U.S. BRIEFS

REFINING

A LOS ANGELES superior court jury awarded $1.6 million in damages to Long Beach, Calif., in a lawsuit against Pacific Refining Co. for alleged breach of an oil sales contract in 1985. Long Beach attorneys said Pacific entered the winning bid to buy 130,000 bbl/month of tidelands oil for its 55,000 b/sd Hercules, Calif., refinery but rescinded the 18 month contract after 7 months. When the court adds interest, Long Beach expects the final award to total about $2.2 million.

GAS PROCESSING

ENRON GAS PROCESSING, Houston, acquired from Union Exploration Corp. the 50% interest it did not own in natural gas liquids processing facilities in Louisiana for an undisclosed price. Enron now owns 100% of Cow Island liquids extraction plant, Riverside fractionation plant, the 110 mile Sibon pipeline between the two plants, and Napoleonville underground storage facility.

EXPLORATION

PARAMOUNT PETROLEUM CO., Jackson, Miss., and Houston, and Pacific Enterprises Oil Co., Houston, tested their 1 G.W. Walker 6-7 wildcat in Jones County, Miss., at 468 b/d of oil and 549 Mcfd of gas through a 16/64 in. choke with 1,062 psi flowing tubing pressure from perforations at 15,700-829 ft in Lower Cretaceous Hosston sand. The well is on the 2,800 acre Camp Creek prospect.

COMPANIES

PRESIDIO GAS RESOURCES INC. was formed by Presidio Oil Co., Denver, to operate its gas gathering and processing facilities in Southwest Wyoming's Green River basin and expand its gas and NGL business. The new unit includes Green River and Tipton gas gathering systems, with capacity of 300 MMcfd on a total 100 miles of mainline and 195 miles of gathering lines and the 100,000 gal/day Granger and 120,000 gal/day Red Desert processing plants.

COGENERATION

BECHTEL POWER CORP. signed a letter of intent worth about $85 million to hire Foster Wheeler Energy Corp., Clinton, N.J., to design and build two 140,000 kw pulverized coal fired steam generators for the Chambers Cogeneration LP plant at Carney's Point, N.J. Foster Wheeler expects the generators to be complete in summer 1993. Chambers Cogeneration is a unit of Pacific Gas & Electric-Bechtel Generating Co.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

OXFORD CONSOLIDATED INC., Denver, agreed to sell 10,000 bbl/month of oil, about 60% of its production, to undisclosed buyers at fixed prices through midyear. Oxford will sell 6,000 bbl/month of U.S. production for 6 months based on a West Texas intermediate price of $26/ bbl on the New York Mercantile Exchange and 4,000 bbl/month of Alberta crude for 4 months based on a Nymex WTI price of $27.64/bbl.

FREEPORT-MCMORAN INC., New Orleans, began production of 38 MMcfd of gas and 400 b/d of condensate from two platforms, both about 45 miles off Louisiana. Production from Platform A on West Cameron Block 240 averages 30 MMcfd and 300 b/d from four development wells in 66 ft of water. Platform A in Vermilion Block 162 is producing 8 MMcfd and 100 b/d from two wells in 90 ft of water.

ENRON FINANCE CORP., Houston, signed a 10 year contract to buy 40 MMcfd of gas from Enron Oil & Gas Marketing Inc., Houston, beginning Jan. 1 at an undisclosed fixed price that is "substantially" greater than present spot prices but will not increase. Enron Oil & Gas Marketing expects to receive $300-400 million in revenue from the contract, which it said is part of a plan to hedge some of its exposure to depressed gas prices with long term contracts.

ARCO received Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice clearance, after a Hart-Scott-Rodino Act review, to buy California leases from Oryx Energy Co., Dallas. The companies expect to close the sale by Jan. 31.

VANTAGE POINT ENERGY INC., Tulsa, acquired about a 66% working interest in Horseshoe Gallup waterhood unit in San Juan County, N.M., from ARCO for $1.05 million. Vantage Point will operate the unit, which has 834,000 bbl total proved oil reserves and 63 wells producing a net 130 b/d.

PIPELINES

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAS CO. is holding an open season Jan. 22-Feb. 15 for bids from large commercial and industrial noncore customers and gas marketers on its firm interstate pipeline capacity rights on El Paso Natural Gas Co. and Transwestern Pipeline Co. systems. SoCalGas is making available about 1.15 bcfd of its total 2.5 bcfd of firm capacity rights for 5-15 year terms. For shorter commitments, SoCalGas will offer firm interstate capacity in the form of a pool.

PANHANDLE EASTERN CORP. units Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co., Trunkline Gas Co., and Texas Eastern Transmission Corp. filed proposed settlements of Order 94 costs with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Panhandle said the filing is intended to resolve problems stemming from a 1990 court decision that reversed a FERC approved allocation method for recovery of production related costs incurred in the early 1980s.

ENDEVCO INC., Dallas, agreed to buy a 122 mile, 8 in. products pipeline in Southwest Pennsylvania from Mobil Pipe Line Co. for an undisclosed price. Endevco plans to convert the line, which extends from Midland, near the Ohio border, to Altoona, Pa., into a gas pipeline linking local distributors and utilities with several interstate systems. Plans call for the line to be on stream by June at 60 MMcfd initial capacity with compression.

ASSOCIATED NATURAL GAS CORP., Denver, signed a letter of understanding to buy MEGA Natural Gas Co., Tulsa, for about $75 million plus contingent deferred payments. If the purchase is approved by both firms' boards, the price will include cash, assumed MEGA debt, and common stock. Closing is expected by Mar. 31.

ONEOK INC., Tulsa, reduced its estimated potential take or pay liability to $85 million from a high of $324 million in 1987. Proposed settlements with five producers may cut that sum by another $10.3 million. Oneok is accounting separately, however, an Oklahoma state district court jury's $50 million award to Forest Oil Corp., Denver. It has appealed that verdict to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

LNG

PANHANDLE EASTERN CORP., Houston, plans a noncash writedown of its liquefied natural gas facilities of about $310 million pretax, or $215 million after tax, as part of an overall after tax adjustment of about $280 million to fourth quarter 1990 earnings. Panhandle Eastern said the present high carrying value of LNG facilities has impeded its efforts to restructure LNG operations.