INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

REFINING

ESSO SAF plans to spend 8.6 billion francs ($1.53 billion) the rest of the decade to upgrade two refineries and its marketing network in France. Upgrades are scheduled at its 136,000 b/d Port Jerome refinery in northern France and the 100,000 b/d Fos sur Mer refinery on the Mediterranean coast. Esso earmarked 2.7 billion francs ($482 million) of that total to improve plant efficiency and install alkylation and desulfurization units. Esso will spend 2.2 billion francs ($392 million) to improve its service station network.

PIPELINES

UNION GAS LTD. and Dow Chemical Canada Inc. agreed to a 40 year joint venture to develop a gas storage site in Lambton County, Ont., pending approval from the Ontario Energy Board, at an estimated cost of $32 million. The Dow-Sarnia (Block A) pool will provide more than 6 bcf of storage capacity.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

CHEVRON U.K. LTD. let contracts worth 10 million ($18 million) to THC Fabricators Ltd., Hartlepool, England, and Saipem U.K. Ltd. to modify its Ninian platform in the U.K. North Sea to receive oil and gas from Lyell, Staffa, and Strathspey subsea developments. It involves construction of a subsea emergency shutdown valve skid and new modules for gas compression, water injection, and oil/gas processing. Saipem also will remove one of two drilling rigs on Ninian Central platform this summer. It will be refurbished for work on Chevron's northern Alba platform when the structure is installed in 1993.

HAMILTON OIL CORP.'S 4-110/13 appraisal well on Block 110/13 in the Irish Sea flowed 65 MMcfd of gas. The well is about 2 miles south of Hamilton's 1-110/13 discovery, drilled in 1990. Hamilton plans to spud the 5-110/13 well on a separate structure. Interests in Block 110/13 are held by Hamilton 45%, Ultramar Exploration Ltd. 30%, and Monument Resources Ltd. 25%.

LIBYA'S offshore Bouri oil field, operated by Agip SpA, increased production to 85,000 b/d from 60,000 b/d in early 1990. Plans are to meet the development project's first phase target of 100,000 b/d later this year. First phase cost, projected at $2 billion, covers installation of two platforms and drilling of 50 wells. Forty wells have been completed so far. The second phase target of 150,000 b/d would entail adding three or four platforms. Reserves are estimated at 670 million bbl of oil and 2.5 tcf of gas.

SUN OIL BRITAIN LTD. tested the first of two appraisal wells in Stirling field in U.K. North Sea Block 16/21 with a flow rate of 4,100 b/d of oil through a 48/64 in. choke. Stirling underlies Sun's Balmoral field and probably will be produced through Balmoral's floating facilities starting next year. Sun partners in the block are ARCO British Ltd., Summit North Sea Oil Ltd., Goal Petroleum plc, Deminex U.K. Oil & Gas Ltd., Clyde Expro plc, Clyde Petroleum (Balmoral) Ltd., Lasmo (TNS) Ltd.

OMAN'S Daleel field increased oil production to 8,500 b/d from 6,000 b/d in the first quarter and is on target to reach 10,000 b/d by yearend, reported Japex Oman, a joint venture of Japan National Oil Corp., Japan Exploration Co. Ltd., C. Itoh Energy Development Co., and Indonesia Petroleum Ltd. Production eventually is to reach 20,000 b/d.

PETROLEOS MEXICANOS let a turnkey contract to Marine Drilling, a subsidiary of Triton Engineering Inc., Houston, to drill an 18,000 ft well in Campeche Sound.

PETROBEL, a joint venture of Agip SpA and Egyptian General Petroleum Corp., started production from Sinai field in the Gulf of Suez. The 85 million bbl field is producing about 10,000 b/d.

HARDY OIL & GAS (U.K.) LTD. 3 Donkerbroek, the company's first onshore Netherlands well, flowed 15 MMcfd of gas through a 40/64 in. choke from Permian Slochteren and Ten Boer sandstones. Drilled to 9,085 ft, the well is on the 17,188 acre Donkerbroek permit south of Groningen gas field and 1.8 miles from Chevron Corp.'s Akkrum gas producing facilities.

ACT GROUP let an $8 million contract to Creole Production Services Inc., Houston, to furnish 50 workers to staff 25 positions on two production platforms and floating production/storage facilities in the South China Sea. ACT is developing HZ-21-1 and HZ-26-1 oil fields 120 miles southeast of Hong Kong. ACT partners are Agip (Overseas) Ltd., Chevron Overseas Petroleum Ltd., and Texaco Petroleum (Nederland) BV in partnership with China National Offshore Oil Corp.

PETROCHEMICALS

BENZENE PRICES should have been expressed in cents per gallon, not cents per pound as reported incorrectly in Oil & Gas Journal's Petrochemical '91 Report (OGJ, Apr. 1, p. 21). World ethane prices jumped to 40 cents/gal from 14 cents/gal, not to $2/gal from $1.43/gal, and ethylene climbed to 29 cents/lb, not 29 cents/gal as reported.

MOBIL OIL CORP. let a $60 million contract to Raytheon Co.'s Badger Engineers unit for engineering, procurement, and construction services for its proposed $600 million, 600,000 ton/year aromatics complex in Jurong, Singapore. The contract also will cover an upgrade of an adjacent refinery in Jurong. When completed in 1993, the complex will be one of the largest in the Pacific Rim region.

EXPLORATION

ELF PETROLAND BV'S K6-8 well flowed 24.7 MMcfd of gas on North Sea Block K6 about 75 miles northwest of Den Helder, Netherlands. Major interest owners are Elf 36.36%, Energie Beheer Nederland BV 40%, and Total Marine Exploitatie BV 18.18%.

ALBANIA'S Ministry of Industry, Mining, and Energy Oil and Gas Directorate awarded the country's first production sharing agreement to a 50-50 combine of Germany's Deminex GmbH and Austria's OMV covering a 2,000 sq km block in the Adriatic Sea. Deminex is operator.

AUSTRALIA'S Ministry of Resources awarded Phillips Australian Oil Co. the 700,000 acre W90-1 exploration permit in the Bonaparte basin off Australia. Site is 90 miles northeast of Jabiru field. Exploration in the basin was suspended in 1983 pending resolution of territorial boundaries between Australia and Indonesia (OGJ, Feb. 25, p. 25).

EXPORTS-IMPORTS

IRAN'S crude oil exports fell to 2.5 million b/d in March from 2.7 million b/d in February. Crude oil production totaled almost 3.3 million b/d in March.