INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

COMPANIES

GULF CANADA RESOURCES LTD. plans to sell half its 25% share in Hibernia oil field off Newfoundland, a 12.9% interest in Terra Nova oil field off Newfoundland, an 8% interest in Whiterose oil field off Nova Scotia, about half its 75% interest in the 1.8 tcf Parsons Lake gas field on the Mackenzie Delta, and an 11% interest in the 2 tcf Caroline sour gas field north of Calgary.

SCEPTRE RESOURCES LTD., Calgary, plans 1991 capital spending of $95 million with a major emphasis on Canadian exploration, notably for gas, and a sharply expanded horizontal drilling program. It will be fully funded from cash flow.

PETROCHEMICALS

UNION CARBIDE CORP. plans a $350 million expansion of its ethylene glycol plant near Prentiss in Central Alberta to double output to 600,000 metric tons/year by late 1994. Far Eastern Textile Ltd. and Union Chemical Corp., both of Taiwan, and Mitsui & Co. of Japan will pay half the expansion cost and buy most of the output. Feedstock of about 200,000 metric tons/year will come from a planned Dow Chemical Canada Inc. ethylene plant at Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. (OGJ, Oct. 29, p. 29).

REPSOL PETROLEO SA added 100,000 tons/year of chemical grade propylene capacity at its 130,000 b/d Corunna, Spain, refinery with addition of propylene splatters to the plant's fluid catalytic cracker.

DOW CHEMICAL IBERICA SA completed a $15 million upgrading of its styrenic products unit at Axpe-Erandio, Bilbao, northern Spain. It involved modernizing the polystyrene and styrene-butadiene latex plants and installing a recycling line in the polystyrene foam unit.

SAUDI BASIC INDUSTRIES CORP. (Sabic) plans a 500,000 ton/year methyl tertiary butyl ether plant at Jubail in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province. Sabic affiliate National Methanol Co. will build the plant, in which Texas Eastern Corp. and Hoechst-Celanese each will have a 25% interest, and provide feedstock from its 770,000 ton/year methanol plant at Jubail.

REFINING

ESSO PETROLEUM CO. halted work on a $100 million resid upgrader project at its 300,000 b/d Fawley refinery near Southampton, England, following a dispute with the main contractor, Davy Corp. The project was behind schedule, Esso terminated the contract, and Davy withdrew from the site. Esso reportedly is seeking bids from other contractors to complete the project. Esso and Davy are negotiating their differences over the contract to avoid going to court.

EXPORTS-IMPORTS

BULGARIA expects to import 7-11 million bbl of crude oil and about 35 bcf of gas from Iran under a $400 million commodity exchange that includes vehicles, heavy equipment, and other goods. Bulgaria will receive a credit of $100 million from Iran, which will deliver the first 2.92 million bbl by yearend.

FOUR JAPANESE STEELMAKERS agreed to resume exports of large diameter seamless steel pipe to the U.S.S.R. The deal covers delivery of 80,000 tons of pipe during January-June 1991 by Nippon Steel Corp., Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd., Kawasaki Steel Corp., and NKK Corp. The four had halted pipe exports to the Soviets under a 105,000 ton deal agreed to in October because of payment delays. The Soviets reportedly agreed to a 20% price hike because of increased oil revenues and their push to maintain oil and gas production levels.

SOUTH KOREA received its first shipment of crude oil from the Soviet Union. Yukong Ltd. received 108,000 bbl of Sakhalin crude via tanker at Ulsan late last month. Yukong also was to take delivery of 100,000 bbl of Soviet bunker fuel late last month. The U.S.S.R. and South Korea established diplomatic ties in September.

ACQUISITIONS

CLYDE PETROLEUM PLC agreed in principle to acquire BP Exploration's Dutch upstream company for $134 million. BP's Netherlands production of 14 MMcfd of gas from four fields is expected to rise to 17 MMcfd as new fields come on stream. Remaining reserves are 76 bcf.

EXPLORATION

MOROCCO'S state owned Office National de Recherches et d'Exploitations Petrolieres awarded Agip SpA a production sharing contract covering three blocks in the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Agadir under new terms announced earlier this year. Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Texaco Inc. earlier signed agreements under the new terms.

SUN OIL CO. signed a production sharing contract for Block 1 in the East Shabwa area of Yemen. Occidental Petroleum Corp. and BP Exploration earlier acquired acreage in the area (OGJ, Nov. 5, p. 32). Crescent Petroleum, Chevron Corp., and Phillips Petroleum Co.-Agip are reportedly in final negotiations for tracts in East Shabwa.

TOTAL EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION THAILAND expects to complete by yearend a 28,000 line km 3D seismic survey in Bongkot gas field, formerly referred to as B structure, in the Gulf of Thailand. The project is designed to pick drilling targets for initial Bongkot gas/condensate development. The 3D campaign by Western Geophysical will be followed by a 1,200 line km 2D survey in the southern part of the concession for further exploration.

VIETSOVPETRO, a Vietnamese-Soviet joint venture, let contract to Simon Geophysical Services, Swanley, England, for reprocessing, special processing, and interpretation of about 800 line km of marine seismic data. Vietsovpetro operates Vietnam's first offshore oil field, Bach Ho, and has a number of other undeveloped oil discoveries.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

TOTAL CFP started an enhanced oil recovery feasibility study involving air injection, with the first application planned for Hassi Messaoud field in Algeria. Total will conduct the study at its Beauplan research center. Amoco Corp. also may participate in the study.

NORSK HYDRA AS let contracts to Heeremac of Holland and Saipem SpA of Italy for transportation and installation of the jacket, deck frame, and modules for its Brage platform in the Norwegian North Sea.

PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT OMAN let the main contract for further development of Lekhwair oil field in Northwest Oman to Brown & Root Inc. The $500 million project is designed to hike production to 100,000 b/d by 1994 from 24,000 b/d.

AMERADA HESS LTD. ordered more than 80 subsea connectors from Big-Inch Marine Systems Inc., Houston, for use in Scott field development in the U.K. North Sea.