INDUSTRY BRIEFS

EXPLORATION

PLUSPETROL SA, Buenos Aires, signed an exploration contract with Tunisia's Entreprise Tunisienne d'Activites Petrolieres for the 4,032 sq km El Ouara block in Tunisia's Ghadames basin. Pluspetrol committed to spend a combined $7 million for a seismic program and drilling two wildcats in 4 years. The Southeast Tunisia block is 500 km south of Tunis.

GECO-PRAKLA EXPLORATION SERVICES, Gatwick, U.K., plans a speculative 3,000 line km, 2D seismic survey in the U.K.'s exploration hotspot west of the Shetland Islands this spring. Data will be acquired by the MV Akademik Shatskiy survey vessel.

WESTERN ATLAS INC., Beverly Hills, Calif., and EasternOil Services signed an exclusive agreement with Ukraine to conduct an operation they believe to be the Black Sea's largest speculative seismic survey. Work is to start this spring and cover 15,000 km in water as deep as 2,000 M.

TRITON ENERGY CORP. unit Triton Oil Co. of Thailand and Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd. unit Petronas Carigali Sdn. Bhd. expect to start acquiring 5,750 km of 2D seismic data in June on offshore Block A-18 in the Malaysia-Thailand joint development area. Wildcat and appraisal drilling will follow.

SULFUR

PARSONS CORP. unit Ralph M. Parsons Co. Ltd. and BOC Ltd. jointly developed modified Claus sulfur recovery technology, PS Claus, they say offers a 30% cost saving over currently available technology, Air Claus. Parsons also developed ER Claus, another modified Claus process, it says can recover at least 98% of sulfur from by-product gases.

PIPELINES

CANSPEC GROUP INC., Calgary, is helping investigate the cause of a rupture and fire in a Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd. gas pipeline that shattered more than 33 ft of line last month near Maple Creek, Sask. (OGJ, Feb. 21, p. 30). Ottawa's Canadian Transportation Safety Board is conducting a separate investigation. A report is expected on a cause by the end of the month.

PETROLEUM AUTHORITY OF THAILAND (PTT) let an $87.16 Million contract to Napa Pipe Corp. and one for $59.93 million to a group made up of Sumitomo, Nissho Iwai, Itochu Corp., Mitsui & Co., Marubeni Corp., and Mitsubishi Corp. to supply line pipe for a gas pipeline in the Gulf of Thailand. PTT will spend $720 million to lay a second gas trunk line parallel to its existing trunk line from Unocal Thailand's Erawan gas field in the central gulf to Thailand's eastern seaboard.

CNG TRANSMISSION CORP., Clarksburg, - W. Va., will spend $41.8 million the next 2 years to cover the cost of Clean Air Act compliance in New York and Pennsylvania, It will fit more than 70 engines at 24 stations with combustion modification equipment to reduce NOx emissions.

CITGO PETROLEUM CORP. agreed in principle to acquire 950 miles of ARCO Pipe Line Co.'s 10 and 8 in. products pipeline assets in Texas and Oklahoma, Citgo proposes to acquire ARCO's Houston to Drumright, Okla., southern products system and its 50% ownership in the CASA products system in South Texas.

RUHRGAS AG, Essen, placed an order for an FT8-55 gas turbine for its Werne, North-Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, compressor station. It's the first order for the unit, which is built by MAN Gutehoffnungshutte AG, Oberhausen, Germany. The turbine is scheduled to start operation by mid-1995.

TRANSOK INC., Tulsa, is completing a $38 million compression centralization project in western Oklahoma for gas gathered north and west of its Clinton processing plant in Custer County. It expects to complete similar work by mid-1995 at a cost of $25 million for gas gathered east of the plant.

TRANSCANADA PIPELINES LTD., Calgary, let a $5 million (Canadian) contract to ATCO Enterprises Inc. division ATCO Noise Management, also of Calgary, to design, supply, and install three compressor buildings equipped to suppress noise at Dryden, Smooth Rock Falls, and Barrie, Ont. Work is to be complete in October.

