INDUSTRY BRIEFS

ENVIRONMENT

U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY and other federal agencies reached a $30 million bankruptcy court settlement with Circle K Corp., Tampa, which resolves the company's environmental liabilities for potential contamination at 2,200 service stations the company has operated. The pact requires the reorganized Circle K to pay the money into various state trust funds during 6 years.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

FOREST OIL CORP., Denver, signed a letter of intent with ARCO to acquire ARCO's interest in six undisclosed Gulf of Mexico blocks for about $40 million. ARCO holds 100% interests in four blocks, 40% in one, and 331/3% in the other. The blocks' 17 producing wells produce a combined 68 MMcfd of gas and 1,200 b/d of oil net to ARCO. Closing is expected about May 1.

BRITISH PETROLEUM CO. PLC and Norway's Den norske stats oljeselskap AS chose Parker Drilling Co., Tulsa, for an arctic workover/completion program north of the Ob River in western Siberia's Tarasov oil field. The program calls for two Parker rigs to work on as many as 100 wells.

ENSERCH EXPLORATION PARTNERS LTD., Dallas, let contract to PMB/Bechtel, a subsidiary of Bechtel Corp., Houston, for design of a 24 well subsea wellhead template and manifold system to be installed in more than 2,000 ft of water on Garden Banks Block 388, 150 miles off Louisiana. The Enserch development is to include a semisubmersible floating production system that will produce oil and gas through a subsea pipeline to a shallow water facility more than 50 miles away. Bechtel said the installation will be a record water depth for a subsea wellhead template in the Gulf of Mexico.

PHILLIPS PETROLEUM CO. U.K. LTD. will use a custom made workover hydraulic umbilical from Jacques Cable Systems Ltd., Ely, U.K., on its North Sea Ann field development. A central strength member is eliminated by use of a fiber-reinforced sheath, to reduce diameter and weight and bring savings in handling gear.

NORSK HYDRO AS let contract to Dresser-Rand AS, Kongsberg, Norway, to supply gas turbine generating sets and compressors for the Troll oil field platform in the North Sea. The order calls for two 22,000 kw power supply sets, two 2,075 kw emergency power units, and two expot/injection compressors.

EPA issued a final rule setting U.S. effluent limits and new source performance standards for offshore platforms and rigs. The rule requires industry to use the best available technology.

PHILLIPS PETROLEUM CO. NORWAY withdrew from Norwegian Petroleum Directorate its recommendations on short term safety measures required on Ekofisk field processing tank platform (OGJ, Nov. 23, 1992, Newsletter). Phillips said risk analysis calculations done by a contractor weren't complete. A new report is to be submitted by Apr. 18.

KERR-MCGEE OIL (U.K.) PLC reports modifications to its North Sea Gryphon field production vessel are under way at South Shields, U.K. (OGJ, Dec. 14, 1992, p. 26). Metool Products Ltd., Nottingham, is building a turret transfer system for the ship and let a $150,000 contract to Swan Hunter Engineering Ltd., Wallsend, U.K., for a 160 metric ton carousel support structure. Metool will fit the transfer system in time for turret loadout in July.

COMPANIES

WILLIAMS COS. INC., Tulsa, completed the $170 million cash sale of its intrastate pipeline system and other gas and gas liquids business in Louisiana to Enron Gas Services Corp. Williams expects a first quarter 1993 after tax gain of $25 million.

DEVON ENERGY CORP., Oklahoma City, increased its 1993 drilling and development capital budget to $25-35 million from outlays pegged earlier at $23-28 million. D&D spending last year was $16 million. During first quarter 1993 the company drilled 21 wells, and it continues work on 21 more.

GAS RESEARCH INSTITUTE, Chicago, opened a gas information resource center at the University of Houston to offer results of recent GRI research of conventional, shale, coal seam, and tight sand gas reservoirs. Topic areas include geology and geosciences, well stimulation and completion, reserve appreciation, environmental effects of producing and processing gas, and field operations. Other GRI information centers are at the Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colo., University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio.

