SPILLS
ABOUT 300 BBL of fuel oil and jet fuel spilled when the Mormac Star tanker ran aground off New Jersey and ruptured a cargo hold Feb. 11 while en route to New York from the Virgin Islands. At presstime, most spilled product had been cleaned up, the vessel was headed for deeper water for repairs, and there appeared to be no environmental threat. Booms were deployed along the New York and New Jersey coasts. Operator of the vessel is Mormac Marine Transport Corp. Cause of the grounding is under investigation.
GAS STORAGE
KIOWA COUNTY STORAGE PARTNERSHIP a partnership of Williams Underground Storage Co. and HNG Storage Co., will develop a 5.6 bcf salt cavern natural gas storage site near Mullinville, Kan. Involved are 16 gas storage caverns leached in 700 ft thick salt beds at a depth of 2,000 ft and associated pipelines and compression.
REFINING
NORWAY'S Den norske stats oljeselskap AS signed a letter of intent with Conoco Inc. and Malaysia's state owned Petronas to buy a 15% interest in a proposed expansion of Melaka refinery north of Singapore. The $150 million project will double capacity to 200,000 b/d by 1998 at the refinery, which went on stream in April 1994.
PCK AG completed construction of a 1,680 b/d methyl tertiary butyl ether unit at its Schwedt refinery in eastern Germany. Engineering contractor Edeleanu GmbH, Alzenau, Germany, built the plant in 18 months and integrated it into the refinery's fluid catalytic cracker. The unit uses IFP's selective hydrogenation technology and UOP's oxygenate extraction technology.
LAGOVEN SA'S Amuay, Venezuela, refinery increased heavy crude processing to a record 64,000 b/d in 1994. The plant processed an average 430,000 b/d of crude last year, yielding 416,000 b/d of products. It started up a 34,000 b/d coker in November that, along with a 64,000 b/d flexicoker that started up in 1982, boosts the refinery's resid cracking capacity to 98,000 b/d, among the world's largest.
PENNZOIL PRODUCTS CO. plans to install an 8,480 b/sd resid catalytic cracker and a 3,600 b/sd butane isomerization unit at its 46,000 b/d Shreveport, La., refinery. UOP Inc., Des Plaines, Ill., licensed its RCC and Butamer processes to Pennzoil for the units.
GAS PROCESSING
SAUDI ARAMCO let contract to Stone & Webster for detailed engineering for expansion of the gas processing plant at Uthmaniyah, Saudi Arabia, by 350 MMcfd from 1.6 bcfd.
PETROCHEMICALS
SIAM STYRENE MONOMER CO., a joint venture of Siam Cement Co. and Dow Chemical Co., let contract to Foster Wheeler Corp., Clinton, N.J., for engineering, design, procurement, and construction of a 200,000 metric ton/year styrene monomer plant at Mab Ta Phud, Rayong province, Thailand. Using benzene and ethylene feedstocks to produce polystyrene, the plant is scheduled for completion in fall 1 996.
UNION CARBIDE CORP. and EniChem SpA formed the 50-50 venture Polimeri Europa Srl, Milan, to develop, manufacture, and sell polyethylene (PE) resins, subject to European Union approval. Assets of the new company include EniChem's polyethylene operations in Italy, Germany, and France and ethylene capacity at Brindisi, Italy, and Dunkirk, France, as well as a license for Carbide's Unipol technology. Polimeri's PE capacity is 2.9 billion lb/year.
PIPELINES
ARCO BRITISH LTD. assumed operatorship of North Sea Esmond field's gas export pipeline prior to tying in two new field developments. ARCO plans to bring Trend and Tyne fields on line in October 1996, using the Esmond pipeline to deliver gas to Bacton terminal, Norfolk, U.K. Under the agreement, pipeline ownership remains with Esmond partners, which excludes ARCO, led by field operator Hamilton Oil Co. Ltd. ARCO will market spare pipeline capacity.
STATOIL, Phillips Petroleum Co. Norway, and Norske Fina AS plan to realign interests in an oil export pipeline from Ekofisk field and in the Norpipe trunk line gas terminal at Emden, Germany. The move will give each gas terminal shareholder an interest proportional to its share of gas throughput as new deliveries to Europe are routed through Norpipe. Ekofisk gas currently takes priority on Norpipe, but as of January 1996 all users will have equal standing. Government approvals are expected in mid-April.
