INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

TANKERS

SAUDI ARABIAN OIL CO. placed orders for six 280,000 dwt crude carriers. Hyundai Heavy Industries, South Korea, and Odense Staalskibsverft, Denmark, will build three tankers each, first of which is scheduled for delivery in 1993.

LNG

HYUNDAI ENGINEERING CO. LTD. let contract to M.W. Kellogg Ltd., London, for process engineering design and technical advisory services for a receiving terminal at a 420 MMcfd liquefied natural gas plant being built at Inchon, South Korea, for Korea Gas Corp. Completion of the terminal and three storage tanks is expected in 1995. A fourth storage tank is slated for completion in 1996.

PIPELINES

TRANSCANADA PIPELINES LTD., Calgary, let a $40 million (Canadian) contract to O.J. Pipelines Inc., Calgary, to construct Spread J of TransCanada's mainline project, including 56 km of 42 in. pipe between Winnipeg and Kenora, Ont. Construction is to begin in December and be complete in March.

INTERPROVINCIAL PIPE LINE INC., Edmonton, will study feasibility of laying a $110 million, 145 mile spur to deliver 40,000 b/d of refined products from Ultramar Canada Inc.'s refinery near Quebec City to Montreal. The study is to be complete by February, and then IPPL will begin permitting efforts. Construction is to begin in 1993.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

RANGER OIL (U.K.) LTD. started up production from Anglia gas field on Blocks 48/18b and 48/19b in the southern U.K. North Sea. Initial flow rates of as much as 90 MMcfd were attained, but field output is expected to average about 50 MMcfd.

Anglia development was completed on schedule and cost about $120 million. Ranger holds 35.628% interest in the field, with Conoco Developments Ltd. 35.082%, Elf U.K. plc 16.460%, and Amerada Hess (E&P) Ltd. 12.830%.

LASMO NOVA SCOTIA LTD. boosted its reserves estimate for Cohasset oil field in the Sable Island area off Nova Scotia to 49 million bbl from 35 million bbl. Most of the increase is due to reappraisal of drilling and seismic data in Cohasset, which Lasmo plans to produce in tandem with Panuke field. Balmoral, a new field in the area, also will be placed on production.

NORSK HYDRO, Oslo, and partners in the 189 million bbl Njord field on the Haltenbanken off Norway (OGJ, Sept. 2, p. 60) will defer development until a more cost-effective development option is available and Norway's tax regime for marginal fields is determined. Gas reserves are pegged at 21 0250 bcf. Hydro said bids for a production vessel development were technically acceptable but did not provide an adequate rate of return.

BP EXPLORATION 23/16a-5Z appraisal well about 1 mile southeast of the Mungo field discovery well in the U.K. North Sea's Diapir province flowed 5,060 b/d of 40 gravity crude and 2.9 MMcfd of gas through an 11/64 in. choke. The well was drilled through Paleocene sandstone to a total depth of 8,206 ft.

BP GAS MARKETING LTD. signed a conditional agreement with Phillips Petroleum Co. U.K. Ltd. in partnership with units of Petrofina SA, Agip SpA, and British Gas plc to purchase as much as 60 MMcfd of gas from Ann field in southern U.K. North Sea Blocks 49/6a and 48/10a. A three well subsea development is due on stream Oct. 1, 1993.

JOINT OPERATING CO., a venture of Kuwait Oil Co. and Texaco Inc., let a 2 year contract to the Pool Arabia Ltd. unit of Pool Energy Services Co., Houston, to aid in repairs in Wafra oil field in the Neutral Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Pool will begin operations in early 1992 using four land workover/drilling rigs. Saudi Arabian Oil Co. let contract to Pool Arabia for a jack up for a 2 year Persian Gulf drilling program.

NORSK HYDRA agreed with Soviet officials to conduct a feasibility study of oil and gas production from fields in the Tailakov area of southeastern Western Siberia. The agreement gives Hydro an exclusive right to evaluate the fields for 1 year. About 70 wells have been drilled in the area.

COMPANIES

DEADLINE for regulatory approval of a deal to sell most of Husky Oil Ltd., Calgary, to Hong Kong investor Li Ka-shing has been extended indefinitely. Li had set a Nov. 30 deadline for approval by federal regulators of his $325 million purchase of a 43% interest in Husky from Nova Corp. The sale, giving Li and a son who is a Canadian citizen 95% interest in Husky, is being reviewed by Investment Canada.

EXPLORATION

MAGELLAN PETROLEUM CORP., Hartford, Conn., resumed operations on the Burunga prospect in Queensland's Bowren-Surat basin about 250 miles northwest of Brisbane by reentering 1 Scotia, a wildcat drilled in the early 1980s (OGJ, Feb. 28, 1983, p. 60) that yielded noncommercial gas volumes. The reentry will attempt to prove the Burunga could be commercial if drilled mudfree and deviated about 60 to intercept more of the vertical fractures.

ARGENTINA'S Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales SA entered into an exploration contract with Argentina Hunt Oil Co. and Perfiltra SA, Buenos Aires, covering the 3,802 sq km South General Levalle block in Central Argentina's Cordoba province. The area is adjacent to a block awarded to Hunt and Perfiltra in 1990 (OGJ, June 11 , 1990, p. 20). Operator Hunt holds 97% interest in the block, Perfiltra the remainder.

GERMANY'S Deminex and Nischnjewolschksneft, Volgograd, Russia, agreed to form a 50-50 joint exploration/production venture on four blocks covering 22,600 sq km near Volgograd in the Volga-Ural-North Caspian basin. Exploration is to begin in first quarter 1992 pending approval of the pact by Russia's government.

BHP PETROLEUM 1 RDB wildcat in Southeast Algeria's Ghadames basin flowed at an average rate of 1,533 b/d of oil and 4.5 MMcfd of gas through a 1/2 in. choke from a zone at 2,980-86 m. BHP said the interval was part of a 12 m oil zone.

MARATHON OIL CO. 2 Belli confirmation well in Tunisia encountered minor noncommercial hydrocarbon shows in Eocene Bou Dabbous. The well, drilling ahead to upper Cretaceous Aboid chalk, is about 3 miles north of Marathon's 1 Belli discovery (OGJ, July 15 Newsletter), which is to go on stream at about 10,000 b/d in January.

HARKEN BAHRAIN OIL CO., let contract to Fairfield Industries Inc., Houston, for a 90 line km, radio telemetric seismic survey on and around Muharraq, one of two islands in Harken's Bahrain production sharing area. Fairfield is to begin collecting data in mid-December 1991, with completion by mid-January 1992. Harken expects to reach total depth of 14,500 ft in first quarter 1992 on its first offshore exploratory well on the acreage (OGJ, Nov. 18, p. 36).

Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.