CNPC CANADA INC., active since April 1992 as a new Calgary based unit of China National Petroleum Corp., said it is in the market for producing oil and gas leases. Its first Canadian venture was a $6 million investment in an underground oilsands test site.

PIPELINES

PETROLEUM AUTHORITY OF THAILAND, Bangkok, let contract to Bechtel International Inc., Houston, to provide engineering, preparation of procurement and construction bid packages, and construction management for a $700 million gas pipeline loop project in the Gulf of Thailand. The project calls for 264 miles of 36 in. offshore pipeline, 105 miles of 28 in. onshore line, onshore and offshore compression, and an onshore receiving terminal. More than 1 bcfd will move through the new system, scheduled for completion in March 1996.

NORTHWEST PIPELINE CORP., Salt Lake City, Utah, increased its gas delivery capacity by 433 MMcfd, or 22%, to 2.4 bcfd via expanded facilities that began service Apr. 1. The $432 million expansion by the Williams Cos. Inc. subsidiary included construction in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado, addition of 1 14,000 hp of compression at nine new and seven existing sites, 362 miles of pipeline loops, and $6.8 million worth of telecommunications facilities.

K N ENERGY INC., Lakewood, Colo., completed its $48 million acquisition of the Wattenberg gas gathering and transmission system in Colorado from Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co. The system, northeast of Denver in the Denver-Julesburg basin, consists of 1,250 miles of gathering lines and 60 miles of transmission lines.

PETROLEOS MEXICANOS let contracts to C.C.C. Febricaciones y Construcciones SA de CV, Mexico City, to lay two 71/2 mile pipelines off Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico's Bay of Campeche. Installation of the 20 and 14 in. lines in 150-170 ft of water began in late February.

REFINING

ANGARSKNEFTEARGSINTEZ retained KBC Process Technology, Weybridge, U.K., to study yield and energy optimization at its Angarsk refinery in Russia's Irkutsk province. KBC said the refinery's 160,000 b/d AVT-6 atmospheric and vacuum distillation unit is one of the largest of its type in Russia.

THREE LOUISIANA REFINERS, responding to a December 1992 survey by the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR), reported plans to reopen idle plants with combined crude oil capacity of 320,000 b/cd. The largest is TransAmerican Refining Co.'s 300,000 b/cd Norco, La., refinery closed since 1982. However, DNR noted closed refineries in the past reported similar plans but didn't reopen. DNR's survey found Louisiana refineries' total operating capacity was 2,320,640 b/cd, up from 2,314,000 b/cd in February 1992. Combined weighted operating rate was up 1.1 percentage points at 90.9%.

CHEVRON INTERNATIONAL OIL CO. and ABB Lummus Crest Inc., Bloomfield, N.J., formed an alliance to market and license Chevron's Isocracking technology. The advanced hydrocracking process increases processing configurations and catalyst options. The alliance coincides with introduction of new processing techniques that reduce investment and operating costs.

INTEVEP SA, Caracas, and ABB Lummus Crest teamed up to identify, develop, commercialize, and license refining and petrochemical process technology. They will review several of Intevep's prominent commercial technologies as a basis for their initial cooperation.

MOBIL OIL CORP. chose UOP's Polysep membrane system for hydrogen recovery and purification at its Chalmette, La., refinery. Polymer membranes will separate high pressure refinery offgas to produce high purity hydrogen at high recovery rates. The system will be skid mounted for truck delivery.

EXPLORATION

TALISMAN ENERGY INC. and Amoco Canada Petroleum Co. Ltd.'s a-6-F/93-P-5 wildcat gas discovery in the Sukunka area of Northeast British Columbia flowed 42 MMcfd through a 7/8 in. choke with 3,207 psi wellhead flowing pressure. Operator Talisman and 50-50 partner Amoco cut 669 ft of gross pay in the Triassic Pardonet and Baldonnel. The well is southwest of Fort St. John, about 700 km northeast of Vancouver, B.C.

