U.S. BRIEFS

COGENERATION

AIR PRODUCTS & CHEMICALS INC., Allentown, Pa., expects to complete a $150 million, 80,000 kw coal refuse fired cogeneration plant near Ebensburg, Pa., 70 miles east of Pittsburgh, by spring 1991. It will burn bituminous waste coal, possibly blended with raw coal, from an adjacent 30 million ton waste coal pile and another nearby waste coal pile in two circulating fluidized bed boilers.

CALIFORNIA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION declined to approve Pacific Gas & Electric Co. purchases of electricity from four Texaco Inc. cogeneration plants at oil fields in Fresno and Monterey counties, Calif., because of lack of sufficient evidence of economic viability and other problems. PG&E sought another hearing on modified contract terms.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

TRUST ESTATES of Nelson Bunker, William Herbert, and Lamar Hunt voluntarily transferred their stock ownership interests in Penrod Drilling Corp. to the corporation for cancellation. The estates determined further investment in Penrod inadvisable due to business differences with other stockholders and management.

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE REFINERY ASSOCIATION, McPherson, Kan., sought offers for its exploration/production properties, including reserves of 20 million bbl of oil equivalent, two thirds gas, and 350,000 undeveloped acres. NCRA offered the properties in geographic packages in West TexasSoutheast New Mexico, San Juan basin, Oklahoma, Rocky Mountains, and Kansas.

APACHE CORP.'S 1 White opened Eocene lower Wilcox 8,440 ft pay in Dubina South field, Colorado County, Tex., where the company holds 615 net acres. The well flowed 2.3 MMcfd of gas and 199 b/d of condensate through a 14/64 in. choke with 2,300 psi flowing tubing pressure. CAOF is 12.3 MMcfd of gas. Nine wells have produced from lower Wilcox 9,080 ft sand.

ZG ENERGY CORP., Tulsa, postponed until April or May a stockholders meeting originally set for January to consider a proposed acquisition of the U.S. oil and gas assets of Sceptre Resources Ltd., Calgary. The transaction is to cost $1 2 million instead of the original $11.5 million, including $4.6 million in cash instead of $1.5 million.

MARKETING

CHEVRON U.S.A. INC. said most Chevron stations will begin charging the same price for gasoline on cash and credit purchases in Hawaii, Alaska, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and west of the Rockies by Apr. 2. Chevron is ending a 3% credit card processing fee in effect since 1982.

PHILLIPS 66 CO. will discontinue motor fuel and distillate marketing in Florida, where it will continue selling aviation fuels and lubricants. Phillips' 63 independent marketers that operate 529 retail outlets are expected to be able to find other supply sources. The company expects to sell or trade its 12 retail outlets.

COMPANIES

HARKEN ENERGY CORP. Dallas, withdrew an offer to merge with Tesoro Petroleum Corp., San Antonio. Tesoro rejected the offer, which had been outstanding 6 months.

ALTERNATE FUELS

ABB ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS, Birmingham, signed a cooperative agreement with the Department of Energy for a $31.5 million project to demonstrate the WSA-SNOX process for coal fired power plants. The process, which removes sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from emissions without producing water pollution or solid wastes, will be tested at Ohio Edison Co.'s Niles generating station. Other participants are Snamprogetti SpA of Italy and the Ohio Coal Development Office.

PROCESSING

DIAMOND SHAMROCK REFINING & MARKETING CO. will install a continuous catalyst reformer licensed by Institut Francais du Petrole at its 52,000 b/sd Three Rivers, Tex., refinery south of San Antonio. Unit capacity of 10,000 b/sd will be expandable to 20,000 b/sd. Start-up is expected in 16 months.

UNOCAL CORP. let a contract to John Brown E&C Inc., London, for a $50 million, 180 million lb/year grassroots polymer plant at Northland Industrial Estates, Kankakee, Ill. The plant, to be completed in fourth quarter 1990, will manufacture emulsions of polyvinyl acetate and styrene butadiene.

TRANSPORTATION

ARCO PIPE LINE CO. restored service on its crude oil pipeline between Houston and Cushing, Okla., at 8 a.m. Mar. 17. Service was disrupted Mar. 13 when a segment of 12 in. pipe was damaged at the Red River crossing between Jacksboro, Tex., and Ringling, Okla., and an undetermined amount of oil spilled. March deliveries to Cushing will be completed as scheduled.

TRUNKLINE GAS CO. began accepting requests last week for transportation on a gas pipeline it will operate between Grant County, Ind., and Lebanon, Ohio. Trunkline will own the Indiana segment and will jointly own the Ohio section with ANR Pipeline Co. (OGJ, Mar. 19, p. 24). The line will connect Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co.'s system with facilities of Texas Eastern Transmission Corp., CNG Transmission Corp., and Columbia Gas Transmission Corp.

TEXAS EASTERN PRODUCTS PIPELINE CO. will hydrostatically test 165 miles of its LPG pipeline from Watkins Glen to Selkirk, N.Y. (OGJ, Mar. 19, p. 29). Testing will take 30-60 days.

COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION CORP. proposed $28.1 million in system improvements to provide firm transport of about 43 MMcfd of gas for a new 214,000 kw electricity generating unit at Virginia Power Co.'s Chesterfield power station near Richmond. Interim firm transport will start in November 1990 and firm transport in November 1991. The unit is to start up in June and receive interruptible transportation until November.

SANTA FE PACIFIC PIPELINE PARTNERS LP completed the purchase of Shell Oil Co.'s Tucson refined products terminal. The terminal has 191,000 bbl of storage as well as truck loading facilities next to Santa Fe's Tucson terminal, Santa Fe bought a similar terminal in Phoenix from Shell in 1989 (OGJ, Aug. 10, 1989, p. 22).

R&D

INSTITUTE OF GAS TECHNOLOGY and Environmental BioScience Corp., Boston, will develop and license IGT microbiological technology to remove sulfur from crude oils. IGT will test bacterial cultures to determine sulfur removal effectiveness. EBC obtained worldwide rights to license IGT coal and oil biodesulfurization technology.