INDUSTRY BRIEFS

EXPORTS-IMPORTS

RUSSIA'S Fuel and Energy Ministry reports the nation exported 117.1 million metric tons (2.56 million b/d) of oil, 155.7 billion cu m (5.5 tcf) of gas, and 24.3 million tons of coal the first 11 months of 1993. Oil exports to countries other than former Soviet republics increased 24.3% to 73.6 million tons vs. the same period for 1992, while exports to republics of the former U.S.S.R. declined 38.5% to 43.5 million tons.

PIPELINES

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. let contract to National Petroleum Construction Go. (NPCC) for pipe coating in the Bab-Maqta Tawila natural gas pipeline project. The work, three layer Polyethylene coating for 178.5 km of 20 42 in. pipeline, will take place at NPCC's Mussafah, Abu Dhabi, fabrication yard during 1994.

DIAMOND SHAMROCK INC., San Antonio, plans to lay a 400 mile, 10 in. products pipeline to El Paso from the company's 120,000 b/cd McKee refinery at Sunray in the Texas Panhandle. Line capacity at start up will be 32,000 b/d. Diamond Shamrock also will build 300,000 bbl of storage and a loading terminal at El Paso junction, east of El Paso.

COURTS

A U.S. TAX COURT barred a $2 billion Internal Revenue Service claim for additional federal income taxes from Exxon Corp. for 1979 81. IRS contended Exxon should have sold Saudi Arabian crude at higher prices during the period after the Iranian revolution. The court disagreed. The court also ruled IRS may not tax Texaco Inc. as it the company had sold Saudi crude during 1979 81 to its worldwide units at higher prices than those it charged.

REFINING

SUN CO. INC. licensed UOP's Unibon process for a 95,000 ton/year cyclohexane unit to be built at its 175,000 b/cd Marcus Hook, Pa., refinery. The unit will produce cyclohexane via benzene hydrogenation.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA'S National Executive Council agreed to permit PNG Oil Refinery Pty. Ltd. to build a $190 million, 30,000 b/d refinery at Fairfax Harbor on Motukea Island, near Port Morseby. The plant mainly will process Kutubu oil field crude. Construction is expected to require 23 months.

SHELL OIL CO. let contract to CDTech for technology licensing and basic engineering of a CDHYdro unit of undisclosed capacity. The unit, which hydrogenates diolefins in cracked gasoline feedstocks, will be part of a clean fuels project at Shell's 146,500 b/cd Martinez, Calif., refinery.

COMPANIES

LASMO PLC, London, sold its U.K. offshore assets to electricity generator Powergen plc, London, for 2123 million ($184 million). The deal covered a 5% interest in Irish Sea Blocks 110/13 and 110/15, which include the Liverpool Bay development, and a 15% interest in North Sea Block 43/26a, which contains 12% of North Ravenspurn and 3.75% of Johnston gas fields.

AMOCO COLOMBIA PETROLEUM CO. will take over from Hondo Oil & Gas Co. unit Hondo Magdalena Oil & Gas Ltd. as operator of the Opon association contract area in Colombia. Amoco will manage drilling that's under way on the 3 Opon well. Change of operators is expected to be completed early this year.

NESTE OY and Den norske stats oljeselskap AS report the 50 50 owned company formed by the merger of their petrochemicals and polyolefins businesses will be operational Mar. 1 (OGJ, June 28, Newsletter). The new company was expected to be operational Jan. 1, but negotiations were not completed in time. The company, as yet unnamed, will have its headquarters in Copenhagen.

GULF CANADA RESOURCES LTD., Calgary, took initial regulatory action to raise $400 million (U.S.) during the next 2 years if necessary. It filed a preliminary prospectus with the Alberta Securities Commission for an option to make an offering in the U.S. in debt securities for the funds. Gulf has to pay off $1.1 billion in debt in 1996. It currently has $700 million in a reserve fund for that purpose.

