INDUSTRY BRIEFS

SPILLS

ABOUT 10,000 BBL of oil spilled from Colombia's Cano Limon-Covenas crude pipeline after it was bombed by guerillas last week. Oil spilled into the Catatumbo River in northern Colombia and drifted toward Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo. Colombia's state owned Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos (Ecopetrol) alerted Venezuelan authorities and was attempting to halt the slick's progress at presstime.

ABOUT 435 BBL of fuel spilled in 1 hr last week from a ruptured 32 in. pipeline between tanks at the Kirishnefteorgsintez storage facility in St. Petersburg, Russia. There was no fire, and it took plant fire brigades 2 hr to shut off the leak. The pipe burst from metal fatigue, a report said.

REFINING

AMERADA HESS CORP. will discontinue operations at its 30,000 b/cd Purvis, Miss., refinery Jan. 15, 1994. It cites current oil market conditions as the main reason for the shutdown. The plant will be mothballed and preserved in readiness for restart should the market warrant. The plant was built in 1957 and acquired by Amerada in 1971.

AIR PRODUCTS & CHEMICALS INC., Allentown, Pa., agreed to supply as much as 90 MMscfd of hydrogen to Shell Oil Co.'s 146,500 b/cd capacity Martinez, Calif., refinery. Air Products will design, engineer, build, own, and operate a steam reforming plant next to the refinery to supply hydrogen for Shell's clean fuels projects. Construction is to begin in early 1994, with plant start-up in August 1995.

MOBIL CORP. completed work ahead of schedule on a $150 million isomerization unit at its 210,000 b/d Coryton, England, refinery. The unit expands the plant's capability to produce higher octane gasolines with lower benzene content.

AIR PRODUCTS agreed to supply as much as 50 MMscfd of hydrogen to Ultramar Inc.'s 68,000 b/cd capacity Wilmington, Calif., refinery. It will design, engineer, build, and operate a steam reforming plant at the refinery to provide hydrogen for Ultramar's clean fuels project. Construction is to start in early 1994, with plant start-up in January 1996.

LEBANON plans to rehabilitate and expand its Tripoli refinery in a joint venture with a foreign company, according to Middle East Economic Survey. Oil Minister As'ad Rizq said capacity could be increased to 50,000 b/d from 20,000 b/d within 18 months under a $100 million expansion. Potential investors include Total, Caltex Petroleum Corp., Litwin Corp., Houston, and Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd., Tokyo.

STE. DE LA RAFFINERIE BP ET ELF DE DUNKIRK let a turnkey contract to Foster Wheeler CEE, Paris, for engineering, procurement, and construction of a lube oil plant expansion at Dunkirk, France. The 300 million franc ($52.5 million) project will increase capacity to 320,000 metric tons/year from 250,000 tons/year. A fufural extraction unit will be built, and one of two existing dewaxing units will be expanded. Completion is scheduled for October 1994.

STE. NATIONALE ELF AQUITAINE and Thyssen Handel Berlin GmbH let contract to ABB Lummus Crest Inc., Bloomfield, N.J., for basic design and engineering of a visbreaker to be installed at a grassroots refinery project in Leuna, Germany. The 26,400 b/d unit will be based on Shell Soaker Visbreaker technology, jointly licensed by Shell and Lummus. The project includes a Shell vacuum flasher to increase feed to the fluid catalytic cracker.

CHINA YANSHAN UNITED FOREIGN TRADE CO. LTD. let a $7.1 million contract to Salem Furnace Co., Pittsburgh, to supply a rotary hearth petroleum coke calcining furnace for Jinzhou Petrochemical Co., Liaoning province, China. Salem will provide design, manufacture, and delivery of furnace components, erection and commissioning assistance, and M-W process license. The furnace will be capable of calcining anode and electrode grade petroleum coke. Project completion is scheduled for October 1995.

COMPANIES

DRESSER INDUSTRIES INC., Dallas, agreed to sell its 29.5% interest in Western Atlas International to Litton Industries for $558 million. Dresser expects an after tax gain of $150 million. Closing is scheduled for first quarter fiscal 1994.

ANDERSON EXPLORATION LTD., Calgary, completed a $67.8 million (Canadian) takeover of Amax Petroleum of Canada Inc., also of Calgary. It gives Anderson 100% interest in the former Canadian unit of Amax Oil & Gas Inc., Houston. Anderson's acquisition will increase its production to a combined 9,500 b/d of oil and natural gas liquids and 212 MMcfd of natural gas. It plans to drill 55 wells in 1994 to develop new acreage.

