Correction
AGE Refining Inc.'s
San Antonio refinery was incorrectly listed as having 5,000 b/d of crude distillation capacity in the Worldwide Refining Survey (OGJ, Dec. 20, 1999, p. 86). The refinery has 10,000 b/d of distillation capacity and 1,200 b/d of aromatics production capacity.
Spills
Poseidon crude oil pipeline,
a 200,000 b/d system operated by Equilon Pipeline Co. on Ship Shoal Block 332 in the Gulf of Mexico, was damaged in an accident involving the 8-ton anchor of Transocean 96, a second-generation semisubmersible drilling rig owned by Transocean Sedco Forex Inc., Houston. The line is likely to remain shut down for several weeks. A little more than 2,200 bbl of oil reportedly spilled from the ruptured line and, at presstime, repair crews were assessing the damage.
Pipelines
Coastal Corp.'s
Colorado Interstate Gas Co. (CIG) unit chose a route for the Nixon natural gas pipeline lateral that will deliver 83.4 MMcfd to a planned 478-Mw power plant to be built by Front Range Power LLC south of Colorado Springs, Colo. The plant is slated for completion in fourth quarter 2002. The 85-mile lateral will be either 16 or 20 in. and will extend from CIG's Watkins Station, east of Denver, along the right-of-way of CIG's main system.
Companies
Stolt Comex Seaway SA,
Aberdeen, acquired ETPM SA, the wholly owned unit of French offshore construction and engineering company Groupe GTM SA, for $130 million plus $6.1 million in Stolt Comex Class A shares. Stolt Comex also will assume $60 million in debt and will enter into a $31.3 million hire-purchase bareboat agreement for two ships owned by GTM, with an early purchase option after 2 years. The acquisition of ETPM follows the announcement by Global Industries Ltd. to terminate its share-purchase agreement with Groupe GTM to acquire all the outstanding stock of ETPM (OGJ, Nov. 29, 1999, p. 28).
Ocean Energy Inc.,
Houston, after reviewing its exploration program in Bangladesh, decided to discontinue operations in the country. The company said the decision, which will incur an $18 million impairment charge in fourth quarter 1999, is based on the desire to "remain focused on projects that make the biggest impact on reserve replacement efficiency, cash margins, and return on capital." The company will continue to concentrate exploration efforts mainly in the Gulf of Mexico-on the shelf and in deep water-and in West Africa, Egypt, Russia, and Indonesia.
McMoRan Exploration Co.
acquired Shell Offshore Inc.'s ownership interests of 25-100% in 56 exploratory leases covering about 260,000 gross acres in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana. Shell retains an overriding royalty interest in each of the properties, which are in water depths ranging to 1,978 ft but mostly in shallow water.
KCS Energy Inc.,
Houston, was granted relief under Chapter 11 of the US bankruptcy code. KCS is an independent oil and gas producer focused on the US Midcontinent and Gulf Coast.
Bitech Fortum Energy Co. Ltd.,
signed an agreement to acquire BG North Sea Holdings Ltd.'s 50% interest in the Russian joint-stock company KomiArcticOil (KAO) for $28 million. Bitech Fortum Energy is a new company held 50-50 by Canada's Bitech Petroleum Corp. and Finland's Fortum Oil & Gas Oy. KAO is owner and operator of Upper Vozey oil field near Usinsk in Russia's Komi Republic.
Venture Production Co. Ltd.,
Aberdeen, acquired from Lasmo PLC, London, its 46.79% interest in Block 16/12a and 25% interest in neighboring Blocks 16/13b and 13c in the central North Sea. Block 16/12a, also known as Trees Block, holds Birch and Larch oil fields along with the Pine and Elm oil discoveries. Current Birch and Larch production of 8,000 boe/d is via a subsea development tied back to Marathon Oil UK Ltd.'s Brae A platform. The acquisition marks a major step for Venture into the North Sea, it said, and it plans to follow up the deal with purchases of North Sea assets.