A GROUP that includes General Electric USA, Dresser Industries Inc., and Ingersoll Rand Co. agreed to acquire a combined 49% interest in Nuovo Pignone, Rome, a unit of Italy's state owned Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi. GE will buy 25%, Dresser and Ingersoll Rand 12% each. Several Italian banks were invited to acquire as much as a combined 20%, bringing the purchase price among the companies and banks to $420 million. Public shareholders 11% and ENI units 20% will own the rest of the company.

WESTERN GAS MARKETING LTD., Calgary, signed a rewritten contract to sell 19.4 MMcfd of gas to Northern States Power Co. Northern States is one of eight customers of Northern Natural Gas Co., which buys gas from Western Gas for markets in Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Contracts are being rewritten to base prices on changes in the spot market for gas.

AMOCO (U.K.) EXPLORATION CO. bought Pennzoil (U.K.) Ltd. from Pennzoil Exploration & Production Co. for an undisclosed sum and changed its name to Amoco (North Sea) Ltd. The deal gives Amoco a 29% interest in North Sea Block 22/19a, near the Amoco operated CATS pipeline and Montrose and Arbroath fields. The block contains the Fiddich gas discovery and a number of prospects.

NORWAY'S Gas Negotiating Committee secured a 14 year sales contract with Verbundnetz Gas AG of Leipzig, Statoil reported. Gas exports to Germany will begin in 1996 and build during 2 years to a peak of 140 bcf/year.

COPLEX RESOURCES NL, Hobart, Tasmania, is offering 14.62 million stock shares through institutions in Australia, London, and New York to raise $11.53 million Australian ($17.2 million U.S.). The capital will help fund Coplex's interest in Yemen's East Shabwa concession, where Kharir and Northwest Autuf discoveries are to be developed for start of production in 1995.

LNG

CHEVRON ASIATIC LTD. and its five equal participants in Australia's Northwest Shelf gas project agreed to sell an additional 288,000 metric tons &f liquefied natural gas to Spain's Enagas, Madrid. Enagas will use the Methane Arctic vessel under charter to receive the LNG in 32,000 ton shipments starting in March.

PETROCHEMICALS

MITSUBISHI PETROCHEMICAL CO. LTD., Tokyo, let contract to ABB Lummus Crest Inc., Bloomfield, N.J., for engineering design of a 260,000 metric ton/year ethylbenzene unit to be built at Yokkaichi, Japan. The unit will use zeolite catalytic distillation technology developed by CDTech and licensed by Lummus and UOP. Completion is scheduled for third quarter.

DOW CHEMICAL CO. and M.W. Kellogg Co. developed a process that uses zeolite catalyst to increase cumene yield while cutting production costs and overcoming environmental problems associated with other commercial cumene processes. The process incorporates Dow's 3D dealuminated mordenite zeolite catalyst into an advanced flow sheet designed by Kellogg.

CHEVRON CORP. unit Chevron Chemical Co. started up an Aromax plant at the company's 295,000 b/cd Pascagoula, Miss., refinery. The plant, which will produce 3.6 million bbl/year of benzene, was completed 4 months ahead of schedule and $45 million under budget.

GOVERNMENT

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR'S Minerals Management Service extended by 66 days to Feb. 28 the period for comment on its notice of proposed rulemaking on the 1990 Oil Pollution Act (OPA). A workshop in Cleveland Jan. 11 will allow parties to submit opinions on the OPA rulemaking to agency officials face to face (OGJ, Dec. 27, 1993, Newsletter).

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

TEXACO LTD. let contract to Brown & Root Ltd., Aberdeen, Scotland, for detailed design of Tartan A platform in the U.K. North Sea. The 9 month project calls for work on modifications arising out of Texaco's formal safety assessment application under recent U.K. offshore legislation.

BP EXPLORATION LTD. entered a 5 year partnership with contractors APG/Salamis JV Ltd., Aberdeen, and AMEC Engineering Ltd., London, for work on U.K. North Sea Clyde field. The contract calls for engineering and maintenance work on Clyde platform. Partners will share rewards of good results and pay for poor performance.

CHEVRON sold its 17.5% interest in exploration and production operations in the South China Sea's Natuna contract area off Indonesia to Japan's Indonesia Petroleum Ltd. unit Inpex Natuna Ltd. Indonesia state company Pertamina approved the sale of Chevron assets that include Belida field, which currently produces 100,000 b/d of oil. The area is 1,160 km north of Jakarta.

