INDUSTRY BRIEFS

EXPLORATION

EGYPT'S Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ministry said private Egyptian oil company Balaim made an oil discovery in the southern sector of the Gulf of Suez off Egypt that could yield as much as 2,200 b/d of crude, OPEC News Agency reported. The company made the find in a gas prone area. Egypt's crude production in 1991 was about 894,000 b/d, while its oil exports last year brought the country $1.3 billion in revenues.

ENVIRONMENT U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued two complaints to Exxon Co. U.S.A.'s Bayway refinery at Linden, N.J., alleging late installation of a required hydrogen sulfide emission monitor and failure to submit proper forms for three substances or substance categories used onsite. EPA is seeking a penalty of $68,000 for the monitor complaint and $110,000 in penalties for the substance complaint. Exxon said it has met with EPA to seek reductions in the proposed penalties.

REFINING

VENTECH ENGINEERS INC., Pasadena, Tex., is constructing a 2,000 b/d skid mounted crude topping unit for Uraineftegas Russian production association capable of producing naphtha, kerosine, diesel fuel, and residual fuel oil. The unit is to ship in May 1993 to Urai in western Tyumen, where by October 1993 it is to supply fuel for a 59,000 sq mile area in western Siberia, including diesel for production operations in Chamacaya fields and jet fuel for Urai airport. Ventech expects in January 1993 to ship its first skid mounted refining package to Nygan City, also in Tyumen (OGJ, June 15, p. 25).

XYTEL-BECHTEL INC. (XBI) added compact, packaged minirefineries to its product line. A typical XBI minirefinery is designed to process 10010,000 b/d crude oil at locations where supporting utilities do not exist or are unreliable. The units provide self-sufficient, low cost, low maintenance distillation of crude oil to produce gasoline, kerosine, and diesel.

PETROECUADOR will close its 90,000 b/d Esmeraldas, Ecuador, refinery for maintenance and must import 400,000 bbl refined products during the scheduled downtime. The state oil company sold 720,000 bbl of crude left over from the refinery to Puerto Rican and Peruvian companies.

W.R. GRACE & CO.'S Grace Davison division will recommission the silica sol catalyst manufacturing facilities at its Valleyfield, Que., plant in January 1993. Capacity of the revamped facilities will be about 20,000 tons/year of silica sol catalysts, including the Orion, Octacat, and Astra series. Grace Davison said the expansion would give the Valleyfield plant capability to manufacture all three of Davison's fluid catalytic cracking product lines: silica sol, alumina sol, and XP matrices.

LNG

QATARGAS partners Total, Marubeni Corp., Mitsui & Co., Mobil Oil Corp., and Qatar General Petroleum Corp., are expected to reach agreement early next year over participation levels in the liquefied natural gas project based on giant North gas field off Qatar. British Petroleum Co. plc pulled out of the project early this year (OGJ, Jan. 20, p. 31), and Mobil acquired a 10% stake. OPEC News Agency reported financing levels are at issue, as are gas sales price and operating control of the company. The $4.3 billion project is to provide 141 bcf/year of LNG to Japan's Chubu Electric during 25 years.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

PT IMECO, Jakarta, let a $45 million contract to GE Power Generation to supply six 38,000 hp GE MS5002C gas turbines to drive centrifugal compressors as part of an expansion of production from the Mobil operated Arun field, Lhok Sukon, Indonesia. Primary fuel will be natural gas. The turbines are to be shipped by yearend 1993, and three are to begin commercial operation in first quarter 1995, with the remainder to start up in second quarter 1995.

NICOR EXPLORATION CO., Denver, started production from two platforms in the Brazos area in Texas state waters. Initial gas production from four Miocene wells, owned 50-50 by Nicor and Santa Fe Energy Resources, is 35 MMcfd. Nicor started completion work on three additional 100% owned wells to be tied into jointly owned facilities by yearend.

KOCH EXPLORATION CANADA LTD. plans to submit applications to Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board in January for a 40,000 b/d heavy crude project near Bonnyville, Alta. Koch will develop Reita Lake reserves in four 10,000 b/d phases. First phase is to start in summer 1993. Koch will use progressive cavity pumps for production. Plans include two pipelines, an 8 in. condensate line for blending, and a 120 mile, 16 in. line connecting to Interprovincial Pipe Line Inc.'s system. Pipeline construction is to start in mid-1993.

