INDUSTRY BRIEFS

COMPANIES

CONSOLIDATED NATURAL GAS CO received approval from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to add electrical power marketing to the energy services it offers. FERC's approval clears the way for Consolidated to buy and resell power at market based rates. It will sell power through its CNG Energy Services Corp. unit, Pittsburgh.

ALTERNATE FUELS

TAMPA ELECTRIC CO. broke ground for its $450 million, 250,000 kw coal gasification plant in Southwest Polk County, Fla. The integrated gasification/combined cycle plant is scheduled to start operations in autumn 1996 on a 4.300 acre tract previously mined for phosphate.

CALIFORNIA ENERGY CO. INC., Omaha, and a unit of Indonesia's PT Panutan Group joined forces to develop as much as 350,000 kw of geothermal power on Bali Island, Indonesia. A California Energy unit will own at least a 60% equity interest and serve as managing partner. California Energy also is working on geothermal power projects in Philippines (OGJ, Oct. 17, p. 29).

EXPLORATION

GUATEMALA awarded Triton Energy Corp., Dallas, exploration rights on two tracts on the border with Mexico covering a combined 607,619 acres in the South Peten basin. Triton agreed to collect 350 km of seismic data on the acreage during the next 2 years. Guatemala's energy and mines ministry assigned Triton a 100% interest in Block A-1-93, while Triton received a 1 00% interest in Block A-4-91 from another operator.

NUMAC ENERGY INC., Calgary, tested its A70C Grassy wildcat in the Grassy area of Northeast British Columbia, the largest gas strike in company history. The well registered a calculated absolute open flow of 66 MMcfd from Mississippian Debolt pay at an undisclosed depth. Production of 10-15 MMcfd is expected early in first quarter 1995. Development drilling is to start before yearend.

OUTPUT EXPLORATION CO. INC., a unit of Input/Output Inc., Stafford, Tex., entered Phase 2 of an exclusive lease option to conduct geophysical operations on 109,000 acres of the Kenedy Ranch in Kenedy County, Tex. Terms allow Output to conduct 3D seismic surveys through Feb. 1, 1996. Hunt Petroleum Corp., Dallas, acquired a 50% working interest in the prospect and will serve as operator.

TALISMAN ENERGY'S Talisman et al. Sukunka d-28-1/93-P-4 in the Monkman area of Northeast British Columbia flowed as much as 50 MMcfd during tests of new Triassic pay. The company plans to tie the 9,775 ft well into its West Sukunka dehydration plant in 1995.

DUSTY MAC OIL & GAS LTD., Vancouver, B.C., signed a letter of understanding with Viet Nam Oil & Gas Corp. to conduct geologic and geophysical studies of a northern Viet Nam basin, where more than 4,000 km of seismic surveys have identified shallow to medium depth prospects. Additional surveys are to be made of onshore and coastal areas.

TRITON ENERGY CORP. completed ahead of schedule a 5,800 km 2D marine seismic program covering Block A-18 of the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area. Seismic data processing and interpretation are under way, with drilling scheduled to start during second quarter 1995.

PETROCHEMICALS

VALERO ENERGY CORP., San Antonio, and Hoechst Celanese Corp., Somerville, N.J., teamed up to renovate a 13,000 b/d methanol plant in Clear Lake, Tex. Valero will make an equity contribution for its 50% ownership in the joint venture, while Hoechst will provide the methanol unit and plant infrastructure. The unit is expected to start up in third quarter 1995.

SYNGEN TECHNOLOGIES INC., Calgary, a unit of GPCP Group of Companies, Toronto, is working on a $46 million (Canadian) engineering contract to upgrade a methanol plant at a petrochemical complex in Tomsk, Siberia. The project will increase production by one third to 825,000 metric tons/year by 1 997 with later expansion to 1 million tons/year.

METHANEX CORP., Vancouver, B.C., plans to spend $275 million (U.S.) to expand capacity of its Chilean methanol plant by 925,000 metric tons by yearend 1996. Elsewhere, it plans a $45 million outlay to increase swing capacity of gasoline and methanol by 700,000 metric tons at its New Zealand plant by late 1995.

