INDUSTRY BRIEFS

TANKERS

PDV MARINA, the Petroleos de Venezuela SA unit in charge of marine transportation, plans to order four refined products tankers this year for an estimated $40 million each as part of Pdvsa's tanker fleet modernization program. Three of the new vessels will replace four older ones used in coastal service, and the fourth will be used to carry gasoline to the U.S. Pdvsa recently received seven of eight double hulled Lakemax class crude carriers, ordered from a South Korean shipyard, that will carry crude to the U.S. from Lake Maracaibo.

SAUDI ARABIA'S National Shipping Co. ordered five double hull crude oil tankers from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Tokyo, for a combined $500 million. The 300,000 dwt vessels will be delivered during 1995 96.

REFINING

ARCO filed suit against the California Air Resources Board, challenging the agency's alleged failure to enforce its clean diesel fuel regulations, which went into effect last Oct. 1. The suit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeks to end what ARCO calls CARB's capricious relaxation of those regulations at the expense of cleaner air.

TOSCO REFINING CO., responding to ARCO's suit against CARB for allowing Tosco to overproduce new low aromatics diesel fuel, said it did so in the public interest because there was a shortage and with CARB's written approval. Tosco said that from the standpoint of its 5.258 million bbl/year production quota, it hasn't overproduced because the period doesn't end until Oct. 1 .

STE. NATIONALE ELF AQUITAINE is studying whether to reduce the size of the Leuna refinery project to be built in the former East Germany from its originally planned 4.5 billion deutschemark, 200,000 b/d scope. Elf must negotiate any changes with the Saxony government and Treuhandelstat, the agency charged with privatizing the former East Germany's industry.

BP OIL GRANGEMOUTH REFINERY LTD. let contract to Jacobs/H&G, a member of Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Pasadena, Calif., to provide engineering, design, and procurement support for a $24 million pressurized LPG storage project at its 190,000 b/cd Grangemouth, Scotland, refinery. Design work on the upgrade is to be completed by September and construction by early 1995.

SASOL INDUSTRIES (PTY.) LTD., Johannesburg, is producing anode coke at its Secunda, South Africa, coal gasification complex with what it calls the world's first delayed coking unit to use coal tar feedstocks produced as coal gasification byproducts. The 170,000 ton/year delayed coker also can produce needle coke for large electrodes used in steel production.

PETROCHEMICALS

FORMOSA PLASTICS GROUP may spend as much as $3.7 billion to build a 2.4 million kw natural gas or oil fired electric power plant to secure a reliable power supply for the $9 billion petrochemical complex FPG is building in Taiwan. Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs and state owned Taiwan Power Co. support the power project, citing a need for private power development to meet the country's electricity demand growth.

TAIWAN'S TUNTEX GROUP is seeking a $200 million syndicated loan from a group of 10 Taiwan banks to build a purified terephthalic acid plant in Thailand. The $355 million project is a joint venture of Tuntex. Mitsui Group, and Bangkok Bank.

NESTE CORP., Espoo, Finland, and Den norske stats oljeselskap AS, Stavanger, Norway, signed a final agreement to merge their petrochemicals and polyolefins businesses into a 5050 owned company (OGJ, Jan. 3, p. 28). Neste said it's the largest industrial merger between Nordic companies.

EXPLORATION

CHEVRON NIUGINI GROUP'S Gobe 4X wildcat cut a gross oil column 94 m thick on a structure 15 km southwest of the 50 million bbl Southeast Gobe oil field in Papua New Guinea's central highlands. Tests are planned on the sidetrack hole before suspension. It is the first of 13 exploratory wells the Chevron group plans on the PPL 161 permit.

TWO NEW SAUDI ARABIAN oil fields are producing a combined 4,434 b/d. Nasla 1 field, 175 km south of Riyadh, produces 2,335 b/d. Drilling started last Nov. 5. Oum al Jarf, 55 km south of Nasla 1 , produces 2,099 b/d. Drilling started there last October.