CHEVRON U.S.A. PRODUCTS CO., Texaco Trading & Transportation Inc., and Anschutz Co. signed a memorandum of understanding for Pacific Pipeline System Inc. to lay a $150 million, 130 mile crude oil pipeline linking Emidio, Calif., to Los Angeles. The line will move oil from the Santa Barbara Channel and Kern County to Los Angeles basin refineries.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

ARCO unit Atlantic Richfield Indonesia Inc. started production from West Java's Arjuna gas field where flow is expected to reach 310 MMcfd when the field is fully developed. Atlantic Richfield Bali North Inc. started production from the Kangean block gas field, where current output is 175 MMcfd.

INDIA'S Oil & Natural Gas Commission let a $75.79 million contract to Larsen & Toubro for design, engineering, fabrication, transportation, installation, and precommissioning of three wellhead platforms in the Bombay High area off India. The contract includes laying 261/4 km of subsea pipeline and modifications to existing platforms supplied by subcontractors. The wellhead platforms are to be completed in phases, with delivery starting in March 1995.

READING & BATES CORP., Houston, and DeepTech International Inc. agreed to form a 50-50 venture to acquire and operate semisubmersible drilling rigs to be converted for use as floating production systems. They will focus on U.S. Gulf of Mexico flex trend and deepwater areas.

IRAQ completed work on its 2 billion bbl Khabbaz oil field development project. Thirty wells were drilled, producing a combined 30,000-40,000 b/d of oil and 45 bscfd of gas, OPEC News Agency reported.

CHINA NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORP. unit China National Technical Import Corp. let a $400,000 contract to Electromagnetic Oil Recovery Inc. (EORI), Tulsa, to supply and install its proprietary enhanced oil recovery equipment on two wells in Liaohe oil field in Northeast China. One well will get EORI's reservoir heating system, the other its tubing heating equipment.

SIBTEX CHINA LTD., Bermuda, and Tianjin Electric Motor General Factory formed joint venture company Temtex in Tianjin, northern China, to manufacture and sell electronic submersible pump systems, horizontal pumps, and surface electric motors.

RUSSIA'S Rostov regional administration asked Amoco Corp. unit Amoco Eurasia Petroleum's help in development of Romanovskoye oil field, reports Alexei Khomyakov, deputy head of the regional agency. The field covers 1,200 sq km.

BETA WELL SERVICE INC., Calgary, agreed to acquire 50% interest in a joint venture in southern Russia's Stavropol region from Anglo Resources Ltd., Gibraltar, U.K. The JV consists of three producing areas with 800 wells, which need remedial work, and two E&D areas.

BETA WELL SERVICE said negotiations ended on its proposal to buy 25% interest in another Stavropol region JV oil project from Genesis Europa, Houston, which holds a 50% interest (OGJ, Jan. 31, p. 42).

CANADA'S National Energy Board and Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board agreed to combine data base information on industry reserves. The data base will be maintained at ERCB offices in Calgary.

EUROMIN CANADA LTD., Calgary, agreed to acquire an interest in a Siberian oil joint venture owned in part by the Russian government. It would obtain a 90% interest in Yamalo Ltd., Bermuda, which holds a 50% interest in Urengoil Ltd. The Russian government owns the other 50% of Urengoil. Euromin plans to raise $20 million in funding for the project.

JP KENNY EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION LTD., Guildford, U.K., agreed to develop oil and gas fields in Ukraine's Poltova area, 350 km east of Kiev. Development will be carried out by Poltova Petroleum Co. (PPC), a joint venture of Poltova Gasprom 51% and JPK Expro 49%. PPC will develop the Rudenkovskoye and Novo-Nickolaevskoye group of fields, which holds reserves estimated at 100 million bbl of crude oil and condensate and 1.1 tcf of gas.

NORSKE SHELL AS let a 280 million kroner ($37.6 million) contract to Aker AS, Oslo, for inshore and offshore hookup and completion work on its East Troll field platform. The contract is an extension of one for deck fabrication at Aker's Stord, Norway, yard. Work will begin this month for completion in March 1996.

