GAS STORAGE
KN INTERSTATE GAS TRANSMISSION CO., a unit of KN Energy Inc., Lakewood, Colo., received a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission permit to transfer three regulated gas storage sites to a nonregulated affiliate. The three are Big Springs field in Nebraska, Springdale field in Colorado, and Adolph field in Kansas. They contain about 45 bcf of cushion gas valued at 600/Mcf. KIN may change the way the sites are used or sell all or part of the cushion gas.
EXPLORATION
INDIA'S Oil & Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) found oil in six satellites to giant Bombay High oil field off Bombay after concluding a 36 well exploration campaign. Combined reserves are estimated at more than 365 million bbl. WO-5 and B-15 structures, currently undergoing further production tests, together are thought capable of producing 40,000-60,000 b/d. Four smaller structures, B-127m, C-37, WO-16, and B-153, yielded oil, and ONGC plans further exploration near those finds.
HARKEN ENERGY CORP., Dallas, is pressing exploration on its three association contracts in Colombia. In the Llanos basin, Harken will begin in November a 40 km seismic survey on acreage covered by its Playero and Alcaravan contracts to choose a wildcat drillsite. In the Middle Magdalena basin, Harken will begin clearing location in September for a wildcat to test the Rio Negro prospect on its Bocachico contract. Harken also will conduct a 35 km seismic survey to pinpoint a follow-up wellsite on the Bocachico contract,
ABACAN RESOURCES CORP., Calgary, is raising $30 million (Canadian) in a private placement in Europe to fund its Nigerian exploration program. It recently disclosed a flow rate of 23,070 b/d of oil and condensate from a well in NGO field on the Niger Delta off Port Harcourt (OGJ, June 5, p. 28). NGO reserves are estimated at 390 million bbl of oil and 2 tcf of gas. A 50,000 b/d production system is slated for installation by first quarter 1996.
ALTERNATIVE FUELS
WILLIAMS ENERGY VENTURES, a unit of Williams Cos., Tulsa, agreed to buy Pekin Energy Co., the second biggest U.S. ethanol producer, from Texaco Inc., CPC International Inc., and CPC unit Enzyme Bio-Systems Ltd., for $167 million. CPC and Texaco 50-50 formed Pekin in the early 1980s to produce and market fuel grade ethanol and byproducts. Pekin produces about 100 million gal/year from corn.
PIPELINES
TUSCARORA GAS TRANSMISSION CO. will begin laying a 229 mile gas pipeline June 19 from Malin, Ore., to Reno, Nev. The $125 million, 20 in. line will deliver as much as 111 MMcfd of gas to Alturas and Susanville, Calif., Sierra Pacific Power Go. of Reno, and a number of large commercial/industrial users along the route. Tuscarora, a partnership of Sierra Pacific and TransCanada Pipelines Ltd., Calgary, will have access via interconnects to western Canadian gas.
MAPCO NATURAL GAS LIQUIDS and Amoco Pipeline Co. signed a memorandum of understanding to create a respective 60-40 venture to build, own, and operate NGL pipelines linking Wattenberg field production in Colorado with Mapco's Conway, Kan., fractionation plant. As part of the agreement, Amoco Oil Co. and Amoco Production Go. will dedicate planned NGL production to the venture. It will combine Amoco's existing 6 in. Wattenberg-Bushton, Kan., pipeline with a proposed 382 mile, 10 in. loop from Wattenberg to Conway.
U.S. TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT'S Research and Special Programs Administration granted Columbia Gulf Transmission Co. a waiver allowing it to use a concrete mesh blanket to cover an 813 ft portion of its 36 in. Bluewater Mainline 200 pipeline off Pecan Island, La. Gulf of Mexico pipelines normally are required to bury a line 36 in. below the seabed, but Columbia said that is impossible because the section crosses two other lines.
REPAIRS WERE COMPLETED last week to Sakhalin Island's main oil pipeline, damaged in a May 28 earthquake that reduced the oil town of Neftegorsk to rubble and killed more than 1,100 persons. The line, which transports Sakhalin oil to refineries on the Russian mainland, is expected to be back on stream soon. Meanwhile, cleanup was under way last week after a quake damaged the gathering line from Sakhalin oil fields to the trunk line. Breaks in 18 places spilled 24,000 bbl of oil that contaminated lakes and rivers.