APACHE CORP., Houston, agreed to acquire a one third interest in Exploration Co. of Louisiana Inc's 197 sq km shallow water Zhao Dong block in China's Bohai Bay. It's Apache's first venture in China. Terms of the farmout call for Apache to drill three wells. The company plans to start the first one during first half 1994. Water depth is as shallow as 5 m.

HARKEN ENERGY CORP. unit Harken de Colombia Ltd. acquired exclusive 6 year rights from state company Ecopetrol to explore the 192,000 acre Bocachico contract area in Central Colombia's Middle Magdelena Valley. In the first year, Harken will reprocess at least 250 km of seismic data and acquire at least 35 km of new seismic. After that it can continue the exploration period by drilling at least one well in each of the remaining 5 years.

DRILLING PRODUCTION

BHP'S Jabiru oil field in the Timor Sea off Northwest Australia resumed production after return of the Jabiru Venture floating production/storage (FPS) vessel. The FPS had been in Singapore since October 1993 undergoing maintenance and upgrades to safety, environmental, and operating systems, including water handling, ballast, and cargo control. Production is expected to return to 20,000 b/d.

ARTISAN DRILLING LTD., Calgary, acquired Chase Drilling Ltd., also of Calgary, and Champion Drilling Ltd., Brooks, Alta. The acquisitions increased Artisan's fleet to 19 rigs in western Canada from five. Prices for the sales, which closed last month, are not disclosed.

KERR MCGEE CORP. unit Kerr McGee Liuhua Ltd. agreed to participate with operator Amoco Orient Petroleum Co. for a 24.5% interest in development of Liuhua 11 1 oil field off China in the South China Sea. Drilling is scheduled to get under way during second half this year, continuing until 1997.

JOSHI TECHNOLOGIES
INTERNATIONAL INC., Tulsa, is part of a group awarded production sharing contracts for Dholka and Wavel oil fields in India's Gujarat state. Dholka, with 2 million bbl of reserves, currently produces 450 b/d.

HAMILTON OIL CO. LTD., London, received U.K. Department of Trade and Industry approval to develop Lennox field in Block 110/1 5 of the Irish Sea. It will be developed using an unmanned platform tied back to Douglas field on Block 110/13. Lennox reserves are estimated at 60 million bbl of oil and 460 bcf of gas. Start up is expected in 1995.

SAGASCO NORTHWEST LTD. unit of Sagasco Resources Ltd., Adelaide, and partners plan to drillstem test 1 Rambler well on permit area WA 224 P in the Bonaparte basin of the Timor Sea off northwestern Australia. Oil and gas were recovered from an interval at 3,018 5,082 m during cased hole tests. Crews also recovered gas and oil bearing mud at 2,887 m.

AMOCO CANADA
PETROLEUM CO. LTD. agreed to exchange its 50% working interest in the Rainbow South Keg River B Pool in northern Alberta for Mobil Oil Canada's 8.2% working interest in the Nipisi Gilwood Unit No. 1 in Central Alberta.

INDIA approved plans to award Vaalco Energy Inc., Houston, and partners hydrocarbon development rights on 81 sq km Cauvery Offshore Block CY OS 90/1 in 200 400 ft of water off eastern India, subject to signing of a production sharing contract. Vaalco intends to complete reserve estimates and prepare a development plan during the first quarter and start production on the tract within 2 years.

ORYX U.K. ENERGY CO. unit of Oryx Energy Co., Dallas, agreed to pay $33 million to acquire another 8.2% interest in Ninian oil field on Block 3/3 in the U.K. North Sea. The transaction, effective last Dec. 31, increased Oryx's interest in the field to 29.54% and hikes its net share of Ninian oil production to 20,000 b/d from 15,000 b/d.

SONAT OFFSHORE DRILLING INC., Houston, agreed to pay a total of $44.6 million for Wilh. Wilhelmsen Ltd. AS's 47.5% interest and North Norway Drilling Co. AS's 5% interest in the Polar Pioneer semisubmersible. It gives Sonat 100% ownership. The rig is scheduled to start work in February under long term contract on Norsk Hydro AS's Troll oil and gas field development project in the northern North Sea off Norway.