ARGENTINE Foreign Minister Guido di Tella protested to the U.K. government over approval to explore the Falkland Islands continental shelf (OGJ, Mar. 29, Newsletter). "We will pursue legally anyone who extracts oil in the area," said di Tella, according to London's Independent newspaper. "We will not allow exploration or exploitation."

MARAVEN SA, a unit of state owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA, used 3D seismic to identify structures speculated to contain as much as 300 million bbl of light crude oil in the South Lake and Ceuta sectors of Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo. Coverage includes 220 sq km in South Lake and 352 sq km in Ceuta. Maraven's current drilling campaign has resulted in 40, gravity oil discoveries in the South Lake area.

DIAMOND SHAMROCK OFFSHORE PARTNERS (DSP), a master limited partnership of Maxus Energy Corp., Dallas, logged 68 ft of net gas pay in two zones at 9,550-10,030 ft in a wildcat well on West Cameron Block 142 in the Gulf of Mexico. Drilling is under way on a delineation well. DSP, which holds a 100% interest in Block 142, expects to start production from the tract during fourth quarter. Tentative plans call for Block 142 gas to flow 5 miles south through facilities on West Cameron Block 178, also operated by DSP.

SAMEDAN OF TUNISIA INC. (STI), a subsidiary of Noble Affiliates Inc., Ardmore, Okla., paid $2 million for an additional 18% interest in the Isis concession area off Tunisia in the Mediterranean Sea, bringing STI's total interest in Isis to 49%. A third party under an existing agreement has a 30 day option expiring Apr. 21 to acquire one half of STI's added 18% interest at a cost of $1 million. STI plans to conduct a 3D seismic program on the concession this year.

PETROCHEMICALS

UNION CARBIDE CORP., Danbury, Conn., licensed its Unipol polyolefins process to Indonesia's PT Chandra Asri for a polyethylene plant to be built as part of a $1.6 billion chemicals and plastics complex at Cilegon, West Java. The 200,000 metric ton/year plant will be built by Toyo Engineering Corp., Tokyo, with start-up scheduled early in 1995.

CAPE INDUSTRIES let a basic engineering contract to Glitsch Technology Corp. for process and equipment design of acetic/formic acid recovery facilities at Cape's Wilmington, N,C., dimethyl terephthalate plant. Scheduled for 1994 completion, the unit will treat waste water containing less than 5% of each acid. Glitsch's process combines extraction and distillation.

UNION CARBIDE'S European patent covering its condensing mode process for polyethylene production was upheld by the European Patent Office. BP Chemicals Ltd. and BASF AG filed oppositions that were rejected. The patent, part of Carbide's gas phase, fluidized bed Unipol process, has been granted in more than 30 countries, including the U.S.

PHILLIPS PETROLEUM CO. is offering its commercial metathesis technologies for license through ABB Lummus Crest. Processes include systems for disproportionation of propylene to ethylene and n-butenes, dimerization of ethylene to n-butenes, and disproportionation of 2-butene with ethylene to produce propylene. The technologies use selective catalytic systems to dimerize, isomerize, and disproportionate olefins.

NESTE OY is building a 100,000 metric ton/year purified benzene plant in Espoo, Finland, using Krupp Kopper GmbH's Morphylane extractive distillation process. Start-up is scheduled for yearend. Total investment is 10 million deutschemarks ($6.183 million). Benzene will be removed from gasoline, purified, and used to produce cumene, a plastics feedstock.

ALTERNATIVE FUELS

UNOCAL CORP. completed sales of certain geothermal assets in the U.S. West. Magma Power Co., San Diego, acquired Unocal geothermal assets in California's Imperial Valley and Mammoth areas and in Nevada for $225 million plus other considerations, boosting its geothermal power capacity to 240,000 kw from 160,000 kw (OGJ, Dec. 21, 1992, p. 27). California Energy Co. Inc., Omaha, acquired Unocal's Glass Mountain/Medicine Lake geothermal assets in northern California for an undisclosed sum (OGJ, Jan. 11, p. 24).