PETROCHEMICALS
ARVIND MAFATLAL GROUP CO. unit National Organic Chemicals Industries Ltd. let contract to Technip SA, Paris, KTI Group BV, Zoetermeer, Netherlands, and Himont Italia SpA, Milan, to expand and modernize its Thane, India, petrochemical plant. Terms of the project call for units to produce 300,000 metric tons/year of ethylene, 210,000 tons/year of polyethylene, 180,000 tons/year of polypropylene, and 30,000 tons/year of ethoxylates. The upgraded plant is scheduled to start up early in 1998.
FORMOSA PETROCHEMICAL CORP. let contract to ABB Lummus Crest BV, Voorburg, Netherlands, for technology licensing and engineering of a 900,000 metric ton/year grassroots ethylene plant to be built at Mailiao, Taiwan. The plant will use Lummus' SRT cracking furnaces. It also will process pyrolysis gasoline through a 721,000 metric ton/year Dripolene pyrolysis gasoline hydrogenation stage and a 332,000 ton/year C4 hydrogenation stage using Lummus technologies. Start-up is expected in 1997 at a total cost of $550 million.
REFINING
REPSOL PETROLEO SA, Madrid, completed a revamp of the catalytic reformer at its 180,000 b/cd Tarragona, Spain, refinery. The project included a fourth CCR Platforming reactor, a new interheater, and a UOP supplied modular CCR regenerator section. Capacity increased to 32,000 b/d from 16,000 b/d, and reformate octane increased to 100. Total downtime was 45 days.
SUN OIL CO. agreed with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources to clean up as much as 86,000 bbl of oil that contaminated underground water when the oil leaked from Sun's 127 year old Philadelphia refinery. Sun, which bought the 130,000 b/cd plant in 1988 from ARCO, said it could cost $15 million and require more than 10 years for the cleanup. ARCO will provide an undisclosed sum of money to aid the cleanup, which is to start early in 1994.
ALTERNATE FUELS
CHINA'S first plant to produce gasoline from coal started up Dec. 16 in North China's Shanxi province city of Jincheng. The unit, installed in the city's No. 2 fertilizer plant, faces 1,500 hr of tests before commercial production starts. The unit will be able to produce 2,000 metric tons/year of gasoline and 7.5 million cu m/year of liquefied coal gas. China's reserves of coal, its most abundant fuel, are estimated at 769 billion tons, with 90% of the country's energy supplied by coal.
COMPANIES
COLUMBIA GAS SYSTEM INC. Wilmington, Del., budgeted $490 million in capital spending for its U.S. operating units in 1994, including $64 million in projects carried over from 1993 or deferred from earlier years. In the 1994 budget, $100 million will be spent for exploration/development, $196 million for transmission operations, $163 million for gas distribution, and $21 million for other energy activities, including cogeneration projects.
DRILLING-PRODUCTION
U.S. MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE granted Unocal Corp. a 20 month royalty reduction to keep its Beta Unit off southern California in production. The one-third royalty will be cut to one-sixth until 225,000 bbl of oil is produced and one-eighth until another 270,000 bbl is produced. After 495,000 bbl is produced or the 20 month period ends, whichever comes first, the royalty will revert to the original one-third rate.
FOREST OIL CORP., Denver, completed its $26.5 million purchase of ARCO interests in one offshore and two onshore fields in the U.S. Gulf Coast region. Net production from the fields is a combined 600 b/d of oil and 6.5 MMcfd of gas. Forest also completed acquisition of five other offshore fields in the gulf from an undisclosed seller for $24.7 million. Those five hold recoverable reserves estimated at 1.5 million bbl of oil and condensate and 19.3 bcf of gas.
MORRISON PETROLEUMS LTD., Calgary, will pay $57 million (Canadian) to LL&E Canada Ltd. for oil and gas production and acreage in Alberta. The acquisition will increase Morrison's production to 13,500 b/d of crude and 37 MMcfd of gas. The company will drill 25-40 development wells on the leases. LL&E, a unit of the Louisiana Land & Exploration Co., New Orleans, will continue to operate in Canada and said it is seeking new prospects and larger and deeper plays.
NORTHERN REEF EXPLORATION LTD., Calgary, agreed to pay Wascana Energy Inc., Regina, Sask., $131.9 million (Canadian) for leases in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The acreage holds proved and probable reserves of 13.5 million bbl of oil and natural gas liquids and 164 bcf of gas. The deal includes 400,000 net undeveloped acres. Wascana produces 5,800 b/d of oil and equivalent from the leases.
