INDUSTRY BRIEFS

PIPELINES

VERBUNDNETZ GAS AG, Leipzig, and Ruhrgas AG, Essen, started laying a 115 mile, 42 in. diameter gas pipeline connecting Berlin with the West German grid. The 700 million deutschemark ($410 million) pipeline from Salzwedel, on the border between Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, and Bernau, north of Berlin, will enable gas from Norway to be used to meet rising demand in the Berlin area, Brandenburg, and Saxony-Anhalt.

KOCH INDUSTRIES INC., Wichita, purchased for an undisclosed price from Trident NGL Inc., Houston, a 645 mile pipeline gathering system, 45,000 b/d natural gas liquids fractionator, and a Hutchinson, Kan., underground gas storage site. The gathering system mainly serves Hugoton gas field in Southwest Kansas and the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles.

EMPIRE STATE natural gas pipeline construction began June 11 in New York, 5 years after it was proposed. Expected on stream Nov. 1, the system is scheduled to move 200 MMcfd of gas initially to local utilities and independent power producers in western and Central Upstate New York. Throughput is expected to rise to 460 MMcfd by January 1995, with gas supplied from Canada and the U.S. Empire is owned by units of Coastal Corp., Westcoast Energy Inc., and Rochester Gas & Electric Corp.

INDIA'S Oil & Natural Gas Commission, New Delhi, let contract to Europipe GmbH, Ratingen, Germany, for 82 miles of longitudinally welded pipeline as part of ONGC's second Bassein-Hazira gas trunk line to be laid in the Arabian Sea. Pipe diameter of 42 in. with 1.1-1.54 in. W.T. will move gas 158 miles to the Hazira gas terminal near Bombay from offshore Bassein field. Pipe manufacture and delivery is to be complete early in 1994.

PETROCHEMICALS

SOUTH AFRICA'S Sasol Ltd. and AECI Ltd. of Johannesburg are to merge their petrochemical and plastics interests to form a company with $784 million/year in sales, London's Financial Times reported. First project for the venture will be conversion of AECI's PVC production from carbide feedstock to using Sasol's ethylene.

ITALY'S Ecofuel unit of state owned ENI Group, Milan, chose Prince Rupert Port Corp. to provide receiving, storage, and shipping facilities for a proposed 700,000 metric ton/ year, $350 million (Canadian) methyl tertiary butyl ether plant at the South Kaien terminal site in Prince Rupert, B.C. Estimated cost of Port Corp.'s part of the project is $70 million. Ecofuel expects to complete a detailed feasibility study by yearend, with construction possibly starting in early 1994 and plant start-up early in 1996. MTBE mainly will be used in U.S. West Coast markets to produce unleaded gasoline.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

SANTA FE ENERGY RESOURCES INC. unit Santa Fe Energy Partners LP (SFP), Houston, completed its fifth and sixth wells in a 2 year development program on Sand Dunes prospects in Eddy County, N.M. Its 3 Sterling Silver 33 Federal at 7,872-7,914 ft tested 390 b/d of 38 gravity oil and 500 Mcfd of gas through an 18/64 in. choke. The 5 Pure Gold C-17 Federal tested 350 b/d of 37 gravity oil and 440 Mcfd of gas through a 14/64 in. choke at 7,904-54 ft. SFP is operator of the six wells, all drilled into Delaware sand. SFP plans to become operator of 42 of the additional 50 wells scheduled for the area in the next 24 months.

HOWELL CORP. unit Howell Petroleum Corp.'s first well in a Brazos County, Tex., horizontal drilling program produced 18,554 bbl of oil during the first 30 days on production. Gas volume was 13.81 MMcf during 20 days after sales line hookup. The 3,110 ft horizontal lateral produces from Cretaceous Austin chalk at 7,400 ft vertical depth. Completion of a second well in the program is under way, and several more units are planned for drilling later this year.

QATAR GENERAL PETROLEUM CORP., Doha, Qatar, let a $5 million contract to Neyrfor-Weir Group plc, Glasgow, to supply directional drilling services in its offshore program during the next 2 years. The contract covers all deviated and horizontal wells to be drilled by three mobile rigs. In 1990, Neyrfor-Weir drilled 16 deviated wells in Phase 1 of QGPC's offshore North gas field development.