ELF ENTERPRISE CALEDONIA LTD. let contract to Aberdeen's AOC International Ltd. and Brown & Root Ltd. for engineering and construction services. Under a 3 year contract with 2 year option, the joint venture will support Elf Enterprise operations on North Sea Piper B, Claymore and Saltire platforms and onshore Flora terminal. The project team will involve as many as 50 onshore staff and 95 offshore.

ROYAL DUTCH/SHELL GROUP will participate with Russia's joint stock company Evikhon to develop Salym oil field in the Khanty Mansi autonomous region of Russia. First stage of the project will require a $300 million investment. Contract terms Tall for Shell to fund the project's start up and receive 8% of revenues. The field holds an estimated 1.5 billion bbl of oil.

HAMILTON OIL CO. LTD., London, let contract to Heeremac Offshore Construction Group, Leiden, Netherlands, for installation of jackets, piles, and decks in the Liverpool Bay development project (OGJ, Nov. 1, 1993, p. 34). Installation will begin in second quarter 1995 in time for start of production late that year.

HAMILTON'S Irish Set Block 110/13 14 wildcat flowed gas at a stabilized rate of 85 MMcfd through a 2 in. choke. The well is 3 km east of Hamilton gas field, currently under development. Hamilton is preparing to drill another prospect in Block 110/13.

AMOCO (U.K.) EXPLORATION CO. conducted production tests of its Baird gas field Dec. 22, only 21/2 months after completion of the discovery well. The field is producing as much as 50 MMcfd of gas via Indefatigable field facilities (OGJ, Nov. 1, 1993, p. 28). Baird, in North Sea Block 49/24, holds an estimated 75 bcf of gas.

EXPLORATION

DRAGON OIL PLC London, farmed out 5% interests in its Blocks GSEC 60 and 72 off Philippines and Block B12/32 off Thailand. Asian Petroleum Corp., Manila, will earn the interests by drilling a well on GSEC 60 and one on B12/32 this year. The wells are part of Dragon's eight well program in the Far East (OGJ, Dec. 20, 1993, p. 34).

AMINEX PLC, London, and Russian producing company Komineftj formed the 50 50 venture Amkomi to drill development wells and improve field facilities in Russia's Komi republic. Aminex paid $4.7 million to buy into the JV and expects to spend another $2 million on drilling during 1994.

CHINA NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORP. let a production sharing contract to a group made up of Exxon Corp. 70% and Sumitomo Corp. and Indonesia Petroleum Ltd. 15% each, allowing exploration and development to begin on 15,000 sq km Block 3 in the Tarim basin of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in Northwest China (see map, OGJ, Oct. 18, 1993, p. 26). The group will start seismic work this year, followed by exploratory drilling.

NUEVO ENERGY CO.'S 1 253 ARCO Fee dual lateral Austin chalk well extended East Texas' Brookeland field 15 miles west. The well, with 7,150 ft of horizontal extension, flowed 1,200 b/d of oil and 7.4 MMcfd of gas through a 24/64 in. choke at 2,180 psi flowing tubing pressure. The well is 13 miles northwest of Jasper, Tex., in Jasper County.

ALTERNATE FUELS

HIGH PLAINS CORP., Wichita, is evaluating an expansion of its $30 million, 714,000 bbl/year York, Neb., ethanol plant, which is under construction, to 1.2 million bbl/year. The plant is scheduled to start up in July. Expansion work, which will cost a projected $10 million, is likely to occur immediately after the July start.

GAS STORAGE

PANHANDLE EASTERN PIPE LINE CO., Houston, with cofunding from Gas Research Institute, Chicago, plans to drill a horizontal storage well at Panhandle Eastern's Howell, Mich., natural gas storage site. The well is to be drilled this fall at a cost of $1 million. GRI will share technical results with other institute members.

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

CHINA drilled a 2,006 m geothermal well at Yangbajain in Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region. It produces 262 C. water, called the hottest in China, paving the way for installation of geothermal power generating units with a combined capacity of 10,000 kw.