REFINING

ANONIMA PETROLI ITALIANA SPA, Rome, hired Ralph M. Parsons Co. Ltd., London, to provide design services for the revamp of two sulfur recovery units at its 78,000 b/cd Di Ancona refinery in Falconara, Italy. Combined unit production will be increased to 80 metric tons/day from 42 1/2 tons/day. The first unit is scheduled for completion in May 1995, the second one in October 1997.

AN EXPLOSION Oct. 28 at Conoco Inc.'s 182,000 b/cd Lake Charles, La., refinery killed one person and injured nine. The explosion occurred at an FCCU that was being restarted after a week of repair work. A fire, which started after the blast, was doused in a few hours.

AGIP PETROLI installed a UOP reactor in the 34,000 b/sd FCCU at its 200,000 b/cd Sannazzaro refinery near Pavia, Italy. The reactor uses UOP's elevated feed distributors and suspended catalyst separation system.

ESSAR OIL LTD. of India let contract to ABB Lummus Crest Inc., Bloomfield, N.J., to oversee its $1.7 billion, 9 million metric ton/year grassroots refinery complex project on India's west coast at Vadinar, Gujarat. ABB Lummus will provide design, engineering, procurement, and construction services, along with supervision of commissioning through performance testing.

TEXACO REFINING & MARKETING INC. and UOP started up full scale use of their jointly developed Alkad technology at Texaco's 80,000 b/cd El Dorado, Kan., refinery. The technology uses an additive to reduce hydrogen fluoride aerosol that may form in the event of an acid leak.

THAI OIL CO. chose the Unocal/UOP Unicracking process for the second hydrocracking unit at Thai Oil's 177,000 b/cd Sriracha, Thailand, refinery. The new 22,340 b/sd Unicracking process unit will allow greater production of jet and diesel fuels.

PIPELINES

NORWAY'S Den norske stats oljeselskap AS expects to complete backfilling of Europipe's shore approach through German coastal wetlands late this month. Statoil said the scale of the dredging operation has been surpassed this year only by expansion of Hong Kong's airport. Ninety vessels have taken part, removing 6.5 million cu m of sand and storing it before backfilling.

NOVA GAS TRANSMISSION LTD., Calgary, let a $65 million (Canadian) contract to Banister Majestic Inc.,a unit of Banister Foundation Inc., Scarborough, Ont., to lay a combined 167 miles of 42, 36, and 30 in. steel pipe for natural gas service in central and northern Alberta. Work, to start at once, is to be complete by April 1995.

H.C. PRICE CO.'S joint venture company VTPS/Price Overseas Ltd. will install a pipeline river crossing of the Amu-Darya River in Uzbekistan. The crossing consists of 3,200 ft of 40 in. pipe for gas service, bundled with a 4 in. pipe that will carry communications cable.

GAS STORAGE

MCFARLAND ENERGY INC., Santa Fe Springs, Calif., and Alenco Resources Inc. ended their efforts to work out an agreement on McFarland's proposed Ten Section gas storage hub project in Kern County, Calif. McFarland plans to continue development efforts and to pursue other potential project partners.

YACIMIENTOS PETROLIFEROS FISCALES, Buenos Aires, let a 3 year full service contract to Production Operators Corp. (POCO), Houston, to provide 10,500 hp of compression for a gas storage project in Argentina's Sierra Barrosa field. The project will inject gas into the Sierra Barrosa reservoir during the summer for withdrawal in winter.

MOSS BLUFF GAS STORAGE SYSTEMS began offering a menu of interruptible services at its Moss Bluff gas storage site in Liberty County, Tex., 60 miles east of Houston. Services include parking, wheeling, balancing, peaking loans, imbalance trading, and title transfers.

TANKERS

CHEVRON christened its 150,000 dwt, double hull Chevron Mariner in a ceremony Oct. 31 at the Industrias Verolme-Ishibras SA shipyard in Rio de Janeiro. The vessel increases Chevron's tanker fleet to 38, 12 of them with double hulls. Chevron Mariner has a 1 million bbl cargo capacity.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

DUAL DRILLING CO., Dallas, exercised its option to buy Dual Rig 89 for $16 million. The 300 ft independent leg cantilever rig, which has been operated by the company under charter since September 1989, will continue working in the Gulf of Mexico.