Quicksilver Resources Inc.,
Fort Worth, signed a letter of intent with CMS Energy Corp., Dearborn, Mich., to acquire all of CMS's Michigan oil and gas exploration and production assets, including the stock of Terra Energy Ltd. Also included in the sale are more than 180,000 net leasehold acres, which produce about 54 MMcfed from Antrim shale and interests in Niagaran and Prairie du Chien wells. For CMS, this sale represents a "significant" portion of a $500 million divestment plan to shed assets thought to be noncore, the company said.
Petrochemicals
Lyondell Chemical Co,
Houston, let two key contracts for a 125,000 tonne/year butanediol and derivatives plant to be built at its Rotterdam complex. It let a contract for construction and procurement to Kvaerner ASA and one for supply of synthetic gas, hydrogen, steam, and electricity to Air Products Nederland BV. The plant, slated for start-up in second half 2001, will use propylene oxide from Lyondell's Rotterdam complex as its primary feed.
Saudi Arabia
is planning a plant at Jubail to produce 191,000 tonnes/year of chlorine and caustic soda. Local reports peg the cost of the plant at $94 million and said an agreement was signed with Swedish firm Cell-Chem Akzono and US firm Eltech Systems Corp. to build the plant over an 18-month period. Construction would start in mid-2000.
Exploration
Advantage Resources Selva LLC,
a unit of Advantage Resources Inc., Denver, signed an initial agreement with state agency Perupetro SA with to explore Peru's northern jungle Block 87. Half of the block (formerly Block 72), was explored until last year by Occidental Petroleum Corp., which completed seismic studies but opted not to drill. The other half of the block remains unexplored. Perupetro expects to sign a definitive contract with Advantage in either late January or early February.
Pluspetrol SA,
Buenos Aires, relinquished Block 8X to Perupetro. Pluspetrol won the block, formerly operated by state-owned Petroperu SA, in a mid-1996 privatization auction. Pluspetrol continues to operate Block 8, another former Petroperu block, and is in the final approval stage with Perupetro to take over Block 1-AB from Occidental.
Apache Corp.,
Houston, and FX Energy Inc, Salt Lake City, successfully tested their Wilga wildcat on Block 255 of the Vistula concession about 25 miles southeast of Warsaw. The well flowed on test at a rate of 16.9 MMcfd of natural gas and 570 b/d of condensate and is the first conventional gas discovery by a non-Polish operator in Poland, says Apache. The well was tested in three Carboniferous at 7,732-8,550 ft. Well interest holders are operator Apache, 45%; FX Energy, 45%; and Polish Oil & Gas Co. (POGC), 10%. Apache and partners plan to drill an appraisal well and are holding talks with POGC regarding the development and possible connection to an existing pipeline 12 miles away.
Santos Ltd.
found natural gas in the Victorian sector of Australia's onshore Otway basin. Its 100%-owned Penryn 1 wildcat on PEP 108 permit cut a 20-m gross gas column in Cretaceous Warre sandstone at 1,673-93 m. The well reached 1,823 m TD before being cased and suspended as a future gas producer. Penryn 1 is 2.4 km southeast of the Fenton Creek 1 gas find and 3 km north of the recently completed Heytesbury gas production facility that processes gas from the Santos-operated Mylor and Fenton Creek fields.
Power
Electricité de France
(EdF) let a $100 million contract to units of Foster Wheeler Corp., Clinton, NJ, to supply and erect four steam generators and auxiliary components at two planned 700-Mw power plants in Egypt. The new plants, expected to be in full operation in 2003, will be built in Port Said and Suez Gulf. The generators are rated at 350 Mw each and will burn both gas and oil. EdF will own and operate the power plants for 20 years and then transfer the facilities to the Egyptian Electricity Authority.
Columbia Electric Corp.,
a unit of Columbia Energy Group, Herndon, Va., plans to install two 500-Mw natural gas-fired power plants in Henderson, Ky., and Ceredo, WV. Both plants will generate power for the Eastern Central Area Reliability transmission grid. The plants are part of the 3,000 Mw of gas-fired power generation under development by Columbia Electric.