SHELL OIL CO. earmarked 1993 funds to begin development of its Mars discovery in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, where the company has said reserves could exceed 220 million bbl (OGJ, Dec. 16, 1991, p. 18). Shell said a final decision to proceed with development will be made next year.

PHILLIPS PETROLEUM CO. U.K. LTD. let a 28 million ($44 million) contract to Kvaerner H&G Offshore Ltd., London, for detailed design and procurement for its proposed Judy/Joanne development on North Sea Block 30/07. Work is scheduled for completion in February 1994. Plans call for installation of a platform on Judy field, with capacity to handle 90,000 b/d of liquids and 300 MMcfd of gas. Joanne, 5.5 km away, will be a subsea development tied back to Judy.

TEXACO LTD. let a 10 million ($16 million) contract to Oceaneering International Services Ltd., Aberdeen, to drill and test three appraisal wells on its Captain discovery on North Sea Block 13/22a. The contract includes lifting and transportation of produced oil. Work will start in January for scheduled completion in September 1993.

JAPOX NORTH SUMATRA started production from an undisclosed field off northern Sumatra. Plans call for increasing production from 3,000 b/d of light crude to 6,000 b/d of crude and about 16 MMcfd of natural gas by yearend 1993. Japex is a joint venture of Japan National Oil Corp., Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd., Indonesia Petroleum Ltd., and Mitsubishi Petroleum Development Co. Ltd.

U.S. EXPORT-IMPORT BANK approved a $52 million loan guarantee to support Halliburton Services Co.'s $59 million sale of well stimulation services and supplies to Algeria's Sonatrach. Halliburton will provide hydraulic fracturing services on 51 oil and gas wells.

AMOCO (U.K.) EXPLORATION CO. installed the 9,000 ton topsides for the North Everest gas production platform on North Sea Block 22/10. The platform is linked to a gas gathering platform installed this year to supply the Central Area Transmission System (OGJ, Aug. 10, p. 28).

KCS ENERGY INC., Edison, N.J., increased its capital budget for drilling by more than 180% to $22 million in fiscal 1993 ended Sept. 30. Of that total, $15 million is earmarked for drilling in Falcon and Bob West fields in South Texas next year, where estimated reserves jumped to 20.3 bcf of gas from 3.7 bcf a year ago. KCS also allotted $4 million for exploratory drilling and $3 million for other development. The company's total estimated proved gas reserves increased 63% to 41.2 bcf at fiscal yearend compared with yearend fiscal 1991.

SWIFT ENERGY CO., Houston, 1-H Pietsch horizontal well in Giddings field, Fayette County, Tex., flowed 2,082 b/d of oil and 3.1 MMcfd of gas through a 48/64 in. choke with 1,205 psi flowing tubing pressure from dual horizontal laterals in Cretaceous Austin chalk at about 9,600 ft.

PETROCHEMICALS

SLOVNAFT BRATISLAVA let contract to Netherlands' KTI Group BV to revamp five naphtha crackers with combined capacity of 200,000 metric tons/year of ethylene at its Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, petrochemical plant. The furnaces will be flexible to crack heavy feedstocks with an end point as high as 360 C. Four of the units are to be revamped during a planned 60 day shutdown in late summer 1993.

ANGARSKNEFTEORGSINTEZ, Angarsk, Russia, selected ABB Lummus Crest to study modernization of an ethylene plant to increase capacity to 330,000 metric tons/year from 240,000 tons/year. Existing heaters will be updated with the latest pyrolysis technology, and a process control system will be installed. The project is part of an overall modernization program at the Angarsk complex, which also will improve environmental performance.

SAUDI ARABIAN BASIC INDUSTRIES CORP. (Sabic) and Taiwan Fertilizer Co. formed a joint venture for a new petrochemical plant at Jubail, Saudi Arabia, that will produce 150,000 metric tons/year of 2-ethyl hexanol. The plant is to go on stream in 1995. It will be supplied propylene feedstock from Arabian Petrochemical Co. and natural gas from Saudi Aramco.