PETROLEOS MEXICANOS awarded Sonat Offshore Drilling Inc., Houston, a five well, $60-65 million turnkey drilling contract in Och field in the Bay of Campeche off Mexico. Drilling is to begin early in December. Wells will be drilled to more than 16,000 ft in 200 ft of water, with work to take an estimated 550-600 days.

DEMINEX DEUTSCHE GMBH of Germany offered its Canadian energy holdings for sale, Deminex Canada Ltd., Calgary, produces 3,000 b/d of crude oil and gas liquids and 10 MMcfd of gas, mainly in Alberta.

BHP PETROLEUM PTY. LTD., Melbourne, 8X Dai Hung appraisal well cut oil pay below 2,000 m in Viet Nam's offshore Dai Hung field. The well flowed a combined 9,400 b/d of 35-39 gravity oil. It was drilled by the Treasure Seeker semisubmersible, which will remain in the field to drill a fourth development well.

MAGNUM PETROLEUM INC., Palm Desert, Calif., and Saba Petroleum Co. signed a letter of intent whereby Magnum will earn 50% of Saba's working interest in oil and gas wells operated by Saba in Santa Barbara County, Calif. Terms allow Magnum, at its expense, to acquire exclusive rights to recomplete as many as 175 wells on the leases by drilling a horizontal extension of the vertical holes.

CLYDE PETROLEUM (NETHERLANDS) BY and Dyas BV agreed to buy Mobil Producing Netherlands Inc.'s producing interests in Blocks P/6 and P/12 and its exploration interests in Blocks P/8a, P/9a and b, P/9c, and P/4 in the Dutch North Sea. Clyde will take over as operator. Completion of the transfer is scheduled for first quarter 1995.

AMERICAN ENERGY GROUP LTD., formerly Belize American Corp. Internationale, plans to open an office in Houston and begin developing existing U.S. holdings as well as acquiring additional leases in the Gulf Coast area. Manna Corp., an Alabama development company, committed $5.6 million in a letter of intent to American Energy for joint ventures scheduled to start at once.

PLAINS PETROLEUM OPERATING CO., a unit of Plains Petroleum Co:, Lakewood, Colo., completed its $24.3 million purchase of oil and gas leases from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in 21 fields in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. Net production from acquired interests during first half 1 994 was 800 b/d of oil and 4.5 MMcfd of gas.

CHEVRON CORP. unit Chevron Overseas (Congo) Ltd. agreed to acquire a 22.5% interest in the Haute Mer license and the N'Kossa exploitation permit off Congo. Chevron will become a partner with operator Elf Congo 62.5% and state company Hydro-Congo 15% to conduct exploration and development programs on both blocks.

TESORO PETROLEUM CORP., San Antonio, completed six more wells in Bob West field of South Texas during the third quarter this year, bringing the total number of wells there to 42, with no dry holes. Tesoro identified 28 more drillsites and plans to drill eight of them during fourth quarter. Tesoro continues to increase Bob West field reserves, replacing 135% of production since Dec. 31, 1993.

HEIMERICH & PAYNE INTERNATIONAL DRILLING CO., Tulsa, will buy six new drilling rigs and put three of them to work for BP Exploration Ltd. in Colombia's Cusiana-Cupiagua fields. The other three are scheduled for use in Venezuela by Corpoven SA.

BHP MINERAL & OIL CO. of Australia and Chinese firms Huaxian Development Co. Ltd. and Huatai New Technology Development Co. plan joint development of coalbed methane in North China's Shanxi province. The $700 million program is to start in spring 1995 in 1,000 sq km of coal deposits in the Shanxi province's Xingxian, Hequ, and Baode counties.

TEXACO LTD. let contract to ABB Global Engineering Ltd., Sutton, U.K., not ABB Vetco Gray as reported last month (OGJ, Oct. 24, p. 37), to help develop Captain field in the U.K. North Sea.

LPG

CALTEX CHINA LTD., Hong Kong, and Shantou Ocean Enterprises (Group) Co. signed a letter of intent to conduct a feasibility study of a world scale LPG import terminal in Shantou, Guangdong province, China. They expect to complete the technical and commercial study of cavern storage by April 1995.

Issue date: 11/07/94