U.S. BRIEFS

EXPLORATION

AMOCO PRODUCTION CO.'S 1 Raymond Smith Unit wildcat in the Arkoma basin, Latimer County, Okla., flowed 32.17 MMcfd of gas without stimulation through a 1 in. choke with 975 psi flowing tubing pressure from pay at 13,332-374 ft in Pennsylvanian Spiro-Wapanucka. Site is in the Ouachita thrust belt, about 6 miles southwest of Red Oak gas field and 8 miles southeast of Wilburton. It was Amoco's second Arkoma basin discovery in January (OGJ, Jan. 7, p. 32).

NORCEN EXPLORER INC., Calgary, OCS-G-11760 wildcat on West Cameron Block 69 off Louisiana flowed 7.938 MMcfd of gas and 346 b/d of condensate through a 12/64 in. choke with 7,679 psi flowing tubing pressure from pay at 14,470-480 ft. The well, in 35 ft of water about 15 miles south of Louisiana, is expected to be on production by June.

TORREADOR ROYALTY CORP., Dallas, said independent operators have taken three 6 month geochemical options covering 9,401 acres on the Pitchfork Ranch in Dickens County, Tex. Terms allow the operators to select acreage for lease at $25/acre for a 1 year term, with 20% royalty. By paying some costs or foregoing its lease bonus, Toreador may participate with as much as a 12.5% interest in drilling of the first well under options covering 13,295 acres.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

BP EXPLORATION (ALASKA) INC. and ARCO Alaska Inc. agreed to their first service consolidations in Prudhoe Bay oil field, which will eliminate about 50-100 contract and company jobs. ARCO will operate the new projects, aviation, and road/pad maintenance organizations. BP will operate drilling and the overhaul crew, which will maintain gas turbines.

MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE revised its offshore drilling, completion, and workover regulations to require more information regarding blowout preventer tests, effective Apr. 18. MMS said the change, detailed in the Jan. 18 Federal Register, will allow it to verify the adequacy of BOP tests conducted by operators.

ARCO ALASKA INC. let a $3 million contract to Raytheon Co. unit United Engineers & Constructors International, Englewood, Colo., for preliminary engineering of new oil and gas production facilities in Point McIntyre oil field on Alaska's North Slope. The contract includes providing plot plans, critical material requirements, specifications, schedules, and cost estimates for various field development options. UE&C also will provide design and cost estimates to modify the Lisburne field production center.

PALO PETROLEUM INC., Dallas, has drilled 17 of the planned 19 wells in its Picnic Flats project in La Plata County, Colo., and tested its two most recent completions in Cretaceous Fruitland coal. The 31-1 Palo/Eldridge flowed 1.5 MMcfd of gas with 130 psi back pressure from 2,876-3,132 ft. Its 36-1 Palo/Southern Ute flowed 2 MMcfd with 315 psi back pressure from 2,787-3,008 ft.

POOL CO. (TEXAS) INC., Houston, completed its purchase of 53 well service rigs and related assets from Well Solutions Inc. for $7.75 million cash (OGJ, Jan. 14, p. 26).

EBCO U.S.A. INC., Oklahoma City, will auction 300 oil and gas leases offered by 48 major and independent oil companies at its no minimum, oral bid, lease sale Feb. 21 in Houston. The leases are in 12 states and include 78 operated working interests.

OCEAN DRILLING & EXPLORATION CO., New Orleans, retained Goldman, Sachs & Co. as its adviser to consider the offer by Murphy Oil Corp. to acquire all remaining outstanding Odeco common stock at the rate of 0.5 share of Murphy common stock for each share of Odeco stock tendered. Murphy, which owns 61% of Odeco's common, expects to begin the tender offer in mid-February.

PRESIDIO OIL CO., Denver, plans to drill as many as four more wells to develop its interests in about 9,000 acres in its Moxa arch prospect area, Sweetwater County, Wyo., after testing its 20-1 Whiskey Buttes well. The well flowed 1,147 b/d of oil and 1.9 MMcfd of gas through a 1%4 in. choke with 1,900 psi flowing tubing pressure from perforations at 12,092-111 ft in Lower Cretaceous Dakota C sandstone.

EXPLORATION CO. OF LOUISIANA INC., Lafayette, La., fractured two gas wells in Central Kenedy field, South Texas, boosting field deliverability by 2 MMcfd. It plans more drilling in the field during 1991.

COMPANIES

U.S. OIL COMPANIES' earnings were incorrectly depicted in the Jan. 28 OGJ Newsletter. Fourth quarter and full year 1990 net income were shown in italics and losses in parentheses, not losses in italics and earnings in boldface as indicated.

MARKETING

A CONNECTICUT federal court jury ruled in favor of Mobil Corp. in an antitrust suit brought by former Mobil dealer Michael Tolokan contesting its pricing of gasoline to dealers and distributors. Tolokan claimed Mobil violated federal and Connecticut law by charging him a higher price than a nearby distributor. Mobil said the jury agreed with its response that charging different prices is competitively justified.

REFINING

CONOCO INC. brought the No. 1 crude processing unit at its Ponca City, Okla., refinery back on stream after crews repaired damage caused by a Dec. 31, 1990 fire.

GOVERNMENT

THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY reached a final settlement with investors of Mt. Airy Refining Co., a petroleum refiner dissolved in August 1983, to resolve allegations that the company violated federal petroleum price and allocation rules during Jan. 1, 1977-Jan. 27, 1981. The former Mt. Airy owners agreed to pay DOE $2 million, plus interest, but did not admit any wrongdoing.

PIPELINES

NEW YORK'S State Public Service Commission issued a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need to the proposed 155 mile Empire State Pipeline. The intrastate gas line, sponsored by units of Coastal Corp., Union Energy Inc., and Rochester Gas & Electric Corp., is to run between Niagara Falls and Syracuse. The partners expect to begin laying Empire State in late spring and have it on stream by fall.

SONAT INC., Birmingham, reached an agreement valued at about $125 million in which North Carolina Natural Gas Corp., Fayetteville, N.C., will become a division of Sonat. Terms call for each share of NCNG common stock to be converted to 0.7 share of a new Sonat convertible preferred stock, which can then be converted to Sonat common at $50.25/share.

Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.