INDUSTRY BRIEFS

ENVIRONMENT

U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY reports industrial releases of toxic chemicals dropped 224 million lb, or 6.5%, in 1992, and have fallen 35% since the base line year of 1988. Although releases declined, EPA said the combined volume of generated wastes increased slightly to 37.3 billion lb and is expected to climb when figures are in for 1993 and 1994.

TERMINALS

U.S. COAST GUARD issued a rule expanding the boundaries of the safety zone for the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port. The rule, issued in the Apr. 13 Federal Register, bans exploration and production in a wider area around the terminal in the Gulf of Mexico. LOOP agreed to compensate Conoco Inc. for four Grand Isle blocks in the no-drill area.

COMPANIES

PANCANADIAN PETROLEUM LTD., Calgary, plans a record $725 million (Canadian) capital budget this year, with increased Canadian spending and reduced Russian outlays. The company said a joint venture working over Siberian wells with Canadian Fracmaster Ltd., also of Calgary, is unprofitable because of a Russian export tax of 36%.

PENNZOIL PETROLEUM LTD., Houston, made a $250 million (U.S.) takeover offer for Co-enerco Resources Ltd., Calgary. The offer came on the last day for Co-enerco shareholders to accept a takeover bid from Numac Energy Inc., also of Calgary. Numac's offer was rejected by the Co-enerco board.

FREEPORT MCMORAN INC. (FTX). New Orleans, started up McMoRan Oil & Gas Co. to conduct most of its oil and gas exploration. FTX will transfer to McMoRan $35 million cash, most of its exploration rights, leases, including interests in Vermilion 160 field, and oil and gas data base. Oil and sulfur assets in Main Pass Block 299 off Louisiana are not being transferred.

PANHANDLE EASTERN CORP. unit Centana Energy Corp., Houston, agreed to pay $120 million to Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. unit MND Energy Corp. for the Texas intrastate Winnie Pipeline Co., Spindletop gas storage site, and a Liquid Energy Corp. gas processing plant. Closing is expected in June.

MARATHON OIL CO. will pay Alaska $122 million to settle oil and gas tax claims dating back to 1976. The money will be placed in the state's budget reserve.

PHILLIPS PETROLEUM CO. is not negotiating sale of a part of its refining, marketing, and transportation (RMT) businesses, said Pete Silas, chairman and chief executive officer. His statement responded to published reports about joint venture RMT negotiations.

BRITISH PETROLEUM CO. PLC agreed to sell its 35,800 acre share in New Zealand's Hikurangi forestry project to joint venture partner Fletcher Challenge Ltd. for $71 million. BP bought into the estate in 1980 to use cash surpluses from Maui and Kapuni gas field developments, which could not be taken out of the country at the time. BP sold its New Zealand exploration interests in 1990.

GOVERNMENT

U.S. MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE disbursed $45.5 million to six coastal states, their share of royalties, delay rentals, and bonuses from federal offshore leases, California received $20.23 million, Alaska $9.38 million, Texas $9.38 million, Louisiana $5.88 million, Alabama $490,000, and Mississippi $140,000.

SPILLS

U.S. COAST GUARD started a pilot program to issue notices of violation, or tickets, for oil spills of less than 2.4 bbl and for other violations of pollution prevention rules. The 6 month program is being conducted in the port areas of Charleston, S.C., Galveston, Tex., and Long Beach.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

LOUIS DREYFUS NATURAL GAS CORP., Oklahoma City, agreed to sell its working interest in West Delta Block 152 acreage in the Gulf of Mexico to Midcon Offshore Inc. for $26.6 million. The lease divestment will result in a $5 million loss, before taxes, in second quarter for Dreyfus.

ARCO BRITISH LTD. bought a 60% share in U.K. North Sea Block 49/24 from Shell U.K. Ltd and Esso Exploration & Production U.K. Ltd, The block holds part of Gawain gas field. Operator ARCO and partner Mobil North Sea Ltd. agreed to share Gawain equally. Gas production is scheduled to begin in October 1995, with peak flow expected at 60-100 MMcfd.