SPILLS
CONTAINMENT EFFORTS involving booms and spraying of chemical dispersants were under way at presstime last week after the Singaporean flagged Say-bolt bunker barge collided with the Panamanian flagged Sun Pulse freighter near Singapore's east coast June 5, spilling about 700 bbl of fuel oil from a ruptured tank on the barge. At last report, the Saybolt was lightering its remaining cargo into another vessel. Some beach contamination was reported.
DRILLING-PRODUCTION
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LTD.'S 2 Laminaria appraisal well flowed 6,650 b/d of 57.5 gravity oil and 260 Mcfd of gas through a 5/8 in. choke on tests of an interval at 3,285-3,300 m in the Timor Sea (OGJ, June 5, p. 66). The well cut 109 m of gross pay, similar to the 1 Laminaria discovery well but featuring more complex geology. More appraisal drilling and seismic surveys are planned. Estimates of oil reserves are 80-200 million bbl.
LASMO OIL PAKISTAN LTD. started production from Kadanwari field in Pakistan's Sindh province. Production will rise to 100 MMcfd and increase further upon completion of drilling and facilities construction in the field. Interests are state owned Oil & Gas Development Corp. 50%, operator Lasmo 18.42%, and Kufpec (Pakistan) Ltd. and Idemitsu Pakistan Oil Exploration Co. Ltd. 15.79% each.
HIBERNIA MANAGEMENT & DEVELOPMENT CO. LTD. let contract to ABB Vetco Gray Canada Inc. (VGCI) to supply, install, and maintain wellheads and production trees for the Hibernia field platform, to be installed in 80 m of water about 315 km off Newfoundland. VGCI in January 1996 is to begin delivering the first of about 42 wellhead systems. VGCI will continue with these installations and provide other technical services through 2002.
FLETCHER CHALLENGE PETROLEUM INC., Calgary, acquired producing leases in the Hatton fields area of Southwest Saskatchewan from Talisman Energy Inc., Calgary, for $156 million (Canadian). The deal involves a revenue sharing agreement, property trade, and cash. The leases, which produced about 64 MMcfd of gas in 1994, hold estimated reserves of 241 bcf.
POGO PRODUCING CO., Houston, and partners expect to start production in 1996 from Tantawan field in the Gulf of Thailand after finding hydrocarbons in several zones with a wildcat on the far north side of Block 38/32. Pogo drilled 9 Tantawan more than 11 miles north of its 1 Tantawan discovery well. Operator Pogo and Rutherford-Moran Oil Corp. each own 46.3% interests in Block B8/32 and Thailand's Sophonpanich Co. Ltd. 7.4%.
ENRON OIL & GAS LTD. hired Paragon Engineering Services Inc., Houston, for engineering and construction management for Tapti gas field off India. Development will include four four-pile, eight slot well protector platforms, a six pile central processing and quarters platform, an 81 km gas sales line, and three interconnecting flow lines. Tapti field, in 80 ft of water, has a gas stream with a CO2 content of as much as 6%.
VAALCO ENERGY INC., Houston, plans to develop PY-3 oil field off Southeast India with a floating production system. Development is to begin in the third quarter, with start-up at about 10,000 b/d expected in late 1996 or early 1997. The field, with estimated proved and probable reserves of 36 million bbl of oil, lies on production sharing contract Block CY-OS/1 in 350-450 ft of water. Operator Vaalco holds an 18% interest in the field, with the rest held by Indian companies.
EQUITABLE RESOURCES INC., Pittsburgh, hired Petrie Parkman & Co. to offer for sale all of its oil and gas leases in the northern Appalachian basin of New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Equitable operates most of the leases, in which its working interests average 25%.
GOTHIC ENERGY CORP., Tulsa, purchased working interests in 69 oil and gas wells in the Delaware basin of Loving County, Tex., from Johnson Ranch Partners (JRP) and JRP Resources LC, both of Dallas. Gothic paid Merrill Lynch Energy Investments Inc., which manages JRP, $7.25 million in cash and issued 1 million shares of its common stock to Merrill Lynch Capital Corp. for the leases. Gothic acquired net reserves totaling 1.5 million bbl of oil and 29 bcf of gas.
SHAREHOLDERS approved the merger of Wilrig AS into Transocean AS (OGJ, Apr. 17, p. 21). Transocean, of Tananger, Norway, will own or have operating interests in 20 drilling rigs, mostly semisubmersibles, and continue to offer a range of other services.
