INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

REFINING

MEXICAN President Carlos Salinas de Gortari ordered state owned Petroleos Mexicanos to close the 105,000 b/d 18th of March refinery in the northern Azcapotzalco district of Mexico City in a step to cut air pollution. Pemex recently was fined for excessive pollution at the plant. Closure will cost $500 million. Plans call for a 300,000 b/d refinery to be built an undisclosed site elsewhere in Mexico. The action will cause a temporary increase in Mexican gasoline imports.

PETROCHEMICALS

HIMONT, Milan, plans to double polupropylene capacity at Brindisi, Italy, by summer 1992 by building a 180,000 ton/day plant. About 50% of the added product will be sold to customers in southern Italy. Himont is a Montecatini company in the Ferruzzi/Montedison Group.

EXPLORATION

ARCO BRITISH LTD.'S 43/24-1 wildcat in the southern U.K. North Sea flowed 34 MMcfd of gas through a 1 in. choke from Carboniferous sandstone at 13,840 ft. The well, 110 miles north of Great Yarmouth, U.K., was drilled in 160 ft of water. ARCO plans more drilling on Block 43/24. Interests are operator ARCO 55%, Clyde Petroleum plc 25%, and Goal Petroleum plc 20%.

TUSKAR RESOURCES PLC, Dublin, signed an offshore exploration contract with state owned Pakistan Oil & Gas Development Corp. Tuskar agreed to spend $6.7 million to shoot 550 line km of seismic and drill one wildcat in Pakistan. It is the 10th such contract signed by Pakistan's government the last 4 months.

GIBSON CONSULTING, Golden, Colo., completed interpretation of basement tectonic and aeromagnetic data covering the entire U.S.S.R.

SHELL U.K. EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION gauged 6,600 b/d of 41.5 gravity oil and 7.6 MMcfd of gas through a 11/64 in. choke at a wildcat on a prospect straddling Blocks 21/20a and 21/20b in the U.K. North Sea, 110 miles east of Aberdeen. The well was drilled on behalf of Shell U.K. Ltd. and Esso Exploration & Production U.K. Ltd. in Block 21/20b and Enterprise Oil plc, Amerada Hess Ltd., Mobil North Sea Ltd., and Shell-Esso in Block 21/20a.

BG THAILAND a unit of British Gas plc, plans to drill at least one wildcat before August 1992 on Block 5/27 in the northern Gulf of Thailand (OGJ, Feb. 11, p. 31). BG holds a 50% interest in the 15,554 sq km tract, where a 4,500 line km seismic survey is under way. BG operates the block in partnership with PTT Exploration & Production, upstream arm of Petroleum Authority of Thailand.

SANTOS LTD.'S 1 Kapinka wildcat in the Toolachee block of PELs 5 and 6, South Australia, flowed 9.2 MMcfd of gas and 240 b/d of 59 gravity condensate through a 1/2 in. choke from Permian Patchawarra at 7,608-50 ft. An earlier Patchawarra test flowed 1.7 MMcfd of gas through a 1/2 in. choke from 7,548-78 ft. The well is 21/2 km west of Toolachee field and 62 km southeast of Moomba. Santos operates PELs 5 and 6 on behalf of Santos Group 60%, Delhi Ltd., 30%, and Sagasco Resources 10%.

PIPELINES

CANADA'S National Energy Board denied TransCanada PipeLines Ltd.'s application to lay the Gananoque extension, a 25.2 km spur from TransCanada's mainline east of Kingston to the U.S. border near Wolfe Island on the St. Lawrence River. NEB withheld its reasons for the decision until May.

N.M. ROTHSCHILD, London, was asked by the Prague government, not the Warsaw government as reported incorrectly, to create a joint stock company to run Czechoslovakia's Transgas pipeline system (OGJ, Mar. 11, p. 26).

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

YEMEN EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION CO. (YEPC) plans to begin production from Radan field in Yemen at 600 b/d from seven wells in April. YEPC, a joint venture of operator Yemen Hunt Oil Co. 51% and Exxon Yemen Inc. 49%, declared the field commercial in February. It is the eighth commercial oil field in YEPC's 2.09 million acre production sharing contract area.

AMOCO (U.K.) EXPLORATION CO. let contracts to Scottish fabricators for its Everest and Lomond gas fields development project. UIE, Clydebank, and RGC, Methil, will build integrated decks weighing more 9,000 tons each and holding all process equipment and utilities for two platforms in Amoco's Everest and Lomond gas fields project. Highlands Fabricators, Nigg, will build a 2,000 ton riser platform deck and platform jackets.

TEXACO NORTH SEA let contract to Jiskoot Autocontrol, Tunbridge Wells, England, for installation of a subsea metering station on the Highlander oil field template in the U.K. North Sea in August. A prototype installed on Texaco's Tartan platform in 1989 has completed 150 test runs on different wells at varying flow rates. The Tartan unit will be moved ashore for minor changes, then prepared for installation on the Highlander template.

ROWAN DRILLING DE VENEZUELA CA is mobilizing five rigs for onshore work in Venezuela under 3 year commitments with two Petroleos de Venezuela SA units. In early second quarter 1991, the Rowan Cos. Inc., Houston, subsidiary expects to have three rigs working in eastern Venezuela for Corpoven SA and two for Lagoven SA, Rowan's first onshore contracts in Venezuela.

COMPANIES

WESTERN ATLAS INTERNATIONAL, Houston, and Tyumenneftegeofizika signed a protocol to form a joint venture providing technical services for oil and gas operations in the Soviet Union's Tyumen province. Terms aren't disclosed.

WAYNE DIVISION of Dresser U.K. Ltd. bought the U.K. fuel dispensing businesses of Ferranti International plc in Dalkeith and Gloucester for an undisclosed price. Ferranti retains ownership of the site in Dalkeith. Dresser U.K. is a subsidiary of Dresser Industries Inc., Dallas.

LAMACO HOLDING AG, Lichtenstein, acquired Chevron Chemical Co.'s 83% interest in Plastigama SA, Guayaquil, for an undisclosed price. Plastigama's three divisions make polyethylene and PVC pipe, plastic films, and polyethylene rope.

INTERHOME ENERGY INC. shareholders will vote Apr. 25 on a spinoff of Home Oil Co. Ltd., approved last week by Interhome's board (OGJ, Dec. 3, 1990, p. 26). The proposal also would change Interhome's name to Interprovincial Pipe Line Inc.