GREAT NORTHERN GAS CO., Denver, sold its interest in 13 gas wells and 20,000 acres in White River Dome field in western Colorado's Rio Blanco County to White River No. 1 Corp., a Texas company. Sale was for $3.6 million cash and combined interests valued at $250,000 in six wells owned by the two companies in other fields.

WINTERSHALL (U.K.) LTD. completed purchase of a 35% interest in U.K. North Sea Block 49/9b from Mobil North Sea Ltd. This brings Wintershall's equity in the block to 60%. The block contains part of the Avalon gas reservoir, which Wintershall said may be developed in 1996 as a satellite of adjacent Markham gas field operated by Lasmo North Sea Ltd.

MITSUBISHI OIL CO. LTD. acquired from Fina pic a package of U.K. North Sea assets that involves several fields scheduled for development. Asset interests are 30% in Block 16/27a (South), containing Andrew field; 5% in Blocks 22/20 and 23/16a. which contain Mungo and Monan fields; 17.1% in Blocks 22/25a, 23/22a, and 30/3a, which contain Medan, Mirren, and Blane fields, 15% in Block 20/5c: and 10% in Block 21/5b.

ADAMS RESOURCES & ENERGY INC. unit Adams Resources Exploration Corp., Houston, expects to drill 70 horizontal wells during the next 4 years on lease interests it bought in Giddings and Brookeland fields in the Austin chalk trend of Central and East Texas. It paid $5.2 million for an average 35% working interest in the acreage.

BRITISH PETROLEUM teamed up for 5 years with Camco International Inc. unit Camco Services Norway, Smedvig Offshore AS, and Dowell Schlumberger for oil and gas development projects on the Norwegian shelf. Camco believes it's the first such alliance contract with BP at this location.

AN INSURANCE CLAIM of 2.3 billion kroner ($310 million) is sought from Norwegian Contractors AS, Stavanger, Norway, over the sinking of the North Sea's East Sleipner field gravity base structure Aug. 23, 1991 (OGJ, Oct. 28, 1991, p. 19). The claim, made by the company that insured the project, seeks to recover payments plus interest from dates of payment.

NORWAY'S Den norske stats oljeselskap AS asked Kongsberg Offshore AS, Kongsberg, Norway, to design and fabricate subsea installations for Norne field development. The 860 million kroner ($120 million) job calls for five templates with 20 well slots.

MANGISTAUMUNAIGAZ (MMG) production association, Aktau, Kazakhstan, by third quarter is to begin development drilling and well workovers in Uzen oil field, 120 km east of Aktau, with three custom all-wheel-drive rigs manufactured by Cardwell International Ltd., El Dorado, Kan. Cardwell is to commission the rigs in Kazakhstan (OGJ. Apr. 11, p. 44) and train MMG personnel to operate, maintain, and repair the units, each of which comes with 1,500 m strings of 2 1/8 in., 3 1/2 in., and 4 1/2 in. drill pipe.

BP EXPLORATION OPERATING CO. LTD. plans to start development drilling in May on its Northeast Sean prospect on U.K. North Sea Block 49/25a. The prospect is a satellite of Sean gas field. Two extended reach wells will be drilled from Sean platform. Debottlenecking of the platform and Bacton terminal facilities are to be completed in time for production start-up from Northeast Sean in November.

AZERBAIJAN'S state oil company Socar and McDermott International Inc. formed joint venture companies McShelf and McDock to produce and repair equipment for use in development of Caspian Sea oil and gas fields. McShelf and partner Shelfproyectstroi will build offshore platforms, and McDock will specialize in repair, modernization, and rebuilding offshore production units.

BHP PETROLEUM PTY. LTD. completed drilling a second development well in Dai Hung field off Viet Nam using the Treasure Seeker drilling rig. The Dai Hung-2P well was suspended as a producer without testing. The rig will stay in the field for further development drilling. A production semisubmersible is to be refurbished to develop Dai Hung (OGJ, Feb. 21, p. 32).

