INDUSTRY BRIEFS

COURTS

U.S. DISTRICT COURT in Colorado granted two motions for summary judgement filed by Prima Energy Corp., Denver, and other producers against Williams Natural Gas Co., Tulsa. One motion obliges Williams to pay a court ordered price of $5.90/MMBTU for gas produced from all future wells drilled by the producers on acreage committed under a contract at issue that expires in 2002. The second calls for payment of amounts due producers because of Williams' failure to buy or pay for gas as required by the gas purchase contract. Prima estimates its share of past damages at $750,000.

A FEDERAL COURT dismissed arguments by Exxon Corp. that sought to bar claims for punitive damages arising from the March 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, U.S. District Court in Anchorage ruled against arguments by Exxon and its Exxon Shipping Co. and Exxon Pipeline Co. units that the 1973 Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act immunized them against punitive claims for oil spills. Exxon and codefendants also argued their settlements with the federal and Alaska governments relieved them of any duties to pay punitive damages to private plaintiffs. The court rejected both arguments.

MARKETING

SUNCOR INC., Toronto, plans to reduce retail operations in Ontario and Quebec by a total of 150 service stations. The company said other stations will be managed through a new joint venture with Pioneer Petroleums, Burlington, Ont. The JV will own Pioneer's 92 retail stations in Ontario and manage 115 Sunoco stations in Ontario. The company will have a direct interest in 570 stations after the restructuring. It plans to develop a core network of 250 stations in high volume urban locations.

OIL SPILLS

INDIA'S National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur, developed technology to remediate oil spills with a strain of bacteria that can degrade spilled crude, the Press Trust of India reported. The bacteria emulsified and degraded 80% of oil spill crude samples in 48 hr during routine laboratory tests.

PIPELINES

ALYESKA PIPELINE SERVICE CO., Anchorage, said a communications system failure triggered a temporary shutdown of the 800 mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline System early Oct. 29. The problem prevented Alyeska's operations control center from controlling 10 remote gate valves at the south end of the system. Alyeska shut down the line and asked North Slope producers to stop production, but operations were restored to normal by midday.

ENRON CORP. unit EOTT Energy Corp. acquired Shell Pipe line Corp.'s eastern New Mexico crude pipeline system, including 223 miles of trunk line, 204 miles of gathering line, and 500,000 bbl of tank storage capacity. Purchase price is undisclosed. The system extends from near Lovington, N.M., to Wink, Tex. The deal brings EOTT's total length of operated pipeline to more than 1,000 miles.

EAST TEXAS GAS SYSTEMS, a majority owned and operated partnership of Union Pacific Fuels Inc., Fort Worth, acquired pipeline and related facilities from Panola/Rusk Gatherers (PRG) and teamed with PRG on its remaining pipeline to be operator of the system in Panola and Rusk counties, Tex. The venture will be known as EasTrans Ltd. Partnership. Union Pacific Fuels will market services of East Texas Gas and EasTrans systems through the Carthage, Tex., pipeline hub.

TANKERS

U.S. COAST GUARD scheduled a Nov. 17 meeting at its Washington headquarters regarding a proposed rule to require overfill devices for oil tankers and barges. In an Oct. 21 Federal Register notice, the Coast Guard said comments from industry prompted it to make revisions in the planned rule, and it wants further input.

COMPANIES

ITALY'S Treasury Department appointed N.M. Rothschild & Sons Ltd., London, to advise it on valuation and flotation of the energy interests of the ENI Group. ENI proposes to combine units Agip SpA, Snam SpA, Snamprogetti SpA, and Saipem SpA, all of Milan, into a new company (OGJ, Oct. 11, Newsletter).

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

WOODSIDE OFFSHORE PETROLEUM PTY. LTD. let a $47 million (Australian) contract to John Holland Construction & Engineering Pty. Ltd. for detailed design, procurement, and fabrication of offshore oil and gas process units for the Wanaea/Cossack field development project off western Australia (OGJ, Oct. 11, p. 31). Woodside let a $56 million contract to ICF Kaiser International to provide engineering and design of compressor and chiller units, technical review of two liquefied petroleum gas storage tanks, and ship loading facilities for the proposed shore based LPG plant on Burrup Peninsula.

