INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

PIPELINES

CANADA'S NATIONAL ENERGY BOARD recommended mothballing an unused crude oil pipeline between Sarnia, Ont., and Montreal, saying closing the 517 mile line would not affect Canada's security of supply. Quebec, where refineries use imported oil, wants the line kept open for security purposes. NEB said there is no economic justification for the line nor a need for Quebec to have its own strategic oil reserve. Operator Interprovincial Pipe Line Co. has begun purging the line with nitrogen.

BP EXPLORATION GO. LTD. let a $11.1 million design and procurement contract to John Brown Engineers & Constructors Ltd. for a riser platform for BP's North Sea Forties pipeline system. The 9,500 metric ton steel platform will be near the new Forties Sealine to Cruden Bay, 5.5 km west of Forties C production platform. Construction is to be complete in first quarter 1993.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

LAGOVEN SA let contract to Triton Engineering Services Co., Houston, for engineering services and project management for development of Rio Caribe field in 300 ft of water off Venezuela. The project includes at least one platform and a floating production, storage, and offloading facility. Start-up is expected by mid-1992. Contract value is not disclosed.

MALAYSIA'S Petronas last month started up production of 30,000 b/d from Dulang oil field. It signed contracts covering sale of 450,000 bbl of Dulang crude for loading in May. Production from Dulang, 130 km off Terengganu, is expected to,increase to 72,000 b/d by 1993.

CONOCO (U.K.) LTD. increased its stake in Kilda field, which underlies Alba oil field and is one of the largest undeveloped gas/condensate fields in the U.K. North Sea. Conoco will give Aran Energy Exploration Ltd. a 2% interest in upper horizons on Block 16/26, including Alba field, in exchange for Aran's 3% interest in horizons below 10,000 ft on Block 16/26 and Aran's 3% holding in adjoining Block 16/27b, where a Kilda extension has been drilled. Conoco's holdings in the Kilda reservoir are now 16.68% in Block 16/26 and 14% in Block 16/27b.

SUPERIOR OIL (U.K.) LTD. sold a 5% holding in Victor gas field in the southern U.K. North Sea to Sovereign Oil & Gas plc for $30 million. The deal is subject to U.K. government approval and partner preemption rights. Superior is a unit of Mobil North Sea Ltd.

GULF OIL (NIGERIA) CO. increased production to 350,000 b/d from a 1990 average rate of 275,000 b/d. Discoveries in 1990 resulted in 70 million bbl, included in the 2.5 billion bbl increase reported by Nigeria for 1990. Of the national increase, 1.91 billion bbl is a result of discoveries and the rest from reservoir management.

U.S. EXPORT-IMPORT BANK will guarantee $113.2 million in financing for sale of construction equipment and services to Nigeria for the Oso gas/condensate project (OGJ, Apr. 29, p. 28). U.S. suppliers include McDermott Fabricators, Mobil Research & Development Corp., Dual Drilling Co., and Western Co. of North America.

EXPLORATION

TOTAL INDONESIA 1 NW Peciko flowed 1,665 b/d of oil and 93.18 MMcfd of gas on tests of several intervals. The 12,155 ft well is in 164 ft of water in the Mahakam Delta east of Kalimantan. Total is operator of Mahakam Block with a 50% interest under a production sharing contract with Pertamina. The remaining interest is held by Indonesia Petroleum Ltd. of Japan.

HARKEN ENERGY CORP. began preparatory work for its first Jarim reef wildcat off Bahrain. Harken let a $5.7 million contract to Volker Dredging Services, Abu Dhabi. Dredging is to start May 1 5 and take 4 months. Spud date is on or about Oct. 1 , to test Jurassic Arab oil and Permian Khuff gas.

PAKISTAN signed separate exploration agreements with U.S. M/S Occidental Co. and Amoco Exploration Co. Oxy's concession covers 482 sq km in Attock district, Punjab province. Its agreement calls for drilling a $10 million exploratory well and interpreting and reprocessing existing seismic data. Amoco will conduct a seismic survey over a 275 sq km area and drill an exploratory well, spending more than $6 million in 3 years.

EXPORTS-IMPORTS

BRAZIL'S Petroleos Brasileiro SA will purchase 9 million bbl of crude from Iran by June under a new oil purchase contract (OGJ, Apr. 22, p. 45). The new contract protects both parties from sudden fluctuations in oil prices. Petrobras spent $800 million on oil imports last year and currently counts on Iran for 100,000 b/d.

AGREEMENTS between Iran and Turkey include a joint venture pipeline for transport of Iranian natural gas to Europe across Turkey. Turkey also agreed to import as much as 1 76.57 bcf/year of gas and 21.99 million bbl/year of oil from Iran this year.

COMPANIES

NORTH CANADIAN OILS LTD. and Canadian Hunter Exploration Ltd., both of Calgary, agreed to supply natural gas for a $205 million, 80,000 kw cogeneration plant at Syracuse, N.Y. The companies will supply 120 bcf of gas during 16 years with shipments beginning in fall 1992. North Canadian will have an 82% equity interest in the plant. The contract calls for an $88 million prepayment.

PETROCHEMICALS

JOHN BROWN ENGINEERS & CONSTRUCTORS LTD., London, began preliminary engineering of the 300,000 metric ton/year Novy Urengoy polyethylene complex in northern Siberia under a contract from Soviet state gas concern Gasprom. The project, which uses local natural gas feedstock, is the focus of John Brown's second British-Soviet joint venture, Asetco (Novy Urengoy) Ltd., formed in June 1990 (OGJ, June 25, 1990, p. 29).

CELANESE CANADA INC. and its parent Hoechst Celanese Corp. agreed to buy a 35% interest in PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd.'s Edmonton methanol plant for $25 million. Sale is retroactive to Jan. 1 and is to close at the end of May.

CHEVRON STANDARD LTD. acquired a 33.3% interest in a $350 million (Canadian), 530,000 metric ton/year methyl tertiary butyl ether plant under construction at Edmonton from a joint venture of PetroCanada and Finland's Neste Oy. The three partners will have equal stakes in Alberta Envirofuels Inc. The plant is to be completed in December, with first MTBE shipments in February 1992 (OGJ, June 25, 1990, p. 32).