DAMAGE LO VIET NAM'S first offshore natural gas pipeline is likely to delay construction by as much as 3 months, reported Vietnam Economic Times monthly. The 150 km pipeline Hyundai Corp. is laying from Bach Ho offshore oil and gas field to the proposed Phu My power plant southeast of Ho Chi Minh City was apparently ruptured by an unidentified ship colliding with it, causing about $15 million in damage. An investigation is under way to determine responsibility.
AN EXPLOSION of unknown cause Feb. 10 damaged a 100 ft section of a natural gas pipeline extending from Turkmenistan through Georgia. That follows by 3 weeks an explosion damaging a 660 ft section of the same pipeline from eastern Georgia into Armenia.
TRADING
LONDON'S International Petroleum Exchange set June 9 as the date to start its mutual offset system with Singapore International Monetary Exchange. The agreement allows Brent crude oil futures to be traded on either exchange during their combined 1 8 hr trading day. Traders will be able to open positions on one exchange and close on the other.
DRILLING-PRODUCTION
MOBIL EXPLORATION & Producing U.S. Inc. applied to Santa Barbara County, Calif., for approval of its Clearview extended reach drilling project on the county's coast 15 miles north of Santa Barbara. Mobil plans to drill extended reach wells from an onshore site to tap 155 million bbl of crude oil in South Ellwood field in state waters. The project also calls for Mobil to dismantle Platform Holly, currently developing a portion of the field.
ANGOLA'S state owned Sonangol declared commercial Ranger Oil Ltd.'s Kiame oil field off Angola. Ranger's 2 ST Kiame confirmation well on Block 4 flowed a stabilized rate of 4,1 00 b/d of 28 gravity oil through a 40/64 in. choke. Plans call for tying in the well and the discovery well to a floating production unit for start-up by yearend. The first of two exploratory wells was spudded on a separate feature on the block.
UNOCAL CORP. and partners in March will boost gas production to 100 MMcfd in Freshwater Bayou field, Vermilion Parish, La., by expanding surface facilities that restrict flow to 55 MMcfd. Most of the added production will come from start-up of the C-19 Louisiana Furs development well, which flowed 29 MMcfd of gas and 329 b/d of condensate through a 'Y,, in. choke with 9,936 psi flowing tubing pressure from lower Miocene sands. Total depth is 1 9,1 80 ft.
UK-RAN OIL CORP., Calgary, will spend about $3 million to evaluate potential of a 55,000 sq km concession in Ukraine's Pryluki area, where more than 20 oil and gas fields or prospects are in various stages of exploration and development. Lelyaki field, about 120 km east of Kiev, is the first of three 600 million bbl oil fields developed by Kashtan Petroleum Ltd, a joint venture of UK-Ran and Ukraine government owned Ukrnafta, Kiev.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY approved a $6.3 million cooperative research and development agreement with BP Exploration Inc. to develop a process to recover heavy oil from Alaska's Prudhoe Bay oil field. Lab R&D work will be conducted at DOE's National Institute for Petroleum and Energy Research, Bartlesville, Okla., operated by BDM-Oklahoma Inc. Prudhoe Bay holds about 1.54 billion bbl of heavy oil in a 30-80 ft thick, relatively deep, high gas content zone.
MCDERMOTT INTERNATIONAL INC., New Orleans, on behalf of Shell Offshore Inc. let contract to the SECO Industries unit of Serv-Tech Inc., Houston, for electrical and instrumentation work on process, power, well bay, and drilling modules for the deck module of Shell's Mars tension leg platform, scheduled for October installation in 2,933 ft of water on Gulf of Mexico Mississippi Canyon Block 807.
U.S. MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE wants to cut emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from 324 active Gulf of Mexico platforms within 62 miles of the Breton Island wildlife refuge off Louisiana The platforms produce 211,000 b/d of oil and 1.3 bcfd of gas. Emissions of the two pollutants may exceed federal limits for the wilderness area.