WORLD BANK, Washington, will provide $80 million to help finance a $335 million, 167 MMcfd gas gathering/production project off Nigeria. The bank's loan will help finance Nigeria National Petroleum Corp's share of 60% of the joint venture with Chevron Nigeria Ltd. Work is expected to start during first half 1995.

PIPELINES

VIET NAM'S National Oil Equipment & Technology Export Import Corp. let a contract valued at an estimated $150 million to South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. to lay a 123 km gas pipeline to Ba Ria, southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, from offshore White Tiger oil field. Hyundai expects to lay the 107 km offshore segment and 161/2 km onshore section by Sept. 12.

CHEVRON PIPELINE CO. is cleaning up a spill of as much as 71 bbl of gasoline that leaked from its Bay Area pipeline in northern Richmond, Calif., north of San Francisco. Containment boom was installed in Gertrude Ditch and parts of Wildcat and Castro creeks to restrict movement of a resulting sheen. Cause of the spill is not known.

CLEANUP IS ESSENTIALLY COMPLETE of an estimated 2,000 bbl pipeline oil spill on Berry Petroleum Co.'s West Montalvo lease at Oxnard, Calif. (OGJ, Jan. 10, p. 28). The spilled oil flowed into a 17 acre irrigation lake and was accidently pumped onto a beach and into the ocean. Police impounded a section of Bush Oil Co.'s 8 in. pipeline containing an 18 in, rupture for laboratory tests, and the damaged section was replaced with a concrete covered section.

MARKETING

TOTAL, Paris, agreed to acquire Petrofina SA's interests in their joint refined products marketing affiliates Total Tunisie and Fina Tunisienne in Tunisia, bringing Total's marketing operations there to more than 120 retail outlets. Total currently markets motor and heating fuels, bunkers, and LPG in Tunisia.

GOVERNMENT

OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM CORP. reports the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reversed an order issued in 1988 that required Oxy to pay $264 million for alleged violations of federal oil price controls during late 1979 early 1981. The original order found Oxy unit Cities Service Oil & Gas Corp. had overcharged for price controlled oil in crude deals.

COMPANIES

ANADARKO PETROLEUM CO. unit Anadarko Trading Co. on Apr. 1 will purchase 40 MMcfd of gas for 1 year from PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd. unit PanCanadian Petroleum Co. The gas will be sold to markets in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Anadarko also will upgrade and expand its gas gathering facilities in major producing fields in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

KERR MCGEE budgeted 1994 capital and exploration spending at $430 million, about the same as last year. Outlays include $310 million for exploration and production, of which $60 million is for its 1994 share of development costs for Liuhua 11 1 oil field in the South China Sea, $50 million for chemical operations, $30 million for coal operations, and $30 million for refining/marketing.

LG&E ENERGY CORP., Louisville, completed the sale of its 36.5% general partnership interest in Natural Gas Clearinghouse, Houston, to Nova Corp., Calgary, for $170 million.

SAGASCO HOLDINGS LD. withdrew its $56 million (Australian) takeover bid for Magellan Petroleum Australia. Boral Ltd., Sydney, which recently acquired controlling interest in Sagasco (OGJ, Oct. 25, 1993, p. 38), said a reassessment of reserves in Palm Valley gas field in Central Australia led to a reduced estimate of their value and increased recovery costs to the point of rendering the tender uneconomic.

SPILLS

A BARGE loaded with more than 35,000 bbl of diesel fuel struck a reef Jan. 7 off Puerto Rico, spilling half its cargo onto beaches in the heart of the island's tourist area. The U.S. Coast Guard deployed equipment and specialists to help contain and clean up the spill and pump remaining cargo from the grounded Morris J. Berman barge into a salvage vessel.

OILSANDS

SYNCRUDE CANADA LTD., Fort McMurray, Alta., produced a record volume of more than 67 million bbl of light, sweet, synthetic crude from its Athabasca oilsands during 1993, surpassing the previous mark of 65.4 million bbl in 1992. Production during fourth quarter 1993 also was a record 19.1 million bbl vs. 18.7 million bbl the same quarter in 1992.