U.S. BRIEFS

PROCESSING

UOP, Des Plaines, Ill., plans a $95 million expansion of its catalyst manufacturing plant in Shreveport. The plant will have twice the spherical catalyst production capacity of the current plant. Construction is to begin immediately and be complete in late 1992.

STAR ENTERPRISE let an engineering and procurement contract to Jacobs Engineering Group, Pasadena, Calif., for a 25,000 b/d light cycle gas oil hydrotreating unit at its Convent, La., refinery. Engineering is to be complete by first quarter 1992 with construction and unit start-up expected by mid-1993 to meet the Environmental Protection Agency's Oct. 1, 1993, deadline for limiting sulfur content of highway diesel to 0.05 wt. %

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

ENRON GAS SERVICES bought a production payment from Forest Oil Corp., Denver, for $44.8 million, equal to about 30 bcf of natural gas. Forest will pay operating costs for the five leases, one of which is in Hidalgo County, Tex., the rest off Louisiana. Enron also signed a 2 year contract to purchase remaining gas production from the leases subject to the production payment.

ARKLA EXPLORATION CO., Shreveport, completed a well 35 miles southeast of Houston in Galveston Bay, confirming its Redfish Reef North field discovery. The two wells flowed a combined 12 MMcfd of gas from Tertiary Frio. The discovery was Arkla's first success in its Texas Gulf Coast exploration program that began in 1990. Arkla owns a 31.6% working interest in both wells.

WILLIAMS PRODUCTION CO., Tulsa, may sell its natural gas leases in the San Juan basin of Southwest Colorado and Northwest New Mexico pending an assessment by management. Target sale date and price range were not disclosed. The leases hold proved reserves estimated at 560 bcf of conventional gas and 250 bcf of coal seam gas.

PIPELINES

PACIFIC GAS TRANSMISSION CO. signed 60 long term contracts to transport more Canadian gas to California and the Pacific Northwest as a result of its open season for capacity on the PGT pipeline expansion. The 30 year contracts are to transport 4-202 MMcfd.

OKLAHOMA CORPORATION COMMISSION set a new fee schedule and payment timetable for pipelines under its jurisdiction. Operators with more than 23 miles of gas pipeline will pay $9/mile and those with more than 13 miles of hazardous liquid lines will pay $15/mile. Operators with more than 30 miles of regulated rural lines will pay $7/mile. Previously those with 30 miles or less of pipeline paid $200/year, while operators with more than 30 miles were assessed $7/mile.

QUESTAR PIPELINE CO., Salt Lake City, filed a general rate case with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reflecting a $12.8 million/year increase in the pipeline's revenues. Questar expects the new rates to become effective Nov. 1.

ALTERNATE FUELS

OHIO EDISON CO., Akron, tested a waste tire burning process that can dispose of 6 million discarded tires/year and recover the equivalent of about 330,000 bbl of oil. Ohio Edison tested cofiring tires with coal for 4 days at the Toronto, Ohio, plant and found emissions reduced as much as 36% for nitrogen oxides, particulates 28%, sulfur dioxide 14%, and lead 5% when tires made up 20% of the boiler's fuel.

ACQUISITIONS

ASHLAND OIL INC. agreed to acquire Permian Corp., Houston, from National Intergroup Inc. for $75 million in cash and 2.2 million shares of Ashland common stock valued Apr. 26 at $75 million. Permian transports, trades, and sells crude oil in 15 states.

COMPANIES

GERMANY'S Deminex hired Wertheim Schroder & Co. Inc. to review options for its U.S. operations in the U.S. Options include the possible sale of Deminex U.S. Oil Co., Dallas, which holds interests in about 2,750 wells. It operates about 1,150 of them. Reserves lie mainly onshore in the Gulf Coast and Midcontinent regions with net 1990 production of 586,000 bbl of oil and 3.2 bcf of gas.

MURPHY OIL CORP. extended its exchange offer until May 22 for all outstanding shares of Ocean Drilling & Production Co.'s common stock it does not own. Previous expiration date was May 1 (OGJ, Apr. 15, p. 42). By May 1, holders of about 75% of publicly traded shares of Odeco common stock had decided not to accept Murphy's offer, Odeco said.

COGENERATION

POWER CITY PARTNERS LP, New York, let a $50 million contract to Zurn Industries, Erie, Pa., to design, engineer, and build a 79,000 kw combined cycle cogeneration plant at Massena, N.Y. The project, scheduled for completion in September 1992, will include a Zurn multipressure heat recovery system.

MARKETING

UNOCAL CORP. will close as many as 300 of its service stations on the West Coast during the next 3 years to cut costs. Dealers in Washington, Oregon, and California will be notified in the next 30-60 days. There are about 2,900 Unocal stations on the West Coast, about 1,900 of them in California.

GOVERNMENT

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION settled its largest telemarketing fraud case, telling more than 8,000 investors they will get back most of the $51 million they lost in alleged oil and gas lease scams. The 1982-83 scheme included three Miami companies and 10 individuals accused of establishing bogus annuities guaranteeing investors a return on their money but instead reportedly cost investors $5,000-10,000 each.

EXPLORATION

MARATHON OIL CO. 1 Ewing Bank 873 sidetrack oil discovery off Louisiana, 96 miles southwest of Venice, flowed 2,407 b/d of 18 oil and 596 Mcfd of gas through a 16/64 in. choke with 2,718 psi flowing tubing pressure from 52 ft of net pay in the lowest of three sands. Drilled to 13,881 ft, the well cut 62 ft of net oil pay, then was sidetracked downdip, encountering 179 ft of net oil pay in three sands at 11,423 ft true vertical depth. The two holes have a hydrocarbon column of more than 1,100 ft.

SEAGULL ENERGY CORP., Houston, 2 OCS-G-9017 on Brazos Block 431 flowed 8.8 MMcfd of gas and 36 b/d of condensate through a 24/64 in. choke with 2,370 psi flowing tubing pressure from selected perforations at 7,465-7,546 ft. Seagull's third successful wildcat in the Gulf of Mexico for 1991 is 30 miles south of Freeport, Tex., in 89 ft of water. Partners are Ashland Exploration Inc., Southwestern Energy Production Co., and Hardy Oil & Gas U.S.A. Inc.

Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.