INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

COMPANIES

CHEVRON U.K. LTD. will boost capital and exploration spending in the U.K. North Sea by 29% to 84 million ($142 million) in 1990. Of that, it will allocate 50 million for new safety measures and installation of subsea emergency shutdown valves in Ninian field. Spending on exploration will increase by 21% to 34 million.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

MAGELLAN PETROLEUM CORP. reports proved reserves jumped to 680 bcf from 325 bcf estimated in 1985 in Palm Valley gas field in Central Australia's Amadeus basin. The increased estimate stems from a study by Servipetrol Ltd., Calgary. Magellan holds a 26% net interest in the field.

PETRO-CANADA International Assistance Corp. hiked its estimate of proved reserves in Jordan's Risheh gas field to 500 bcf from its November 1989 estimate of 260 bcf. Evidence of additional pools could increase that estimate still further, Pciac said.

OMV CANADA LTD., Calgary, purchased Alberta oil and gas leases from Esso Resources Canada Ltd. for $100 million. The sale includes interests in the Utikima, Goose Bay and Minnehik/Buck Lake areas and will increase OMV Canada's production to 7,200 b/d of oil equivalent from 2,000 b/d and reserves to 31 million bbl of oil equivalent from 13 million. The Canadian unit of Austria's state owned OMV AG plans to spend $18 million/year on exploration and development and possibly make other acquisitions.

ARCO BRITISH LTD. 9.2% and Goal Petroleum 3.3% acquired the 12.5% interest in P-344 license in the U.K. North Sea held by Kelt Energy plc, London. It includes a 2.1092% interest in Balmoral field.

KEPPEL SHIPYARD, Singapore, aims for May completion of a $20 million conversion of a storage tanker to a floating production/storage/off-loading unit for Amoco Production Co. to handle production from oil development off Congo (OGJ, Oct. 30, 1989, p. 31).

SHELL PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT Co. of Nigeria Ltd. signed a letter of intent to negotiate a contract with Noble Drilling Corp., Houston, for refurbishment, renovation, and mobilization to Nigeria of a shallow water jack up and a posted drilling barge. Noble expects the two rigs to be mobilized in third quarter 1990.

ELF AQUITAINE hired Parker Drilling Co. for a two well program in the remote Agadem region of East Niger.

ALBERTA ENERGY CO. LTD., Edmonton, is proceeding with an exploration and development program in the Karr area 31 miles southeast of Grande Prairie, Alta. It has an average working interest of 58% in 41,759 acres and 18 gas/condensate wells with proved and probable net reserves of 47 bcf of gas and 1.6 million bbl of liquids. It also is participating in construction of 23 miles of gathering lines and has obtained an interest in a gas processing plant.

EXPLORATION

PHILLIPS PETROLEUM CO. U.K. tested an oil discovery on Block 30/13 in the central U.K. North Sea. Its 30/13-3 Jacqui prospect well, drilled to 16,800 ft, flowed 7,600 b/d of 36 gravity oil through a 1/2 in, choke from one interval and as much as 4,400 b/d from a second. Interests in the block are Phillips 35%, Fina Exploration Ltd. 30%, Agip (U.K.) Ltd. 15%, Lasmo North Sea plc 8.52%, Gas Council (Exploration) Ltd. 7.22%, and Elf Oil & Gas Ltd. 4.26%.

OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM (Caledonia) Ltd. tested 2,542 b/d of 33 gravity oil and 500 Mcfd of gas through a 1/2 in. choke from its 14/19-24 well in the U.K. North Sea, 4 miles west of Claymore field. The well was drilled to 11,815 ft. Interests in Block 14/19 are Oxy 36.5%, Texaco Britain Ltd. 23.5%, Lasmo 20%, and Union Texas Petroleum Ltd. 20%.

PETRO-CANADA received a permit to drill a 10,171 ft wildcat on the Grand Banks about 217 miles southeast of St. John's, Newf. Site is 3 miles southwest of the Terra Nova K-08 oil discovery. It hired the Sedco 710 semisubmersible.

TRANSPORTATION

GATX TERMINALS, Chicago, acquired for $121 million the worldwide interests of the Unitank bulk liquid storage business of Tate & Lyle plc and DRT Industries Inc. Included are two U.S. chemical terminals and seven U.K. terminals, interests in two additional U.K. joint ventures, a Malaysian chemical terminal, and a 10 mile pipeline to the Manchester, U.K., airport under construction. The deal adds 9 million bbl to GATX's storage capacity.

ITALGAS SPA plans to buy a minority interest in Gas Madrid SA, Spain's second largest gas company, which supplies synthetic and natural gas to about 500,000 industrial and residential customers in the Madrid and Valladolid areas of Central Spain. The deal is to be closed in a few weeks.

MARKETING

PETROLEOS DE VENEZUELA SA, Venezuela's state oil company, will sell Trinidad and Tobago 9,000 b/d of kerosine, and Trinidad and Tobago will refine as much as 90,000 b/d of Venezuelan crude and market Venezuelan lubricants in the English speaking Caribbean.

REFINING

COASTAL CORP. let contract to Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Pasadena, Calif., for process and design engineering for a revamp of its 150,000 b/d San Nicolas, Aruba, refinery. The plant, purchased from Exxon Corp. and shut down since February 1985, is to restart next October (OGJ, Oct. 30, 1989, p. 30).

PHILLIPS PETROLEUM CO. completed a Hydrisom process design for an isomerization unit for Petromin-Mobil Yanbu Refinery Co. Ltd.'s refinery at Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.

CORPOVEN SA, a unit of Petroleos de Venezuela SA, will hike production of high octane gasoline to 54,000 b/d from 42,000 b/d at its 105,000 b/d El Palito refinery in Venezuela's Carabobo province, allowing an 11,000 b/d increase in gasoline exports. Expansion will be complete at the end of March.

GAS PROCESSING

PDVSA is studying a Royal Dutch/Shell Group proposal for a $57 million gas processing plant in eastern Venezuela under a prospective joint venture.

ALTERNATE FUELS

INDONESIA'S State Electricity Co. agreed to buy two 400,000 kw coal fired steam generators from a group made up of ABB Combustion Engineering Systems, C. Itoh, and PT Energy System Indonesia. The project is valued at about $305 million, with the group's share about $210 million. The steam generators, to be installed at Paiton, East Java, will start up in 1994 and burn coal from mines in East and South Kalimantan.