INDUSTRY BRIEFS

TRANSPORTATION

MOBIL CORP. closed 10 product storage terminals east of the Rocky Mountains, sold four pipeline systems in the U.S. West and Southwest, and cut its U.S. marine fleet by one third, shedding a combined 11 barges, tugs, and tankers in a year long U.S. distribution system streamlining project. The 1993 remake is helping Mobil cut costs and increase throughput.

NIGERIA lifted its ban on ships that have called at ports in South Africa. The ban prevented vessels, which within the preceding 6 months had called at a South African port, from entering Nigerian territorial water.

PIPELINES

CLEANUP IS UNDER WAY on Berry Petroleum Co.'s West Montalvo lease at Oxnard, Calif., where an estimated 1,800 2,000 bbl of oil spilled last month from a buried 8 in. pipeline. Cleanup is being conducted offshore, on beach property, and a wetland area. Because of the spill from the 30 40 year old line, California officials are considering bringing some of the state's old pipelines under inspection and control.

A U.S. BANKRUPTCY COURT in Delaware extended until Mar. 22 the period that Columbia Gas System Inc. and pipeline unit Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. can file Chapter 11 reorganization plans. The companies, which have been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since July 31, 1991, were granted six previous extensions.

INDIA'S Indian Oil Corp. let a $55 million (Australian) ($35.75 million U.S.) contract to Australia's Olex Cables to supply, lay, and serve as project manager for a 1,500 km fiber optic cable communications and pipeline monitoring system in Northwest India. It will install cable next to a pipeline to be laid to Bhatinda, 250 km northwest of New Delhi, from Kandla.

CLEANUP CREWS recovered most of the 380 bbl of oil that spilled from a ruptured 6 in. pipeline at an ARCO Alaska Inc. drillsite on Alaska's North Slope. The Prudhoe Bay field spill went undetected for a while because an alarm system had been turned off, ARCO said.

SHELL OIL CO., Houston, hired Global Pipelines PLUS, Lafayette, La., to lay 4,000 ft of 8 in. pipeline, 4,000 ft of 10 in. line, and four pipeline crossings, and install two 10 in. and two 8 in. risers in the South Pass area of the Gulf of Mexico.

GLOBAL PIPELINES will repair a 36 in. pipeline in 220 ft of water in the High Island area of the Gulf of Mexico for ANR Pipeline Co. It will install 7,860 ft of 3 in. line from a riser to a subsea well in Eugene Island in 244 256 ft of water for Forest Oil Corp.

EXPLORATION

COTE D'LVOIRE'S state oil company Petroci lifted the requirement that access to its data libraries in Abidjan, Cote d'lvoire, and at Gustavson Associates Inc., Boulder, Colo., be subject to the purchase of the state company's 1990 petroleum evaluation report. Interest off Cote d'lvoire has increased with United Meridian Corp.'s 1 Panther gas/condensate discovery (OGJ, Dec. 13, 1993, p. 26).

GAS PROCESSING

GPM GAS CORP., Houston, will buy gas gathering and processing assets in the Permian basin from Enron Gas Processing Co. under undisclosed terms. It will acquire Enron's Martin County Nos. 1 and 2 gas processing plants and associated gathering systems in Martin, Andrews, and Midland counties, Tex., and the Imperial plant and gathering system in Crane, Pecos, and Ward counties, Tex.

DRILLING PRODUCTION

AN EXPLOSION AND FIRE at a crude oil flow station on Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo Jan. 2 killed one worker and injured another. Two other workers are missing and presumed dead. The accident occurred at Maraven SA's Ceuta 3 7 fixed flow station as crude was being transferred from a floating flow station. Cause of the accident was unknown at presstime last week.

HAMPTON RESOURCES CORP., Houston, agreed with Rebel Drilling Co. and Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. to acquire a net 15% interest in Rebel's 3,200 acre block in Cadre field, Hidalgo County, Tex. Hampton, which will serve as operator of the acquired acreage, plans development based on 3D seismic data. The first well is to be spudded in the first quarter.