UNOCAL INDONESIA LTD. started producing oil from Serang field off East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The field, in the company's northern offshore block, is 12 miles from giant Attaka oil field. Serang currently produces more than 5,600 b/d, and is expected to peak at 15,000 b/d late in 1994 after more drilling. The field has a recently installed, four pile, 20 slot platform in more than 328 ft of water, the deepest in Unocal's Indonesian development.
MAXON ENERGY INC. and partners plan to spend $17-20 million (Canadian) to drill horizontal laterals in at least 22 existing vertical holes and drill 13 new horizontal wells to develop heavy oil at Hayter, Alta. Maxon is obtaining partner approval to increase the Hayter oil treating capacity tenfold to an undisclosed volume. It plans to tie in recently drilled wells, drill four horizontal wells, and reenter four wells and drill horizontal segments in them by May 1994, It hopes to recover 250,000-350,000 bbl/well,
HAMILTON OIL CO. LTD., London, let a 20 million ($30 million) contract to Consafe Engineering (U.K.) Ltd., Aberdeen, Scotland, to convert the Morecambe Flame jack up rig to an accommodation platform. The converted rig will be used in Hamilton's Liverpool Bay development in the Irish Sea (OGJ, Nov. 1, p. 34). Work is scheduled for completion in second quarter 1995.
GLOBAL MARINE INC. agreed to buy two jack up drilling rigs for a combined $26 million cash, $1 million in notes payable from the rigs' net cash flow, and 900,000 shares of Global Marine common stock. The Uxmal and Chichen Itza rigs are 300 ft Marathon LeTourneau 116-C cantilevered units built in Clydebank, Scotland, in 1981 and 1982, respectively.
NORWAY'S Den norske stats oijeselskap AS postponed production start-up from North Statfjord field in the Norwegian North Sea for 2 years until 1997 because of higher than expected production from the main Statfjord reservoir. East Statfjord field will be brought on stream on Oct. 1, 1994, as planned, as a subsea development tied back to the Statfjord C platform.
CABINDA GULF OIL CO. awarded Brown & Root Energy Services, Houston, a contract for design of the South Nemba and Lomba drilling and production platforms in Cabinda Areas B and C, 50 miles off West Africa. The platforms will be 6 miles apart in 375 ft of water. Peak production from the platforms, which will be installed in 1996 and 1997, will be 76,000 b/d of oil and 160 MMcfd of gas, with 100 MMcfd of that to be used for injection. Lomba production will flow via pipeline to South Nemba, then to shore.
TANKERS
THE U.S. COAST GUARD seeks comments on a petition by Saudi Petroleum International and Wilh. Wilhelmsen Ltd. for designation of lightering zones in the Gulf of Mexico. Under the 1990 Oil Pollution Act, a ship that offloads oil within an established lightering zone will not have to comply with the requirement for a double hull until 2015. The notice was published in the Dec. 2 Federal Register.
GAS PROCESSING
GPM CORP. dedicated its automated, remote controlled, 29 MMcfd Zia gas processing plant in western Lea County, N.M., and hiked throughput early in December to 22 MMcfd, pending hookup of additional wells. GPM inputs Zia operational data through a telemetry system to supervisory computers at its Lee plant, about 30 miles away. Zia residue gas is delivered to Transwestern Pipeline Co.
ATCOR RESOURCES LTD., Calgary, agreed to sell one third of its 50% working interest in the Edmonton ethane extraction plant to Canadian Utilities Ltd. division CU Gas Ltd. The gas processing plant extracts ethane and other natural gas liquids from gas flowing into Edmonton and sells the ethane to an Alberta ethylene producer. Other liquids are sold at Sarnia, Ont., market prices.
EXPLORATION
DRAGON OIL PLC, London, reports its 1 Dragon wildcat off South Korea (OGJ, Dec. 20, p. 34) is the first of eight commitment wells scheduled the next 12 months. Off the Philippines the company is to drill one well each on its GSEC-57 and GSEC-60 licenses (OGJ, Aug. 3, 1992, p. 34). It plans to participate in two wells on Block SW1 in Central Thailand and will be involved in two wells on Block B12/32 off Thailand, near Bongkot field. The company also hopes to drill at least two wells on its EXL 200 and 257 licenses in South Wales.