COASTAL CORP.'S ANR Production Co. unit. acquired working interests in 24 wells in Utah's giant Altamont/Bluebell oil field from Snyder Oil Corp. That boosts Coastal units' total net production from the field to more than 4,000 b/d.
HALLWOOD ENERGY PARTNERS LP and Hallwood Consolidate Resources Corp., both of Denver, plan to drill as many as 32 wells and recomplete as many as 32 more the next 18 months on leases in Reagan County, Tex.
COASTAL OIL & GAS CORP. plans further drilling after acquiring a 1 00% working interest from Koch Hydrocarbons Inc. in three producing fields off Louisiana. Assets include reserves, platforms, and production facilities on Vermilion Block 289 and East Cameron Blocks 189, 192, 193, and 219.
ELF AQUITAINE plans to produce 22,000 b/d of 28 gravity oil by yearend 1996 from Khaleej field, a 1991 discovery off Qatar. Plans call for drilling four development wells and installing an unmanned platform, as well as a pipeline to the Halul Island marine terminal.
NUEVO ENERGY CO., Houston, agreed with Texaco Exploration & Production Inc. to develop about 58,000 acres in the Austin chalk trend of Texas and Louisiana. Texaco holds the acreage in and on trend with Brookeland field in Jasper, Newton, and Sabine counties, Tex., and Vernon and Sabine parishes, La. Upon signing a definitive exploration agreement and fulfilling drilling requirements, Nuevo and partners will earn a 50% interest in the acreage.
UNITED MERIDIAN CORP., Houston, started production from the first of four platforms it has scheduled to go on line in 1995. UMC is producing 25 MMcfd of gas and 600 b/d of condensate from two wells on South Timbalier Block 277.
COMPANIES
J. RAY MCDERMOTT SA, Panama, was formed from the merger of all the marine construction services businesses of McDermott International and Offshore Pipelines Inc., Houston.
LOUISIANA LAND & EXPLORATION CO. will sell all of its Canadian oil and gas assets and close its Calgary office. Most of LL&E's Canadian properties are in Central and South Alberta.
EXPLORATION
PHOENIX RESOURCES COS. INC. Oklahoma City, and partners tested a second oil discovery on their 2 million acre Qarun concession in Egypt. Their 2 El Sagha well flowed 1,370 b/d of 380 gravity oil and 120 Mcfd of gas through a 1 in. choke with 55 psi flowing tubing pressure from perforations in Cretaceous Bahariya sandstone at 8,868-90 ft. Operator Phoenix holds a 50% interest in the concession and Apache Corp. and Global Natural Resources Inc., both of Houston, 25% each.
MMS plans to offer oil and gas leases in Alaska's Cook Inlet in Sale 149, scheduled for summer 1996. It will offer 402 blocks covering about 2 million acres in 3-650 ft of water 325 miles offshore,
CONOCO NORTHLAND LTD. and partners soon will begin the second phase of an exploration program on the Northland block off New Zealand. Plans call for acquiring, processing, and interpreting 4,687 miles of seismic data. First phase involved reprocessing and evaluating more than 1,240 miles of seismic. The Northland Block covers 44,420 sq miles in as much as 6,650 ft of water.
UNOCAL signed an exploration agreement covering three blocks on Central Pakistan's Middle Indus gas trend. Munda, Tarind, and Leiah blocks cover about 4.5 million acres. The 3 year license, with three 1 year extension options, calls for seismic surveys to begin this year and exploratory drilling in 1997.
ALTERNATE FUELS
SIEMENS AG, Munich, is to build former East Germany's first power plant fueled by recycling landfill waste at Neubrandenburg. Start-up is slated for mid-1999, and capital cost is estimated at $200 million. The plant will handle 1 50,000 metric tons/year of waste.
GAS TREATMENT
CMS GAS TRANSMISSION & STORAGE CO., Dearborn, Mich., bought MCN Corp.'s 40% interest in a partnership the two companies formed to own natural gas treatment/carbon dioxide stripping plants in northern Michigan. CMS now holds 100% of Antrim Limited Partnership, which owns 120 MMcfd of treatment capacity, and plans to add 70 MMcfd of capacity this summer and another 70 MMcfd by yearend.
Copyright 1995 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