FOREST OIL CORP. closed on a $70 million nonrecourse loan from Enron Gas Services unit Enron Finance Corp. to pay part of the cost of Forest's recent acquisition of $84.7 million worth of assets off Louisiana and in South Texas. Part of the loan will help fund development on four undisclosed offshore leases, as well as possibly help pay for some of the development of acreage pledged as security for the loan.

RUSSIA'S Varyeganneftegas (VNG) production association let a 2 year service contract to Avanti Consulting Inc., Houston, for drilling, reservoir, and production engineering on VNG enhanced oil recovery programs in western Siberia. Avanti engineers also are to help integrate western equipment and services, to be obtained through a World Bank Russian oil rehabilitation loan, into VNG's existing production installations.

PETRO CANADA, Calgary, is pulling out of Anouskoye oil field development in western Siberia after spending $12 million (Canadian) and failing to find commercial oil. It launched the joint venture with Russian company Yuganeft Jijnt Stock in 1993.

TORCHMARK CORP. unit Torch Energy Advisors Inc., Houston, sold its interest in 11 Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease blocks for $106 million to a unit of Norcen Energy Resources Ltd., Calgary. The blocks contain 128 producing wells, 23 support structures, and production facilities that include pipelines and gas plants. Net production from the interest sold is 1,405 b/d and 21.7 MMcfd.

NORTH COAST ENERGY INC., Cleveland, formed North Coast Energy 1993 3 Appalachian private drilling program to drill 26 development wells at undisclosed sites. It is North Coast's third investor financed drilling program for 1993, bringing the year's well total to 67 vs. 46 in 1992.

CROSS TIMBERS OIL CO., Fort Worth, paid $28.4 million for a combined 42.6% working interest in Prentice Northeast Unit in Terry and Yoakum counties, West Texas. It acquired a 29.4% working interest from an Amoco Corp. unit and 13.2% from an undisclosed company, bringing its combined interest in the unit to 91.5%. It expects to become unit operator this month.

MOBIL OIL CANADA and TransAlta Utilities teamed up on a project to install solar panels at two wellsites near Sundre in Central Alberta, 120 km northwest of Calgary. The panels will convert sunlight into energy to charge batteries that operate corrosion protection equipment.

BRITISH GAS PLC let contract to AMEC Engineering Ltd., London, for conceptual definition of a single platform and pipelines for the Armada group of fields in U.K. North Sea Blocks 16/29 and 22/5. Development approval for the fields is not expected until midyear. Gas production is scheduled to start in fourth quarter 1997.

PETROCORP EXPLORATION LTD. increased production from Waihapa field in New Zealand with its 2 Ngaere appraisal and development well. The well was drilled to 3,224 m to Tikorangi limestone. Wood Mackenzie Consultants Ltd., Edinburgh, reported the well tested 2,600 b/d of oil. It was tied back to Waihapa production station via a 2 km flow line.

MAERSK OLIE & GAS AS let a 10 million ($15 million) contract to Stena Offshore Ltd., Aberdeen, Scotland, for pipeline installation and tie ins in Skjold field in the Danish North Sea. Beginning in May, the Stena Apache pipelay vessel and a support vessel will lay 12.2 km of 12 in. pipeline to the existing Gorm Platform F from the new Skjold production Platform B. Completion is scheduled for mid August.

COGENERATION

DESTEC ENERGY INC., Houston, completed $220 million financing for its 212,000 kw Tiger Bay cogeneration project near Fort Meade in Central Florida. The plant will sell electricity to Florida Power Corp. and steam to fertilizer producer U.S. Agri Chemicals. Construction is under way, with plant start up expected in 1995.

REFINING

U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY issued a proposed rule requiring, as mandated by the Clean Air Act amendments, that all gasoline contain detergent additives by Jan. 1, 1995. The rule also will require detergent in gasoline to meet specified standards of engine deposit control by Jan. 1, 1996.