SADAF, a joint venture of Sabic and Shell Oil Co. affiliate Pecten Arabian Co., named two units of Brown & Root, Houston, managing contractors of an expansion program of petrochemical facilities at Jubail. Brown & Root Braun and Brown & Root Saudi Ltd. will issue major engineering, construction, and procurement contracts, oversee and/or perform facility designs, and manage construction of expansions of ethylbenzene/styrene and chlor alkali/ethylene dichloride plants and construction of a grassroots methyl tertiary butyl ether unit. Value and timing of the work were not disclosed.

COMPANIES

SCHLUMBERGER LTD. agreed to buy Dow Chemical Co.'s 50% interest in the Dowell Schlumberger group of companies for $675 million plus a warrant to buy 7.5 million shares of Schlumberger stock with an exercise price of $59.95/share.

SHELL OIL set its 1993 capital and exploratory budget at $3 billion, up about $300 million from expected outlays in 1992. Exploration and production is allocated $1.4 billion, about flat with last year, and oil products spending is expected to be $1 billion compared with $750 million in 1992.

ENRON RESERVE ACQUISITION CORP., Houston, bought a production payment from leases in Keystone Ellenberger field, Winkler County, Tex., from Arch Petroleum Inc., Fort Worth, for $24.3 million. The payment is for about 18.8 bcf of gas deliverable in 5.7 years beginning Dec. 1, 1992. Arch said the payment, which represents a relatively small part of its total reserves in the field, would enable it to strengthen capital structure without compromising its potential to participate in the benefits of a growing natural gas market.

ENCOR INC., Calgary, completed a refinancing deal with bankers giving it an added 2 months to pay $534 million (Canadian) in debt. It now has until Feb. 28, 1993, to reduce its debt level below its asset base. Encor's bank creditors said last spring it had to cut long term debt by $118 million. Encor said sales of assets in Canada, New Zealand, and Italy and improved cash flow cut long term debt by $220 million to about $320 million by the end of the first quarter. Encor said it does not plan more layoffs or asset sales.

UNDERWRITERS said the $250 million (Canadian) share offering by Petro-Canada is turning out to be a hard sell. Canada's state oil company issued 30.3 million shares at $8.25/share to 10 investment brokers who are reselling to investors (OGJ, Dec. 7, Newsletter). The company is guaranteed $240.3 million from the sale, which closes Dec. 1 5. One broker, not a member of the underwriting group, said the company is "not a proven performer." Petro-Canada issued 42 million shares at $13/share in 1991. The price fell to $8.88/share before the current issue and recently traded at $8.12/share.

COGENERATION

U.K.'S National Power plans to build a 38,000 kw natural gas/distillate oil fired cogeneration plant at the site of SCA's Aylesford paper plant in Kent, U.K. Total cost is estimated at 20 million. National Power Cogen signed a 15 year agreement to supply process heat and electricity as well as 120 tons/hr of steam to SCA. Construction is to start early next year and be complete in mid-1994.

PANDA ENERGY CORP., Dallas, and Mexican real estate developer Finsa Grupo Arguelles agreed to develop primarily natural gas fired cogeneration plants in Mexico. Finsa will assist in marketing the cogen power plants. Panda noted current and proposed regulations in Mexico allow for further expansion of private sector involvement in developing power plants.

MARKETING

NESTE OIL POLAND LTD. opened the first service station in Poland to be built by a western company. The station, at Zakroczym, 35 km from Warsaw is open 24 hr/day and accepts payment in local currency or by major international credit cards. Customers can buy leaded gasoline and diesel produced in Poland, and unleaded and leaded fuels produced by Neste Oy in Finland.

TRANSPORTATION

TEXACO TRADING & TRANSPORTATION INC. (TTTI) beginning Jan. 1, 1993, will segregate 17 U.S. crude oil streams at its Cushing, Okla., terminal based on place of origin and assay characteristics and will restructure terminal fees to eliminate special charges for stream segregation. TTTI also will begin providing detailed assays of all crude streams it handles at Cushing to help shippers spot trends or abnormalities affecting feedstock quality and value.