AMOCO NETHERLANDS PETROLEUM CO. started gas production from its P15/P18 development off the Netherlands, with output to reach 280 MMcfd early next year. Eight reservoirs are being tapped using a central gas processing platform, four satellite wellhead platforms, and three subsea tiebacks.

VINTAGE PETROLEUM INC., Tulsa, plans to acquire leases in California's Ventura basin and U.S. Gulf Coast areas from Santa Fe Energy Resources Inc. for about $48 million. Net production from the leases is about 3,000 b/d of oil and 6 MMcfd of gas. The company also agreed with Prudential Insurance Co. of America to increase its ownership in oil and gas leases and gathering systems by acquiring the sole limited partnership interest in the Vintage/P Acquisition LP for about $18.4 million. Those leases, with net production of about 525 b/d of oil and 7.2 MMcfd of gas, are mainly in Oklahoma and Kansas.

NIGERIAN NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORP. and Chevron Oil Corp. will install an oil production platform off Ondo state, western Nigeria, to boost production by about 15,000 b/d. Estimated cost of the project is $150 million. Meantime, Chevron inaugurated its 19th Nigerian oil field, Opuekeba, in the Escravos concession. Initial production is 16,000 b/d, and production is expected to peak at 30,000 b/d. Estimated reserves are 46 million bbl. Idama, Inda, Abighorodo, and Belema/Belema North oil fields are to start production later this year, adding 65,000 b/d to Nigeria's production.

SUN OIL BRITAIN LTD. started an extended well test on North Sea Block 16/21a Stirling reservoir. The 16/21a-20z well is flowing 4,000 b/d of oil from a 3,000 ft horizontal section in Devonian sandstone. Sun said the well test will last as long as 4 months.

LNG

NATIONAL BANK OF ABU DHABI and a group of 46 international financial institutions signed an $800 million loan guarantee relating to construction of four 135,000 cu m liquefied natural gas carriers for Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. Kvaerner Masa-Yards is handling construction (OGJ, May 10, P. 28).

REFINING

UZBEKNEFTEGAZ appointed France's Technip general contractor for a proposed 100,000 b/d refinery in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. The agreement is in the form of a financial cooperation agreement between the Bank of Uzbekistan and Credit Commercial de France, which will be in charge of finding financing for the project.

HONG KONG PARKVIEW GROUP, a Hong Kong property developer, agreed with China's state owned China International Petrochemical Corp. 20% and provincial governments of China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Yunnan and Guizhou provinces each 10% to be a 50% partner in a proposed $1 billion refinery at Beihai, China. It would process imported crude oil, with a first phase capacity of 120,000 b/d, expandable to 200,000-240,000 b/d, reported South China Morning Post. Work is to get under way next year.

MALAYSIAN REFINING CO. SDN. BHD., a joint venture of Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd. and Conoco Inc., let a contract to Foster Wheeler (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. to provide project management consulting for a second sour train at the venture's Melaka refinery. Total investment in the project is to exceed $1 billion. The PSR-2 project involves construction of a 100,000 b/d sour crude train including a hydrocracker and delayed coker. Foster Wheeler's role is to establish overall refinery basic engineering design, which will be used to prepare an invitation to bid on further contracts.

BRITISH PETROLEUM CO. PLC let a 60 million ($90 million) contract to AMEC Engineering Ltd., London, for engineering, procurement, and construction of a 35,000 b/d gas oil desulfurization hydrofiner at Grangemouth refinery, Scotland. It is due on stream in time to meet European Commission regulations reducing diesel fuel sulfur content to 0.05 wt % by October 1996.