Gas processing
Methanex Corp.,
Vancouver, BC, agreed to provide $2 million towards engineering costs for construction of a 10,000 b/d gas-to-liquids plant planned by Syntroleum Corp., Tulsa (OGJ, Nov. 22, 1999, p. 40). After engineering is complete, Methanex will pay about $43 million for a minority interest in the so-called Sweetwater project. Enron Corp. unit Enron North America also holds a minority interest in the project. Plant location, yet to be finalized, will be in Western Australia or Trinidad and Tobago; completion is slated for yearend 2002.
Drilling-production
OMV (Pakistan) Exploration GMBH
will spend $40 million on development drilling in Miano gas field and on equipment to expand the nearby Kadanwari gas processing plant in Pakistan. OMV signed a gas sales agreement with Sui Southern Gas Co. Ltd. and a gas price pact with Pakistan (OGJ, Mar. 22, 1999, p. 46). Operator OMV has a 17.68% working interest in Miano. Its partners are Oil & Gas Development Co. Ltd., 52%; and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd. and British-Borneo Exploration & Production Ltd., 15.16% each. Gas from the field will be transported through a 35-km pipeline to the Kadanwari plant, operated by Lasmo Oil Pakistan Ltd. on behalf of the Kadanwari field owners.
BHP Petroleum Pty. Ltd.
brought on stream its Buffalo oil field on WA-260-P permit about 560 km northwest of Darwin in the Timor Sea. Buffalo, with 20 million bbl in proven and probable reserves, adjoins Woodside Petroleum Ltd. group's Laminaria-Corallina oil fields, which began production a few weeks ago. Operator BHP and Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd. hold 50-50 interests in Buffalo; BHP has interests of 32.6% in Laminaria and 25% in Corallina. Buffalo was developed with two wells on an unmanned, five-slot wellhead platform in 30 m of water and is linked to Buffalo Venture, a 103,000-dwt floating production, storage, and offloading vessel 2 km away in 300 m of water. Production is expected to peak at 40,000 b/d of 53.3° gravity oil over an estimated 3-year field life.
International Petroleum Libya Ltd.,
a unit of Vancouver, BC-based Red Sea Oil Corp., and Lundin Oil AB, Stockholm, received approval for development of En Naga North and West oil fields on Area NC117 in Libya. Production from En Naga, which holds about 90 million bbl of oil reserves, is expected to start up in first quarter 2001.
Refining
MOL Hungarian Oil & Gas Co. Ltd.,
selected the SynShift/SynSat technology for the revamp of its gas oil hydrotreater and dewaxing unit for its Danube refinery at Sz
Kuwait Petroleum Corp.
(KPC) pulled out of a venture with Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) for building a 180,000 b/d refinery at Paradip in eastern India's Orissa state (OGJ, Oct. 12, 1998, p. 39). The $1.74 billion project was slated to be commissioned at Paradip in the next 3 years. IOC and KPC were to hold 26% interest each in the plant, with Oil & Natural Gas Corp. offered at least a 24% stake. KPC reportedly shifted its focus to investing in an existing refinery, rather than a planned one. IOC has decided to carry out the project on its own, and KPC remains keen on providing IOC with long-term crude supplies.
Sunoco Inc.,
Philadelphia, performed an unplanned shut-down Jan. 20 of an 85,000 b/d crude unit at its 175,000 b/d Marcus Hook, Pa., refinery due to a complication with a crude heater. Expected to last 7-14 days, the turnaround is not expected to affect customer supplies, the firm said.
NGL
Williams Energy Marketing & Trading Co.,
a unit of Williams, Tulsa, signed a long-term ethane supply contract with Aux Sable Liquid Products LP for all of the expected ethane production from Aux Sable's NGL extraction and fractionation facilities being built at Channohon, Ill. Williams will use the ethane to serve petrochemical markets in the US Midwest.
Coalbed methane
EuroGas Inc.,
London, signed an agreement with Slovgold GMBH to conduct a six-well pilot program in South Wales to test for coalbed methane. The area contains potential reserves of more than 500 bcf of gas with an original gas in place estimate of 7 tcf. The program will begin in 2 months, and if successful, will lead to an additional 10-well development program. EuroGas will cover the costs of the pilot program and first stage of any subsequent development program in exchange for 40% of the cash flow until payout. EuroGas interests will be reduced to 25% after payout. The pilot and development program cover one license covering 125,000 acres.