INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

ACQUISITIONS

RWE-DEA, Hamburg, extended to May 31 its $55/share cash tender offer to acquire all common stock of Vista Chemical Co. (OGJ, Apr. 8, p. 39).

GOVERNMENT

INDIA'S government opted to retain gasoline and diesel fuel rationing measures imposed on government agencies and operations last year following Iraq's blitzkrieg of Kuwait.

EXPLORATION

HAMILTON OIL CORP., Denver, 110/13-5 discovery well in the Irish Sea off the U.K. flowed gas from two intervals at stabilized rates of 70 MMcfd and 80 MMcfd, respectively. The well is 3 miles north and on a separate structure from the Hamilton field gas discovery disclosed last year (OGJ, July 9, 1990, Newsletter).

NIPPON OIL CO. LTD.'S discovery well 70 km off Miri, Malaysia, flowed 7,000 b/d of oil and about 35.3 MMcfd of gas. Nippon plans several appraisal wells.

SANTA FE ENERGY RESOURCES, Houston, and Bow Valley Industries Ltd., Calgary, formed a joint venture to explore for gas in western Alberta. The companies have about 50,000 net acres under lease with initial seismic studies under way. Plans are to acquire more acreage in the area and to begin drilling in 1992.

PICT PETROLEUM PLC agreed to earn a 5% working interest in South China Sea Block 115 off southern Viet Nam from operator International Petroleum Ltd. IPL, now with a 29% interest, is nearing the first of two prospective pay zones in its 115-A-1X wildcat on the block 55 miles northeast of Da Nang (OGJ, Apr. 15, p. 40).

TULLOW OIL PLC acquired a license to explore Block 28 in Pakistan's Middle Indus basin, not Block 25 as was incorrectly reported (OGJ, Mar. 4, p. 24).

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

WESTERN ATLAS INTERNATIONAL agreed with Embaneftegeophysika to form a joint oil field service enterprise in the Soviet Union's Kazakhstan republic. Embaneftegeophysika provides oil field services under the Ministry of Oil and Gas in Kazakhstan, including the Gureyev, Tengiz, and North Caspian Sea oil areas.

CHINA completed its first medium radius horizontal oil well near Renqui in Hebei province. The 1 Renping is producing 669 b/d of oil from 2,425 ft of displacement. Total measured depth is 10,434 ft, true vertical depth 8,855 ft.

CIMAZ SA purchased Chevron Oil Co. of Spain from Chevron Corp. for an undisclosed sum. Assets include an 18.92% interest in Casablanca offshore oil field, 25% interest in Ayoluengo oil field, and a 25% interest in Marismas gas field. Net proved reserves are estimated at 6 million bbl of oil equivalent, split 80-20 between oil and gas. Cimaz also will acquire six exploration permits and two production concessions covering 460,000 acres in the Gulf of Valencia basin and six permits and four concessions covering about 380,000 acres in the Sedan and Rio Guadalquiver basins.

DET NORSKE OLJESELSKAP AS plans to place its oil and gas assets on the market. DNO has 57 million bbl of reserves in the North Sea, mainly in the Norwegian sector.

CONOCO (U.K.) LTD. completed a two well drilling program on Block 44/21a in the southern U.K. North Sea that earned it operatorship of the acreage and a 46% interest. The second well, 44/21a-7, flowed 65 MMcfd of gas and 600 b/d of condensate through a 4 in. choke from Carboniferous sandstone during a 5 day test. Total depth is 14,964 ft. The block lies west of Conoco's Murdoch gas prospect, which is being considered for development. Partners are BP Exploration 44.5% and Norsk Hydro 9.5%.

ABU DHABI NATIONAL OIL CO. let a $60 million contract to National Petroleum Construction Co., Abu Dhabi, for the Abu al-Bukhoosh Permian Khuff gas development project off Abu Dhabi. The contract includes construction engineering, fabrication, installation, hookup, precommissioning a gas processing platform and ancillaries, pipe coating, and submarine pipelaying.

BP EXPLORATION CO. LTD. let a 20 million contract to Press Offshore, Aberdeen, for hookup and commissioning work on Bruce field platforms in the U.K. North Sea, 400 km northeast of Aberdeen. The two stage program is to start in May 1992.

LASMO NOVA SCOTIA LTD. and Nova Scotia Resources (Ventures) Ltd. let a $15 million contract to Catalytic Maritimes Ltd., Dartmouth, N.S., for modifications to the Rowan Gorilla III jack up, which is drilling development wells for the Cohasset/Panuke oil field project off eastern Canada, 41 km southwest of Sable Island. The rig is to return to Halifax in early August to have production equipment installed for the project.

PIPELINES

A GAS LEAK caused a fire that halted transmission for 2 days through the Nadym-Punga 3 pipeline that extends from Urengoi and Medvezhye fields in Northwest Siberia to European Russia. Moscow newspaper Trud said automatic control equipment on the 14 year old line was destroyed and "millions of cubic meters" of gas were lost. The leak occurred near the Long-Tugan compressor station southwest of Nadym.

FINA U.K. LTD. started up its 140 mile, 10 in. products line from Lindsey refinery at South Humberside on the east coast of England to Fina's product storage and distribution terminal at Buncefield, Hertfordshire. The project cost 945 million ($77.85 million).

COMPANIES

COLUMBIA GAS SYSTEM INC., Wilmington, Del., wants to sell Columbia Gas Development of Canada Ltd., Calgary. Assets for sale include about 900,000 acres in western Canada and reserves of 5 million bbl of oil and 139 bcf of gas. Columbia said its Canadian holdings have long term potential but cannot compete with its U.S. assets for immediate attention because of weak gas prices, slow development, and pipeline capacity shortages. PowerWest Financial Ltd., Calgary, and Morgan Guaranty Trust Co., New York, will handle bids.

OK PETROLEUM AB plans to buy part of the businesses of Svenska BP, the Swedish refining and marketing subsidiary of British Petroleum Co. plc. The purchase is to include BP's 78% interest in the Gothenburg refinery, B P's Swedish heating oil, fuel oil, and LPG businesses, and an additional 30% interest in ODAB, a storage and distribution company OKP owns 50-50 with BP. The refinery interest purchase makes OKP sole owner.