INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

MOBIL OIL CO. LTD. let contract to Foster Wheeler Energy Ltd. for engineering, procurement, and construction of a 13,500 b/d isomerization unit at its Coryton refinery near Carringham, England (OGJ, July 8, p. 25). INDIAN PETROCHEMICALS CORP. LTD. signed a memorandum of understanding with an undisclosed West Asian company for a $392 million joint venture petrochemicals project in Saudi Arabia. Construction is to be complete within 36 months, with production of alfa olefin and derivatives to

Sept. 23, 1991

6 min read

REFINING

PETROCHEMICALS

INDIAN PETROCHEMICALS CORP. LTD.

signed a memorandum of understanding with an undisclosed West Asian company for a $392 million joint venture petrochemicals project in Saudi Arabia. Construction is to be complete within 36 months, with production of alfa olefin and derivatives to begin shortly thereafter.

TAIWAN PROSPERITY CHEMICAL CORP., a joint venture of Taiwan Cement Co. and China Petrochemical Development Co., let contract to M.W. Kellogg Co. to engineer, procure, and provide construction advisory services for a $150 million cumene/phenol complex at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, with design capacity of 135,000 metric tons/year of cumene, 100,000 tons/year of phenol, and 61,500 tons/year of acetone. Engineering is in progress, and construction is to be complete in 1993.

COMPANIES

M.W. KELLOGG CO. and Venezuela's Inelectra SA agreed to a long term alliance to provide engineering and construction services to the petroleum, petrochemical, gas processing, and related industries. The pair will concentrate its efforts on Venezuelan clients, mainly Petroleos de Venezuela SA and its subsidiaries, but will pursue other opportunities case by case.

KIROV WORKS, St. Petersburg, formerly Leningrad, U.S.S.R., signed an agreement with European Gas Turbine Co. NV (EGT) and General Electric Co. covering manufacture, assembly, and packing of 25,000 kw gas turbines for Soviet markets. EGT will supply parts and technical assistance for new manufacturing and testing plants in St. Petersburg. Plans call for 15 turbines/year for compression and added units for power generation. The first unit is to be delivered in 1993.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

ELF AQUITAINE will be assigned a 10% interest in the Offshore Cabinda concession, Zones A, B, and C, under an agreement signed with Ste. Nacional de Combustiveis de Angola (Sonangol). Elf is Angola's second largest producer with operated production of 165,000 b/d. Angola's total production is about 500,000 b/d of oil, more than half of which is attributed to the Offshore Cabinda concession.

EXPLORATION

HAMILTON OIL (MALAYSIA) CORP.'S 1 Bunga Pakma wildcat on Block PM-3 off Malaysia flowed at a combined rate of 62.9 MMcfd of gas and 1,120 b/d of condensate from four sandstone zones at 6,720-10,623 ft. Hamilton has spudded its 1 Bunga Raya wildcat on a structure southeast of its earlier 1 Bunga Orkid discovery (OGJ, May 20, p. 39), which flowed 4,971 b/d of oil and 47.1 MMcfd of gas.

RANGER OIL LTD. acquired a 70% interest and operatorship of 1.3 million acre Block 4 off Angola. The 3 year contract with Angola's Sonangol can be extended for two 1 year terms. Exploration, to begin early in 1992, will include seismic acquisition and three wildcats. Ranger Oil West Africa Ltd. signed a management services contract to help Sonangol develop two discoveries on Block 4 and will earn a 10% net revenue interest in the structures.

TREND INTERNATIONAL LTD., with Indonesia's Pertamina as joint operator, tested the SEO-1X wildcat in Irian Jaya. Flow was at a combined rate of about 3,600 b/d of 32 gravity oil and 4 MMcfd of gas from two zones in the Miocene Kais at about 9,500 ft. The well is on the Kepala Burung production sharing contract on the 1.1 million acre Salawati Island block. It is adjacent to Trend's 235,000 acre Salawati block, which has produced about 275,000 bbl of oil.

BOW VALLEY (TESO) LTD. acquired a production sharing contract from Indonesia's Pertamina covering the 2.6 million acre Teso block in Riau province in the South Central Sumatra basin. The contract covers an initial 6 year period, which can be extended to 30 years if commercial production is found. Bow Valley holds 40% participating interest, with partners Westcoast Petroleum Ltd. and Saskatchewan Oil. & Gas Corp. each holding 30%.

JAPAN PETROLEUM EXPLORATION CO. LTD. acquired a 50% interest in the Block A production sharing contract in northern Sumatra from Asamera Oil (Indonesia) Ltd. Japex will fund 100% of the exploration and development program up to $70 million, and Asamera will continue to operate the contract area. Plans include six 2,600-4,000 m wildcats and 750 line km of seismic surveys during the initial program. The first of two rigs is on location and will spud the 1 Bata wildcat next month.

AMERADA HESS LTD.'S 15/21a-44 wildcat on Block 15/21 in the central U.K. North Sea flowed 2,620 b/d of 28 gravity oil through a restricted choke and has been suspended. The well is 4.3 miles northeast of Ivanhoe/Rob Roy fields, which were placed on stream by Amerada in 1989 using a floating production system.

WESTERN ATLAS INTERNATIONAL, Houston, took delivery of the 230 ft Western Pride marine seismic vessel, It is being assigned to surveys in the Europe-Africa-Middle East region. It is the first of four such ships being built for Western Atlas by Ulsten Hatloe AS, Ulsteinvik, Norway (OGJ, Feb. 18, p. 34).

SAMEDAN OF NORTH AFRICA INC. agreed to participate in the 1 Milam wildcat being drilled off southern Gabon on the 236,499 acre Milanga production sharing contract area. Amerada Hess Corp. is operator of the well, planned to test a seismic anomaly at about 14,200 ft. Samedan will receive a 12.5% interest in the contract area by participating in the first well, estimated to cost $13 million.

TRANSPORTATION

MOBIL OIL AUSTRALIA will employ an $8 million deepwater single buoy mooring system, now under construction, at its Adelaide refinery, giving it the deepest refinery port in Australia. The SBM, scheduled for completion early in 1992, will be in 80 ft of water about 2 miles offshore and will accommodate fully laden vessels of as much as 160,000 dwt. It is expected to save the refinery more than $4.3 million/year in vessel delay, freight, and operating costs.

CANADA'S National Energy Board set Nov. 18 for a hearing on an application by TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. to expand its gas pipeline system in western and central Canada (OGJ, July 29, p. 34). Plans include construction of 301 km of pipeline loop in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario, enabling 152.1 MMcfd of new firm transportation service from Empress, Alta.