VENEZUELA'S Petroleos de Venezuela SA unit Corpoven generated $2.4 million from the sale of data packages on five marginal oil fields to be reactivated in Anzoategui, Monagas, and Guarico states. Thirty-four companies interested in participating in bidding for work in Guarico Occidental, Sanvi-Guere, Oritupano Leona, Guiamare-La Ceiba, and Casma-Soledad fields bought the packages. Corpoven hopes to sign development agreements by October.

CLIFFS DRILLING CO., Houston, Cliffs Drilling No. 8 mobile offshore production unit, its converted Marine 6 jack up rig, arrived on site June 13 in Ship Shoal Block 263 in the Gulf of Mexico to start 3 years of work for Union Pacific Resources Co. The unit can produce 100 MMcfd of gas in 200 ft of water. Water depth at this first location is 176 ft. In Sabine Pass, Tex., Cliffs has begun converting its Marine 10 jack up to another mobile production unit, Cliffs Drilling No. 10, capable of producing 50 MMcfd of gas, 1,000 b/d of oil, and 1,000 b/d of water in as much as 200 ft of water.

AMOCO ORIENT PETROLEUM CO. named Reading & Bates Corp. unit Reading & Bates Development Co. general contractor to provide a semisubmersible floating production system (FPS) for the 11-1 Liuhua field development project, a joint venture by Amoco Orient and China Offshore Oil Nanhai East Corp. in the South China Sea. Terms call for R&B to assist with procurement of a third party semisubmersible drilling unit and provide engineering services and project management to convert the semi into an FPS. The unit will be moored in 1,000 ft of water 130 miles southeast of Hong Kong.

TRANSPORTATION

MOBIL CORP. placed into service June 17 its 145,000 bbl capacity, B230 double hull tug-barge unit to handle waterborne crude supply needs at its Torrance, Calif., refinery. The new ocean-going vessel replaces the 30,000 bbl capacity, single hull Syosset tanker. Mobil said the B230 is the first of its size to meet federal requirements for such vessels under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. The unit will usually load crude for Torrance at the Estero Bay terminal near San Luis Obispo, Calif., and move it to Mobil's Southwest Terminal in Long Beach.

ASSOCIATIONS

AMERICAN GAS ASSOCIATION, Arlington, Va., formed an international affairs committee and opened membership to gas utility and pipeline companies worldwide. AGA also adopted mutual aid agreements with Russia's Gazprom natural gas pipeline company and Rossgas distribution company.

TERMINALS

STEUBEN GAS STORAGE CO., a joint venture of units of ANR Storage Co., Detroit, and Arlington Storage Corp., Boston (OGJ, June 7, p. 28), began conducting an open season June 24 for storage services at its proposed Thomas Corners storage terminal in Steuben County, N.Y. The open season will end July 23.

CARGILL INC., Minneapolis, acquired a deepwater oil terminal in New Haven, Conn., from Exxon Corp. for its wholesale products distributor, Northeast Petroleum, Chelsea, Mass. Storage capacity at the 38 acre New Haven harbor terminal is 1.685 million bbl of heating oil, gasoline, and aviation fuel.

COMPANIES

APACHE CORP., Houston, agreed to pay cash for 4.2 million shares, or 68%, of the common stock of Hadson Corp. unit Hadson Energy Resources Corp. (HERC), Oklahoma City, at $14/share, subject to adjustments. The purchase price will increase to $15/share if Apache acquires more than 80% of HERC's outstanding voting securities during the next year. HERC production in 1992 averaged 4,132 b/d of oil and 15.4 MMcfd of gas. Its proved reserves as of Dec. 31, 1992, were 21.6 million bbl of oil equivalent, split evenly between the U.S. and Australia. Gas makes up 60% of its reserves.

TRITON ENERGY CORP., Dallas, agreed to sell its 76% interest in Triton Canada Resources Ltd., Calgary, to underwriters led by RBC Dominion Securities Inc. and Burns Fry Ltd. The equity sale will yield $34 million (U.S.) profit to Triton Energy after tax. Closing is subject to completion of a definitive agreement, expected in July.

ARGENTINA has not yet started selling stock in state owned petroleum company Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales (YPF), as reported incorrectly (OGJ, June 7, p. 27). Initial public sales of YPF are expected to get under way later this summer.

AMERICAN EAGLE PETROLEUMS LTD., Calgary, shareholders will vote July 30 on a proposed merger with CS Resources Ltd., also of Calgary. The merged company will have production of 12,000 b/d of oil and 12 MMcfd of gas.