MOBIL OIL CANADA LTD. and Husky Oil Operations Ltd., both of Calgary, agreed to swap interests in leases off Canada's East Coast. Mobil will acquire 12% interest in Alma field, 21% interest in Glenelg field, and 34% interest in North Triumph gas field. Husky will obtain Mobil's 22% interest in Whitehorse field and 19% interest in North Ben Nevis field on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland.

EXPLORATION

ELF ANGOLA EXPLORATION'S 1 Caama East discovery on Block 3/91 off Angola tested at a flow rate of 4,400 b/d of 32 gravity oil. The well is 9 km southeast of Southeast Impala field. Operator Elf will conduct appraisal work to evaluate commercial potential of the discovery.

UNITED MERIDIAN CORP., Houston, 1 Panthere on Block CI-11 off Cote d'Ivoire flowed 30 MMcfd of gas and more than 700 b/d of condensate through a 55/64 in. choke at 1,909 psi from perforations at 9,316-82 ft. The well, in which United Meridian holds 28% working interest, is its first international venture. The well was drilled 8 miles offshore in 264 ft of water.

GLOBAL NATURAL RESOURCES CORP. OF NEVADA, Houston, 1 High Island Block 23-L gas discovery off Texas in the Gulf of Mexico flowed a combined 19 MMcfd of gas and 400 b/d of condensate from three zones at 12,440-13,100 ft. In addition, the well cut 45 ft of net gas pay behind pipe at 9,400 ft and 18 ft at 11,200 ft, but those zones weren't tested. Offset drilling is planned. Operator Global Natural holds 50% interest in the well, Apache Corp. and Hall-Houston 20% each, and Edisto Exploration & Production Co. 10%.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

YPF SA, Buenos Aires, signed a contract with a group led by Total to convert a Total service contract covering YPF oil and gas properties in the Austral basin off Tierra del Fuego to an exploration and exploitation concession and for YPF to transfer to the group certain interests in oil fields covering San Roque and Aguada Pichana concession areas in Argentina's Neuquen basin. YPF also agreed to commit to purchase from the group certain gas volumes from both basins for 10 years. Total Austral SA, Bridas Sapic, and Deminex Argentina SA are members of the group.

SULEIMAN BENGHARSA, international consultant, estimated Libya's oil reserves at 45 billion bbl, not 45 million bbl as incorrectly reported (OGJ, Dec. 6, p. 27).

MAXUS ENERGY CORP., Dallas, agreed to transfer Maxus Colombia Inc.'s 53.33% interest in Colombia's Recetor block to BP Exploration Co. (Colombia) Ltd., retroactive to Nov. 1, subject to approvals by management and Ecopetrol. Closing is expected by yearend. Maxus is to retain a 4.5% overriding royalty payable from BP's interest and receive $10 million to help defray its Recetor outlays to date. The royalty could be halved if Ecopetrol participates in Recetor development following a declaration of commerciality.

CANADA'S Veteran Resources Inc. signed a letter of intent with Joint Stock Co. Yukos unit JSC Uganskneftegaz to form a joint stock company to drill wells in Russia using Veteran's horizontal drilling technology. A technical and economic analysis of the proposed company is scheduled for completion by Mar. 1, 1994.

PETRO-HUNT CORP., Dallas, bought working and royalty interests in six gas wells in Hooker and Oak Grove fields in Lawrence and Simpson counties, Miss., from Callon Petroleum Co., Callon Consolidated Partners LP, and LTC Partners LP. Net proved developed producing reserves acquired are estimated at more than 3.6 bcf of gas equivalent. Price is undisclosed.

URALMASHZAVOD, Ekaterinburg, Russia, National-Oilwell, and Caterpillar Inc. formed joint venture company UNOC Equipment & Supply Inc. to develop drilling rigs for the Russian oil industry. Rigs will be rated for depths of 3,200-8,000 m, have 200-650 metric ton hook load capacities, rotary table openings of 700-1,257 mm, and feature mud pumps rated at 600-1,490 kw. The JV will open offices in the U.S. and Russia.

