U.S. BRIEFS

EXPLORATION

WESTERN ATLAS INTERNATIONAL, Houston, a unit of Litton Industries Inc., ordered a fourth seismic survey ship worth about $40 million from Ulstein Hatloe AS, Ulsteinvik, Norway. Ulstein Hatloe is building Western Atlas three other seismic vessels under contracts worth a total of about $90 million. Western Atlas expects delivery between summer 1991 and spring 1992 of the two 305 ft and two 230 ft long ships, to be operated by its Western Geophysical division.

GAS PROCESSING

PHILLIPS 66 NATURAL GAS CO. acquired from Mobil Exploration & Producing U.S. Inc. the East Canadian gas processing plant and gathering system in Hemphill County, Tex., Northeast Trails processing plant and system in Dewey County, Okla., and Selling processing plant in Woodward County, Okla., with total throughput of about 35 MMcfd. Mobil, in exchange, acquired the 32 MMcfd Phillips Fox processing plant and system in Carter County, Okla.

COMPANIES

UNOCAL CORP. agreed to give California more than 5,400 acres of "environmentally sensitive" land worth about $20 million as part of a pending settlement of lawsuits with the state and Long Beach over pricing of tidelands crude. Unocal also will pay the state and city $31 million cash on the settlement date, $8 million more plus interest 1 year later, and dedicate nearly all of its crude pipelines in California to common carrier service.

CONTINENTAL DRILLING CO., a unit of Samson Investment Co., Tulsa, agreed to buy Arkla Inc. unit Dyco Petroleum Corp., also of Tulsa. As payment, Continental will give Arkla an 8 year installment note for about $110 million at 9% interest and accelerate payment of debts owed to Arkla, hiking their present value by about $35 million. The exact note amount will be determined by a gas reserve study the companies plan, courts

A FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT JURY in Louisiana awarded $48.496 million total damages to American Exploration Co. unit Austral Oil Co., Hallwood Energy Partners LP unit Concise Oil & Gas Partnership, and Energy Consultants Inc. in their lawsuit against Louisiana Intrastate Gas Corp. Plaintiffs said the jury assessed $25.958 million damages for fraud and $22.538 million for breach of a gas purchase contract. Plaintiffs also expect to receive $15 million in interest, plus gas sales for the remaining contract term, which expires in 1998.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

SEAGULL ENERGY CORP., Houston, agreed to buy from Mesa LP, Dallas, 121,400 net acres of producing leases and about 65,500 net undeveloped acres for $200.8 million cash. Producing leases are in 21 fields in Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle, and the undeveloped acreage is in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and New Mexico. The properties, about half of which Mesa operates, include total proved reserves of 168.3 bcf of gas and 4.6 million bbl of oil, condensate, and NGL.

GEODYNE PRODUCTION CO., Tulsa, agreed to purchase from BHP Petroleum (Americas) Inc. leases in 92 fields, mostly in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, and Wyoming, for about $52 million. Geodyne is buying the leases on behalf of partnerships it sponsors under the PaineWebber/Geodyne Energy Income programs. Geodyne also has an option to buy more mainly oil producing leases with total allocated value of $18 million.

POOL CO. (TEXAS) INC., Houston, bought 14 well service rigs, one swab rig, and related assets formerly operated by Circle M Well Service, Kilgore, Tex., for an undisclosed price. Pool will operate the rigs from its Longview, Tex., yard.

ENRON OIL & GAS CO., Houston, plans to drill 150-200 tight sand gas wells this year, which it expects to result in deliverability of 80-100 MMcfd by yearend. Enron said the tight sands federal income tax credit, combined with a Texas severance tax exemption on such wells drilled after May 1989, will be worth as much as $125 million to the company and will support increased drilling.

REFINING

KOCH REFINING CO. has begun engineering for a 120,000 b/d crude unit it plans to build at its Corpus Christi refinery. Construction of the unit, which will boost plant capacity to 180,000 b/d expandable to 250,000 b/d, will begin when permits are issued. Koch plans to have it complete in summer 1993.

CONOCO INC. and Total Petroleum Inc. unit Colorado Refining Co. plan to form a joint venture to improve efficiency and share expenses for producing clean burning fuels at their two Denver area refineries. Conoco will operate the venture, for which regulatory approvals are pending.

PIPELINES

PHILLIPS PETROLEUM CO. signed a 20 year contract with Williams Field Services Co., Salt Lake City, to ship peak volumes of 105 MMcfd of San Juan basin coal seam gas on Williams' Manzanares gas gathering and treating system. Construction on the 110 mile Manzanares system in Northwest New Mexico and Southwest Colorado is under way, with service scheduled to begin in November.

ALYESKA PIPELINE SERVICE CO. filed a $4.5 million lawsuit against Thorpe Technical Services Inc., the firm hired by Alyeska to inspect the 800 mile trans-Alaska pipeline. The suit seeks to recover $2 million in costs of reinspecting segments of the pipeline, after inspections conducted by Thorpe were questioned by authorities, and $2.5 million in alleged overcharges.

COASTAL CORP. plans to build a 126 1/2 mile NGL pipeline from Corpus Christi to underground salt dome storage fields in Matagorda County, near Markham, Tex. Coastal plans to Jay 40 miles of 8 in. pipe and use 86 1/2 miles of existing line. The system will allow Corpus Christi refineries and South Texas gas processing plants to ship mixed grade butane to the 3 million bbl capacity storage caverns at Markham.

FLORIDA GAS TRANSMISSION CO., Houston, let a contract worth more than $15 million to BCCK Engineering Inc., Midland, Tex., to manage its Phase II expansion project. BCCK will supervise the building of compressor stations at Mt. Vernon, Ala., and Caryville, Quincy, and Orlando, Fla., to boost capacity of the Florida Gas line to 925 MMcfd from 800 MMcfd. Start-up is scheduled for fourth quarter.

LEVIATHAN GAS PIPELINE CO. plans to acquire all capital stock in Trunkline Offshore Go., Houston, from the trustee of Panhandle Eastern Corp. for $29.5 million subject to adjustments. The deal is subject to approval by the Federal Trade Commission, which required Panhandle Eastern to transfer its interest in Trunkline Offshore to the trustee as part of its 1989 purchase of Texas Eastern Corp. Closing is expected in May. Trunkline Offshore owns a 50% interest in Stingray Pipeline Co.