6 mile, 12 in. pipeline in Woodward County, Okla., to link the plant to Williams Natural Gas Co.'s 26 in. Canadian-Blackwell pipeline. Williams will lay the line, aiming for fall completion.

MOBIL NATURAL GAS INC. agreed to supply South Jersey Gas Co., Folsom, N.J., 10 MMcfd of gas starting Nov. 1. South Jersey Gas will move the gas through its firm capacity on Columbia Gulf Transmission Co. and Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. pipelines.

PETROCHEMICALS

ALLIED-SIGNAL INC., Morris Township, N.J., agreed with Exxon Chemical Co. to a high density polyethylene partnership, Paxon Polymer Co. LP, with a plant in Baton Rouge.

COMPANIES

WELLSTREAM CORP. and Coflexip & Services Inc., both of Houston, settled and dismissed their claims and counterclaims regarding trade secrets. A joint statement said neither side admitted liability, and both are free to pursue worldwide oil industry business.

PARAMOUNT PETROLEUM CO. INC., Houston, and Monticello Acquisition Corp., Dallas, merged their oil and gas operations. The new firm, which will retain the Paramount name, will have first year budgets of $45 million for exploration and $12.5 million for acquisitions.

GOVERNMENT

STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE added more than 2.7 million bbl of oil and leached two new oil storage caverns at Big Hill in Southeast Texas during May, boosting total inventory to 586.2 million bbl.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

UNION EXPLORATION PARTNERS LTD completed the purchase of Prairie Holding Co., a unit of Placer Dome Inc. The purchase includes more than 20,000 acres of undeveloped acreage in East Texas and Louisiana, leases producing 36 MMcfd of gas, 4,100 b/d of hydrocarbon liquids, and 106 long tons/day of sulfur, and interests in three gas processing plants (OGJ, May 7, p. 46).

CHILES OFFSHORE CORP., Houston, signed bareboat charter contracts with owners of the Johnnie Hoffman, Penrod 96, and Penrod 97 jack up rigs. They are independent leg cantilever units capable of operating in up to 250 ft of water. Chiles also has an option to buy all three at an agreed price by Nov. 30.

DEKALB ENERGY CO., Denver, sold interests in Alvarado and LaReforma fields, Starr County, Tex., to an undisclosed buyer for $5.2 million and an interest in Friar Ranch field, Dewitt County, Tex. The interests DeKalb sold were acquired in the $130 million purchase of Royal Producing Corp.-Texas.

EXPLORATION CO. OF LOUISIANA INC., Lafayette, agreed to buy working interests of 28-49% in 2,838 acres in and become operator of Berry R. Cox field in South Texas for $40 million. The interests, acquired from an undisclosed seller, include gas reserves of about 60 bcf.

CELSIUS ENERGY CO., Salt Lake City, said the 16-1 Celsius State gas field extension well southwest of Rawlins, Wyo., flowed 7.6 MMcfd after hydraulic fracturing at 12,250-269 ft. The 12,797 ft option test well, in which Celsius has 30% interest before payout and 47 1/2% after payout, flowed 1 MMcfd before treatment. Union Pacific Resources Co. is operator.

ALTEX MINERALS INC., Denver, and undisclosed partners and private investors acquired working interests in 39 oil and gas wells in Wyoming from Phillips Petroleum Co. Altex said early estimates show the purchase will add about 34,000 bbl to its oil reserves and 360 MMcf to gas reserves.

PHIBRO ENERGY INC., New York, acquired certain assets of Questor Drilling Inc. and other entities. The new firm, Questor Drilling Corp., will serve as Phibro's contract drilling unit.

BENTON OIL & GAS CO., Ventura, Calif., acquired two working interests in West Cote Blanche Bay field 5 miles off southern Louisiana from a group of independents. Benton acquired a 5.47% interest for about $2.1 million. It agreed to buy another 16.47% interest for about $6.5 million, subject to certain closing conditions. Both agreements are effective Jan. 1, 1990. Benton estimates reserves include as much as 3 million bbl.

EXPLORATION

GREAT WESTERN RESOURCES INC., Houston, tested its A-3 discovery well off Louisiana in East Cameron Block 297 at 836 b/d of oil and 17.1 MMcfd of gas at 4,750 psi surface pressure from 385 ft of pay in two zones at 16,500-18,850 ft.

SEAGULL ENERGY CORP., Houston, said the 2 Cockrell discovery well off Louisiana flowed 5.5 MMcfd of gas and 331 b/d of condensate through a 12/64 in. choke with 4,979 psi flowing tubing pressure from five pay zones at 12,822-844 ft. The well, in which Seagull holds 25% interest, is on Ship Shoal Block 105 in 35 ft of water, about 110 miles southwest of New Orleans.

Copyright 1990 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.