HUSKY OIL LTD., Calgary, received approval from Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board to drill five controversial delineation wells in the Kananaskis area southwest of Calgary. Drilling of the Moose Mountain tests, located in the Rocky Mountain foothills in the Kananaskis recreational area, has been opposed by environmental groups.

MARKETING

ROYAL DUTCH/SHELL GROUP reentered India's downstream sector in a marketing joint venture with India's Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL), Bharat Shell Pte. Ltd. The venture initially involves replacing all of BPCL's lubricants with Shell branded premium lubricants. Plans also call for Bharat Shell to import and distribute LPG in India as well as establish an LPG infrastructure there.

REFINING

CHINA'S state petrochemical company Sinopec, the municipal government of Shenzen, and South Korea's Sunkyong Group formed a joint venture to build a $1.5 billion, 100,000 b/d refinery in the free trade zone of Shenzen on China's southern coast.

WITCO CORP., New York, will spend $5 million to increase lube oil dewaxing capability at its 10,000 b/cd Bradford, Pa., refinery. Work is scheduled for completion early in spring 1995.

CHEVRON U.S.A. INC. agreed to hire a consultant to review operations at its 81,900 b/cd El Paso refinery. The move came soon after El Paso's mayor cited a series of fires in his threat to take steps toward closing the plant. Five fires during 18 months injured two workers, United Press International reported.

PETROLEOS DE VENEZUELA SA unit Lagoven's 571,000 b/cd Amuay refinery in Falcon state last year produced 93.9% of its capacity of value added products. It's the highest level reached by the plant since 1990 when Lagoven started tracking that category.

LEBANON'S government seeks foreign partners in a venture to rehabilitate and expand the Tripoli refinery. Middle East Economic Survey said the $120 million project will raise capacity to 50,000 b/d from 20,000 b/d. The plant has been shut down since mid-1992 when it was damaged in Lebanon's civil war.

CRI INTERNATIONAL INC. is increasing antiCAT catalyst presulfiding capacity by building a 15 million lb/year plant in Rodange, Luxembourg, and expanding its Lafayette, La., plant to process 20 million lb/year. The U.S. expansion was completed in February, and the plant will start up this month.

U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY certified Profimatics Inc. as a baseline verification auditor for reformulated and conventional gasoline programs, U.S. refiners are required to conduct such an audit by Sept. 1 to document 1990 gasoline properties (OGJ, Jan. 17, p. 16). Beginning Jan. 1, 1995, gasoline produced at a plant will be compared with the plant's 1990 baseline to determine compliance with federal standards.

GAS STORAGE

CMS ENERGY CORP. unit CMS Gas Transmission & Storage Go. agreed to acquire 50% ownership in Tejas Power Corp's Moss Bluff Gas Storage Systems, which owns a gas storage site with combined 5 bcf capacity in two caverns 60 miles east of Houston. Tejas retains the other 50%. The two companies plan to develop another 4 bcf of storage in a third cavern at Moss Bluff.

PETROCHEMICALS

SAUDI BASIC INDUSTRIES CORP. asked Snamprogetti SpA to supply its fluidized bed dehydrogenation license, basic engineering, design package, and technical help for a 17,500 b/sd methyl tertiary butyl ether plant to be built for Saudi Petrochemical Co. at Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

AMOCO CHEMICAL CO. chose Technologic Progetti Lavori, Rome, to engineer, plan, and build its first wholly owned purified terephthalic acid plant. The 500,000 metric ton/year plant will be built at Kuantan on Malaysia's east coast. Amoco said the plant will be the largest of its kind in Asia.

PHILLIPS PETROLEUM CO. reduced its estimate of fourth quarter and full year earnings for 1993 by $19 million because of settlements paid to victims of an Oct. 23, 1989, explosion at its Houston chemical complex. It agreed this month to settle 191 lawsuits brought by victims of the blast that killed 23 persons and injured 130 more.

ALTERNATE FUELS

MAGMA POWER CO. unit Visayas Geothermal Power Co. (VGPC) let contract to Sumitomo Corp, to design, procure, build, and start up VGPC's 231,000 kw Malitbog geothermal power plant in Philippines. The $280 million plant will be built on Leyte Island (OGJ, Jan. 31, p. 42).