DRECO ENERGY SERVICES LTD., Edmonton, completed a $9.9 million (U.S.) deal to build and deliver 13 workover rigs for an undisclosed Russian company. The rigs, to be delivered by November, will be used in western Siberia's Ugansk region.

SYNFUELS

BASIN ELECTRIC POWER COOPERATIVE unit Dakota Gasification Co. will install a scrubber at its Great Plains coal gasification plant near Beulah, N.D. The scrubber is designed to remove sulfur dioxide from flue gas in the plant's main stack and produce a pure, granulated, ammonium sulfate fertilizer.

EXPLORATION

SANTA FE ENERGY RESOURCES INC., Houston, and partners plan to drill at least eight more 11,000-13,000 ft wildcats this year in the Permian basin near Midland, Tex. They found oil with four of eight earlier wildcats in the area. Santa Fe and Collins & Ware Inc., Midland, each with 25% interest in the project, in the past year identified with a 250 sq mile 3D seismic survey more than 150 drillable prospects in the project area.

MMS identified the area to be studied for possible inclusion in a July 1996 sale offering Gulf of Alaska tracts near Yakutat. The area includes 997 blocks on a combined 5.3 million acres in water depths of 165 ft to more than 13,000 ft.

CHINA NATIONAL OIL & GAS EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT CORP. as operator heads a group of eight companies that plans to drill a wildcat this year on the Kamusi prospect on Papua New Guinea's proposed Petroleum Prospecting License 168. One of the participants is a subsidiary of Garnet Resources Corp., Houston, with a 7.73% interest.

AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL PETROLEUM CORP., New York, formed Pan American International Petroleum Corp., which plans to drill three wells and acquire seismic data in Contract Area Lot IV of Peru's Talara basin. Work will be conducted in the third quarter. The 75,000 acre area is 725 miles north of Peru.

JAPAN'S Japan National Oil Corp. agreed to conduct a 3 year, 5.3 billion yen ($48 million) geological survey program in Kazakhstan. Surveys will cover a 10,000 sq km area northwest of the Aral Sea.

PIPELINES

INSPECTORS recorded 5,549 electrical code violations at Pump Station 8 on the trans-Alaska pipeline. The inspectors were hired by line operator Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. Pump Station 8, 40 miles south of Fairbanks, is the first to be inspected in a system-wide program.

CNG GAS SERVICES CORP. expects this year to begin operations of its CNG/Sabine Center, which will function as a gas superhub offering services at many points, rather than a single point, along CNG Transmission Corp.'s 7,400 mile. six state, pipeline system.

UK-CONTINENT
LNTERCONNECTOR STUDY GROUP let design contracts for its proposed gas pipeline to Zeebrugge, Belgium. from Bacton, Norfolk, U.K. (OGJ, Nov. 15. 1993. p. 29). Proposed diameter was increased to 38 in. from 36 in., and a 40 in. option will be studied.

REFINING

CHEVRON CORP. sold its 28,000 b/d Nikiski refinery near Kenai, Alas., to Petroleum Independent & Exploration Corp., Lubbock, Tex., which plans to disassemble the plant and rebuild it as part of a joint venture outside the U.S. sale price of the plant, which was shut down in 1991, is not disclosed.

IMPERIAL OIL LTD. will shut down its 176,000 b/cd Strathcona refinery near Edmonton May 10-June 22 for a turnaround.

FORMOSA PETROCHEMICAL CORP. licensed two resid catalytic cracking units with combined capacity of 146,000 b/d from UOP. The units will be part of a refinery and petrochemical complex to be built in Taiwan. They will process hydro-treated resids derived from Middle East crudes and use elevated feed distributors, lift gas, contained riser-termination systems, two-stage regeneration, and catalyst coolers.

SABA PETROLEUM CO., Irvine, Calif., agreed to buy Conoco Inc.'s 9,500 b/cd Santa Maria, Calif., refinery.

EPA is inviting refiners to take part in negotiations regarding planned studies on the human health effects associated with methyl tertiary butyl ether and tertiary amyl methyl ether. In an Apr. 18 Federal Register notice, EPA observed there have been a number of reports that the use of MTBE in winter blend gasolines harmed human health.