TRIUMPH ENERGY CORP., Calgary, acquired producing leases and related pipeline assets in South Alberta's Manyberries area from Home Oil Co. Ltd. for $32 million (Canadian). Involved are 4.2 million bbl of light crude oil reserves and the 130 km Manyberries pipeline to Milk River.
MORRISON PETROLEUM LTD., Calgary, acquired gas reserves and undeveloped acreage in Southwest Alberta from Home Oil for $27 million (Canadian). Involved are Home's 34% interest in North Coleman gas field, representing about 60 bcf of net proved and probable reserves and more than 32,100 acres of leases in the Crowsnest Pass area. North Coleman's production of 7.5 MMcfd is shut in pending an upgrade of Morrison's gas processing plant.
COLT RESOURCES CORP., Tulsa, and North American Resources Co. (Narco), Butte, Mont., renewed their Midcontinent development drilling venture through mid-1996. They expect the renewal to result in outlays of $12 million. Colt and Narco, a unit of Montana Power Co., have participated in more than 40 wells in Oklahoma's Anadarko basin since 1991, exposing almost $15 million in drilling capital to the venture prior to this latest renewal.
TANKERS
THE UIKKU arctic class tanker delivered the first export oil cargo shipped in winter by sea from northern Russian oil fields, confirming the feasibility of year-round marine transportation of northern Russian oil. Assisted by icebreakers, Uikku crossed the Kara Sea to deliver 84,162 bbl of Tambey gas field condensate, loaded on the Ob River on the eastern Yamal Peninsula, to Porvoo, Finland. The tanker is under charter to Arctic Shipping Services, a venture of Murmansk Shipping Co., Neste Oy Shipping, and Kvaerner Masa Yards Inc.
COMPANIES
AMPOLEX LTD., Sydney, hopes to supply natural gas to Western Australia's third direct reduction of iron (DRI) project. The company is contributing $2 million (Australian) to a feasibility study that gives it certain rights to provide gas supplies as well as options, without commitment, for equity participation in development of a DRI plant in the Pilbara region. The study is to be complete by June 1996. Ampolex has more than 200 bcf of net gas reserves and 1 tcf of potential gas resources off Western Australia.
GAS PROCESSING
ASTRA GAS CO., a unit of Astra Resources, Houston, acquired the 25 MMcfd Minneola gas processing plant in Ford County, Kan., from Texaco Exploration & Production Inc.
REFINING
MALAYSIAN REFINING CO. (MRC), a venture of Conoco Inc. and Petronas, named Foster Wheeler (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. project management consultant for its $1 billion, 100,000 b/d PSR-2 Melaka refining project at Kuala Lumpur. Foster Wheeler w 11 monitor engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning work conducted by a group of contractors led by Chiyoda Corp. (OGJ, Feb. 6, p. 42).
SANTA MARIA REFINING CO., Santa Maria, Calif., won approval from Santa Barbara County's planning commission to restart and operate the idle Santa Maria asphalt refinery. Throughput is to begin at 3,000 b/d and build to 10,000 b/d in 2 years, fed by local heavy crude oil.
MOBIL OIL CORP. let a 3 year contract to Jacobs Engineering Group, Pasadena, Calif., to provide engineering, design, and on-request support services for capital improvement and maintenance/turnaround projects at its 127,000 b/d Torrance, Calif., refinery.
PETROCHEMICALS
FINA-BOREALIS NV let a $1 6.7 million contract for design, engineering, supply, and erection of a cracking furnace at its Antwerp ethylene plant. Capacity is about 100,000 metric tons/year of ethylene. The furnace will crack a wide range of feedstocks including ethane, C3, C4, naphtha, and ultimately very heavy feedstocks.
LUBRICANTS
ESSO SINGAPORE PTE. LTD. let a $25 million contract to Foster Wheeler Eastern Pte. Ltd., Singapore, to expand capacity of the base lubricants unit at its Pulau Ayer Chawan, Singapore, refinery to 650,000 metric tons/year from 500,000 tons/year. Construction is to begin in second half 1995 and be complete by mid-1996.
LNG
ABU DHABI'S National Gas Shipping Co. Ltd. chartered Lachmar's SS Louisiana liquefied natural gas carrier to transport LNG for Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Co. Ltd. (Adgas) beginning in July and extending into first quarter 1996. Lachmar is a combine of units of Panhandle Eastern Corp., Houston. The Louisiana will transport LNG from Adgas' LNG export complex at Das Island to terminals in Belgium and France.
Copyright 1995 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.