STAR PETROLEUM REFINING CO. let a $740 million lump sum contract to Japan's JGC Corp. and Nissho Iwai Corp. to build a 130,000 b/d refinery at Rayong, Thailand. The contract covers engineering, procurement, and construction, excluding marine facilities, which will be built jointly with a nearby refinery project operated by Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) and Royal Dutch/Shell Group (OGJ, May 10, P. 36), OPEC News Agency (Opecna) reported. Star Petroleum is a joint venture of Caltex Petroleum and PTT. The project is to cost about $1.7 billion.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES' Crescent Petroleum Ltd. and Pakistan's Perac expect to award a turnkey contract by yearend for construction of a $360 million, 32.000 b/d hydrocracking unit at the 53,000 b/d Karachi refinery (OGJ, May 25, 1992, Newsletter). Crescent and Perac each hold a 35% stake in the project with Islamic Development Bank 10%, Pakistan State Oil Co. Ltd. 5%, and Shell Pakistan 5%. The remaining 10% is to be sold to the public.

TRICAT INC., McAlester, Okla., is operating a new facility that regenerates spent petroleum and petrochemical refining catalysts. Tricat's new continuous, expanded bed design provides lower catalyst particle temperature, shorter residence time, and low levels of carbon and sulfur on regenerated catalyst. The process can either return catalyst to service or render it nonhazardous before metals recovery.

GOVERNMENT

KUWAIT PETROLEUM CORP. Deputy Chairman Abdulrazaq Mulla Hussein resigned over differences in management strategy with Oil Minister Ali al-Baghli. According to London's Financial Times, Hussein and other KPC managers were dismayed by public criticism of KPC strategy by the minister.

GAS PROCESSING

GAS AUTHORITY OF INDIA (GAIL) plans a $283 million spending program on gas processing plants, Opecna reported. Included is a $92.59 million, 140.000 metric ton/year LPG plant at Usar in Maharashtra, expected to be complete by mid-1996. A proposed LPG plant at Lakwa will have capacity of 85,000 tons/year and is to be complete by April 1996. GAIL also plans a $126 million project to construct LPG plants along a proposed 500 km expansion of its natural gas pipeline.

GPM GAS CORP. is expanding natural gas processing capacity at its Quarry plant in Washington County, Tex., to 65 MMcfd from 30 MMcfd. The project includes installing a Solar Centaur T 4700 gas tubine engine to increase inlet compression, building three new booster sites, and expanding existing sites along the gathering system that feeds the plant. Work is to be complete by yearend.

EXPLORATION

CHEVRON U.K. LTD. 16/26-25 new pool wildcat in the U.K. North Sea flowed at a stabilized rate of 4,269 b/d of 32.8 gravity oil through a 1 1/8 in. choke, marking a promising satellite of Alba field. The well was drilled to 8,241 ft total depth by the Santa Fe 135 rig. Two oil bearing zones were tested, although Chevron said several were found in the Paleocene section.

CHEVRON OVERSEAS PETROLEUM LTD. signed an agreement with China covering exploration of the 450,000 acre Block 33/08 about 250 miles southeast of Shanghai in the East China Sea. The block was awarded to Chevron after China's fourth offshore bidding round, held in July. The agreement marks the first contract area Chevron will explore on its own in China. If commercial quantities of hydrocarbons are found, Chevron and China Offshore Dong Hai Oil Corp. will jointly develop the discovery. The acreage is near that awarded to Texaco China BV (OGJ, Nov. 1, p. 38).

NORSK HYDRO AS, British Petroleum plc, and Mobil Corp. let contract to Geoteam Exploration Ltd. AS, a unit of Petroleum Geo-Services AS, for collection of 3D seismic over a 3,800 sq km area north of the Troll-Oseberg area in the Norwegian North Sea. Petroleum Geo-Services said it is the biggest seismic operation ever undertaken in the North Sea. Work is to start early this month and be complete in third quarter 1994.

PETROCHEMICALS

MOBIL CHEMICAL CO. increased by 25% its European capacity to make oriented polypropylene (OPP) with start-up of a 11,000 metric ton/year plant in Kerkrade, Netherlands, about 150 miles south of Amsterdam. It is Mobil's third OPP plant in Europe.

CHINA NATIONAL PETROCHEMICAL CORP. set up a $5 million joint venture with Japanese trading houses Itochu Corp. and Marubeni Corp., reports Tokyo's Nikkei Weekly. The JV plans to produce polypropylene compounds in Shanghai. A 10,000 metric ton/year plant is scheduled to start up in October 1994.

Copyright 1993 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.