NOXIOUS GAS escaping last Dec. 31 from Bayway Refining Co.'s 200,000 b/cd Linden, N.J., refinery condensed and fell like rain onto a toll plaza at a New Jersey Turnpike interchange. About 20 persons were sickened by the gas release, which Bayway said was caused by a malfunctioning safety vent. The interchange was closed for several hours, along with the Goethals Bridge to New York's Staten Island and a stretch of Interstate 278.

COMPANIES

GLOBAL INDUSTRIES INC., Lafayette, purchased Red Adair Co. Inc., Houston, for an undisclosed sum. Adair, who founded the company in 1959, plans to retire from daily operations and work with Global in public relations and business development under a personal service contract. His firefighting specialists will stay with the company, whose name won't be changed.

BETA WELL SERVICE INC., Calgary, agreed to buy all the operating interests of Quest Petroleum Group, London, including two joint venture oil production projects in the C.I.S. The JVs are in Russia's Komi region and Kazakhstan. Price is not disclosed.

SEAGULL ENERGY CORP., Houston, completed its $202.9 million purchase of Nova Corp. E&P unit Novalta Resources Inc., Calgary. Novalta assets are estimated at 260 bcf equivalent of proved gas reserves.

KAISER FRANCIS OIL CO. OF CANADA, Calgary, completed a $1.5 million (Canadian) acquisition of gas field leases from Imperial Oil Ltd. in the Tweedie area of Northeast Alberta. The deal includes interests in 26 wells on 22,000 net acres. Net production is 1.4 MMcfd with estimated proved reserves of 3 bcf.

CRITERION CATALYST CO. LP purchased AKZO Chemicals' naphtha reforming catalyst business. Criterion will produce reforming catalysts for continuous, cyclic, and semiregenerated reformers at AKZO facilities in Amsterdam until Shell's plant in Ghent, Belgium, completes an expansion that will enable it to produce the catalysts.

DEVON ENERGY CORP., Oklahoma City, and Alta Energy Corp., Denver, plan to merge, adding 25 million bbl of oil and 20 bcf of gas to Devon reserves and expanding its combined oil and gas reserves by one third. Merger value is $66 million. Alta shareholders will receive $28 million in Devon common shares and cash, and Devon will assume debt and other Alta obligations of $37 million.

STOCKHOLDERS of Baroid Corp., Houston, started an action in a Delaware chancery court challenging Baroid's merger with Dresser Industries Inc., Dallas (OGJ, Sept. 13, 1993, p. 40). Their complaint seeks, among other things, an injunction against the $900 million merger and damages in the event the merger occurs.

BRITISH GAS PLC paid $24 million to Argentine construction company Polledo and local partners for a 45% interest in the Central Dock Sud gas fired power station in Buenos Aires. British Gas said the purchase complements its 29% interest in Metrogas, the gas distribution company with 1.9 million customers in the city.

COPAREX INTERNATIONAL SA, Paris, acquired all stock of Total SA unit Total Exploration. The purchase brings Coparex 10 exploration licenses, mainly in the Paris basin. The major asset is a 50% working interest in Villeperdue oil field 120 km east of Paris, which began production in 1984 and produced 2.1 million bbl of oil in 1993.

KELT ENERGY PLC, London, completed the purchase of the Cameroon upstream operations of Total SA. Assets include an interest in offshore Moudi oil field and export terminal, and a number of oil, gas, and gas/condensate discoveries with development potential. Kelt anticipates further drilling within 18 months in Moudi field and exploration of Kribi block to the southeast.

SPILLS

GERMANY'S Coast Guard says it suspects a ship illegally dumped oil in a busy shipping lane in the Baltic Sea. Germany's Nature Conservancy Association reports the spill killed more than 100 seabirds on Fehmarn Island.

SLOVAKIA reports that a 15 bbl crude oil pipeline leak Dec. 31, 1993, near Mukachevo, Ukraine, spilled into the Vatritsa River and flowed into Slovakia, causing a 42 mile long slick on the flooded Latoritsya River in eastern Slovakia. Officials say the spill reached Hungary as well. Cause of the spill stems from flooding in Ukraine.