KEY ENERGY GROUP INC., New Brunswick, N.J., signed a letter of intent to purchase West Texas operator Odessa Exploration Inc., a move that will make Key an oil and gas producer. Odessa Exploration operates 25 wells in the Permian basin. Closing is expected by June 30.

WESTERN GAS RESOURCES INC., Denver, agreed to buy the assets of Citizens National Gas Co., Boston. The deal will combine Western's 11,638 miles of gathering line, 29 process plants, and more than 400 billion BTU/day of gas storage deliverability in the U.S. with Citizens' U.S. East Coast marketing strength and Gulf Coast supplies. Most of Western's market activity is west of the Mississippi River. Closing is expected in July.

EXPLORATION

CANADIAN FRACMASTER LTD., Calgary, agreed to a joint venture with Unigeo AS of the Czech Republic to explore Czech coal deposits for natural gas. The joint venture company will be called Unimaster Ltd. Canadian Fracmaster has a similar partnership in Hungary and was among the first North American companies to establish such ventures in Siberia.

TEXLAND PETROLEUM INC., Fort Worth, signed an exploration agreement with Unocal Corp., Los Angeles, covering an eight county area in the northern Permian basin. Texland will drill at least 25 wildcats during 5 years and delineate additional trends and prospects, Unocal conducted a 5 year study in this 5,550 sq mile U.S. Southwest area. Terms allow Texland exclusive access to the study, as well as exploration rights on more than 20,000 acres of Unocal leases.

SEAGULL ENERGY CORP., Houston, 1 OCS-G-11283 gas discovery cut more than 100 ft of pay in nine zones on Brazos Block 552 in 79 ft of water 60 miles southwest of Freeport, Tex., in the Gulf of Mexico's Seagull trend. A 20 ft zone at 5,900-6,000 ft yielded 9.4 MMcfd through a 26/64 in. choke with flowing tubing pressure of 2,226 psi. Interest holders in the block include operator Seagull Energy's exploration and production subsidiary 50% and Ashland Exploration Inc. and Mitchell Energy Corp. 25% each.

RUSSIAN FEDERATION Committee on Geology and Use of Subsurface Resources and Krasnoyarsk Krai Soviet licensed Equity Oil Co.'s 80% owned subsidiary Symskaya Exploration Inc. to explore for, develop, and produce hydrocarbons on a 1.1 million acre tract in the Symskaya area of Russia's Krasnoyarsk Krai. Work will be carried out under terms of a production sharing contract signed by Symskaya and Russian state geological enterprises Yeniseyneftegasgeolgia and Yeniseygeophysica. License term is for 25 years.

GAS PROCESSING

ALBERTA NATURAL GAS LTD., Calgary, plans to spend $55 million (Canadian) to upgrade a gas processing plant at Cochrane, west of Calgary. The plant is part of an ANG pipeline link in the Alberta to California pipeline system operated by Pacific Gas Transmission Ltd., San Francisco. A $1.7 billion (U.S.) expansion of the system is to begin operation Nov. 1. The Cochrane plant is being upgraded to increase capacity to extract natural gas liquids. The upgrade is scheduled for completion Aug. 1, 1994. It will increase production of propane, butane, and pentane by 70% to 24,000 b/d. The plant's gas processing capacity will be increased to 2.2 bcfd from 1.3 bcfd.

REFINING

PETRO-CANADA'S mothballed 19,000 b/d refinery at Taylor, B.C., will be moved by road and sea this summer to Buenaventura, Colombia. Mammoet Canada Ltd. will move the plant to Vancouver, B.C., in about 120 truckloads. It will then be shipped by Mammoet Shipping Ltd. BV, Amsterdam, by sea to Colombia. A sister Mammoet company in Colombia will complete the delivery by road to Petrosur in Colombia.

INDONESIA'S Pertamina let contract to Xytel Corp., Mount Prospect, Ill., for supply of four computer controlled refining research systems at its research and development center being built in Jakarta. Xytel will supply a hydroprocessing unit, a catalytic reforming system, a unit to evaluate FCC catalyst performance, and a steaming unit to deactivate fresh FCC catalyst. Delivery of the systems will start in October.

TANKERS

VAN OMMEREN NV, Rotterdam, ordered two 45,000 dwt double hull tankers from Halla Shipyards of Korea for $31 million each. They will be operated by Van Ommeren Tankers SA, Paris. Delivery is expected in late 1994-early 1995.