PAKISTAN'S Economic Coordination Committee approved French firm Cie. Generale de Geophysique's proposal to conduct a seismic survey off Pakistan. It's the first time Pakistan has allowed a foreign firm to conduct an offshore seismic survey. Terms allow CGG to perform the Indus basin survey with nonexclusive rights and market the data.
A GROUP in which Mobil Corp. is a majority partner signed a letter of intent covering a 72.5% interest in exploration and appraisal rights on 108 sq km Block 05-01b, designated the Blue Dragon prospect, off Viet Nam. Negotiations on terms of a production sharing contract for the block, about 400 km southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, are to begin at once. The group is made up of Mobil 50%, Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd. 25%, Indonesia Petroleum Ltd. 15%, and Nissho Iwai Corp. 10%. Other interest holders in the block are state owned Petrovietnam 15% and Russia's Zarubejineft 12.5%.
THE CANADA-NOVA SCOTIA OFFSHORE PETROLEUM BOARD called for exploration bids covering 135,903 acres 15 miles north of Sable Island off Nova Scotia. Shell Canada Ltd., Calgary, drilled three oil wells in the area between 1976 and 1984. Bidding is open until May 4, 1994, at a minimum bid of $1 million (Canadian). Bidding will be based on planned spending in the first 5 years of a 9 year license.
ANADARKO PETROLEUM CORP., Houston, calls its 1 OCS-G-12831 wildcat on East Cameron Block 157 in the Gulf of Mexico, 50 miles off Louisiana, a significant gas discovery. The 17,100 ft well cut more than 250 ft of net pay in six Mio-Pliocene sands at 9,500-15,000 ft. It won't be flow tested. Anadarko plans to drill delineation and development wells starting early in 1994. It will install a drilling and production platform early in 1995.
THE U.S. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION issued a report on oil and gas resources of the C.I.S.'s Fergana basin. The basin extends across parts of the South Central Asian republics of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. U.S. oil companies are bidding on exploration licenses for five blocks in Uzbekistan.
MMS called for information and nominations for proposed lease Sale 144 in the Beaufort Sea off northern Alaska. It also is conducting an environmental impact statement for the sale, tentatively scheduled for late 1996. The sale area covers 29.5 million acres 3-140 miles offshore in 7-10,000 ft of water.
CLUFF OIL (CHINA) LTD., a new holding company owned by Primeline Petroleum Corp. 51% and Cluff Oil (Hong Kong) Ltd. 49%, acquired five East China Sea blocks from China National Offshore Oil Co. The acreage covers a combined 23,140 sq km in water depths of less than 100 m about 300 km east-southeast of Shanghai.
TRANSPORTATION
PETROLAGO CA let contract to Offshore Pipelines international Ltd. (OPI) for dual pipeline installation off northern Venezuela as part of the Corpoven Orimulsion project. OPI will use the LB 280 pipelay vessel to perform a shore approach and install dual 36 in. loading lines 7.3 km in length in 27 m of water. The project involves 1,000 m of burial and as much as 3 m of cover.
IRELAND'S Bord Gais Eireann took delivery of its first gas from Britain through the new Interconnector pipeline from Moffat, Southwest Scotland, to Loughshinny, north of Dublin. The 300 km, 290 MMcfd capacity line was built at a cost of IR287 million ($430 million). Gas was sent by British Gas plc, although electricity generator National Power plc has a contract for standby supplies of as much as 120 MMcfd.
ALYESKA PIPELINE SERVICE CO. and Wackenhut Corp. settled a lawsuit arising from allegations of an improper security investigation of plaintiffs Charles Hamel, Kathleen M. Hamel, and Management Information Technologies Inc. Separately, a federal district court judge dismissed from the case Alyeska's main owners ARCO Transportation Alaska Inc., BP Pipelines (Alaska) Inc., and Exxon Pipeline Co. The judge determined the owners did not authorize the investigation.
PLAINS RESOURCES INC. unit Plains Terminal & Transfer Corp. began receipts and deliveries at its new 2 million bbl capacity Cushing, Okla., crude oil storage facility and terminal. The company expects storage capacity to be fully utilized during first quarter 1994. Talks are under way with potential customers for use of the facility after first quarter 1994.
Copyright 1993 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