STATESIDE ENERGY CORP., Calgary, reports its follow-up well to an oil discovery in the Haynes area of Central Alberta tested at rates as much as 2,343 b/d. The discovery well was drilled in July and tested at 1,000 b/d. Stateside holds 35% interest in the Nisku discovery well and the stepout. Rangeland Resources Ltd. is project operator. Partnership interests are the same in the discovery well and the stepout, with Rangeland holding 35% interest, Deena Explorations Ltd. 10%, Signature Energy Corp. 10%, and other minority interests 10%.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ruled that non-U.S. availability exists on certain oil well perforating equipment. Its finding, to be published soon in the Federal Register, is expected to result in decontrol of more than $100 million/year in U.S. exports of this equipment.

PRIDE PETROLEUM SERVICES INC., Houston, agreed to acquire the offshore well workover business in the Gulf of Mexico of Offshore Rigs LLC, Houma, La., including 22 platform workover rigs, which is 40% of the gulf's platform workover rig fleet. W.R. Grace & Co. formed Offshore Rigs in April 1993 to acquire the Booker division assets of Grace Offshore Co., New Orleans. Terms of the deal, to be concluded in April 1994, are not disclosed.

BP EXPLORATION OPERATING CO. LTD. let contract to a five company group for well management services on U.K. North Sea Magnus field. The 3 year contract begins Jan. 1, 1994, and is worth as much as 10 million ($15 million). The group is Transocean Drilling Ltd., Read U.K. Ltd., Wellserv plc, Western Petroleum Services (U.K.) Ltd., and Schlumberger Evaluation & Production Services (U.K.) Ltd.

INTERNATIONAL PETROLEUM CORP., Vancouver, B.C., completed the first horizontal well on its 100% owned Welton field in the U.K.'s East Midlands. It was drilled as a reentry of a producing vertical well, plugged back, and sidetracked through a milled window in the casing at 4,232 ft and directionally drilled to a new reservoir top at 5,049 ft. A horizontal section was then drilled through basal Westphalian to 5,561 ft. The new well, renamed B16, tested at a rate of 450 b/d vs. 130 b/d from the original vertical section produced before reentry.

OILSANDS

SHELL CANADA LTD. started using what it calls the new enhanced steam assisted gravity drainage technique to help produce oil from its Peace River, Alta., oilsands acreage. The $11 million (Canadian) horizontal well project injects steam into the oilsands to create a steam chamber that allows heated bitumen to flow down to a producing well. During injection the next 2 months, Shell expects a combined 1,000 b/d from two wells.

MARKETING

SUBIC BAY PETROLEUM PRODUCTS LTD., a joint venture of units of Malaysian national oil company Petronas and Coastal Corp., plans to sell products in the Far East, mostly in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, from Coastal's 2.4 million bbl Subic Bay, Philippines, petroleum storage terminal. Each partner plans to continue separate marketing operations in the Far East as well, with most products also supplied from the Subic Bay terminal.

PIPELINES

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION'S Office of Pipeline Safety allowed Colonial Pipeline Co. to increase pressure to 80%, or about 518 psi, on a 45 mile segment of its products pipeline between Chantilly, Va., and Westminster, Md. Allowable pressure on the segment was cut 50% to 325 psi after the 36 in. pipe ruptured Mar. 28 near Reston, Va., spilling 9,500 bbl of diesel and threatening to pollute the Potomac River (OGJ, Apr. 5, p. 28). Colonial spent $9.8 million to clean up the spill and repair the pipeline, then used a pig to check for other problems. As a result of that survey, it excavated the pipeline at 124 locations and made repairs at 11 sites.

CZECH REPUBLIC privatized crude oil shipper and storage company Chemopetrol IKL Ltd. and renamed it Mero IKL AS. The company is owned by Czech National Property Fund, which assumed financing of a Mero project to lay a pipeline to Kralupy, Czech Republic, from Vohburg, Germany, and build a terminal tank farm at Kralupy. When the first phase of the terminal work is completed early in 1994, it will begin storing crude supplied via Russia's Druzhba pipeline. Other work on the terminal is to be complete by yearend 1995.

COGENERATION

WEST WINDSOR POWER started building a $164 million (Canadian), 102,000 kw gas fired combined cycle generating plant with associated steam capacity of 210,000 lb/hr in Windsor, Ont. Electricity from the project will be sold to Ontario Hydro under a 20 year contract, while steam deliveries will be made under long term contracts with Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Canadian Salt Co. Ltd. for use in their Windsor facilities. West Windsor is a partnership of PLC-Windsor Ltd. and Tractebel Canada Inc. Plant start-up and testing are scheduled for fourth quarter 1995.

Copyright 1993 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.