GAS STORAGE
ALBETA'S storage capacity will increase with the scheduled Nov. 30 opening of an $80 million (Canadian) reservoir at Crossfield, near Calgary. The storage hub is owned by Amoco Canada Resources Ltd. 40%, TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. 40%, and Alberta Natural Gas Co. Ltd. 20%, all of Calgary. It will be operated by CrossAlta Gas Storage & Services Ltd. The facility will have initial storage of 40 bcf and withdrawal capacity of 500 MMcfd.
TENNECO ENERGY RESOURCES CORP. and Virginia Gas Co. agreed to jointly develop an underground salt cavern gas storage site near Saltville, Va., to be tied to the interstate system of East Tennessee Gas Pipeline. By winter 1995-96, the project is to reach 250-400 MMcfd storage capacity and 25 MMcfd peak deliverability, expandable within 5 years to as much as 2 bcf and 200 MMcfd, respectively.
ALBERTA ENERGY LTD., Calgary, expects to complete an expansion to 80 bcf of storage and 1.6 bcfd of withdrawal capacity by Jan. 1, 1995, at the AECO-C gas storage site it operates at Suffield in southern Alberta. Additional expansion to 90 bcf storage and 1.8 bcfd withdrawal is under consideration.
EXPLORATION
SANTA FE ENERGY RESOURCES, Houston, started its Galaxy project, a 3D seismic study mainly of Ellenburger and Devonian prospects at 12,000-13,000 ft in the Permian basin of West Texas. The survey, which covers 128,000 acres in Martin and Andrews counties, is expected to be complete by January 1995, with drilling beginning later that year.
REFINING
FOSTER WHEELER ITALIANA, Milan, let contract to Beigium's UOP NY to supply a Polybed PSA hydrogen purification unit in a Foster Wheeler plant at Esso Singapore Pte. Ltd.'s 220,000 b/cd Pulau Ayer Chawan, Singapore, refinery. The Polybed PSA plant will purify raw hydrogen feed from a steam reformer to produce 99.99% pure hydrogen for use in a hydroprocessing unit.
SNAMPROGETTI, Milan, let contract to UOP, Des Plaines, Ill., to supply a Polybed PSA hydrogen purification unit for Turkish Petroleum Refineries Corp.'s 251,600 b/cd limit, Turkey, refinery. The unit will supply 99-99% pure hydrogen for use in a new 23,000 b/sd hydrocracker.
CONOCO INC. and Malaysia's Petronas agreed to build and operate a grassroots 100,000 b/d refinery near Melaka, 150 km south of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Work on the PSR-2 plant is scheduled to start early in 1995 and be complete late in 1997. Conoco will invest $600 million in the project.
MAPCO ALASKA PETROLEUM INC. is installing a 3,000 b/d fractionation tower in a $3 million project at its 122,000 b/cd North Pole, Alas., refinery. The project will provide a high octane blending stream to help the plant meet U.S. gasoline quality standards that take effect in 1 995.
TRANSAMERICA REFINING CORP. restarted the vacuum unit at its 200,000 b/d Norco, La., refinery after a 1 month shutdown because the refiner exhausted its feedstock supplies and determined it was uneconomic to resupply the plant. Downtime was used to tie the unit to the plant's No. 2 crude unit.
THE FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA rejected a bid by Atlantic Oil Workers Union for a hearing on the closing of a 22,000 b/d refinery in Dartmouth, N.S., by Ultramar Canada Inc., Montreal. The court said it had no authority to force a review of Ultramar's compliance with a 1990 order related to purchase of former Texaco Canada Inc. facilities in Atlantic Canada. Ultramar made a commitment then to the Bureau of Competition Policy to invest $50 million (Canadiari) in upgrading the refinery and run it for 7 years, barring a material adverse change.
OK RAFFINADERI AB of Sweden let a 1.5 billion kroner ($200 million) contract to ABB Lummus Crest By, The Hague, for upgrading work at its 106,000 b/d Gothenberg, Sweden, refinery. ABB will install a desulfurization/dearomatization plant in a bid to improve feedstock flexibility, meet forthcoming European standards for diesel products, and increase yields of lighter products. The new plant is expected to go on stream in second half 1996.
COMPANIES
MOBIL CORP. started up Mobil European Gas, The Hague, a group designed to expand Mobil's natural gas business in Europe.
COHO ENERGY INC., Dallas, agreed to buy Interstate Natural Gas Co., which holds 85 bcf of gas reserves mostly in North Louisiana's Monroe field, for a total consideration of $55 million.
GAS PROCESSING
WILLIAMS FIELD SERVICES GROUP, Tulsa, agreed to build, own, and operate a $31 million, 52 MMcfd CO2 treatment plant near Guymon, in the Oklahoma Panhandle, for Mobil Exploration & Producing U.S. Inc. Mobil will inject the CO2 at its Postle field enhanced oil recovery operations in Texas County, Okla.
PIPELINES
TRANSCO ENERGY CO., Houston, plans soon to file with the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to convert Transco unit Texas Gas Transmission Corp. to a partnership. Transco, which reviewed divesting its coal operations, decided to retain them. It also will retain operational control of Texas Gas.
CITGO PETROLEUM CORP. unit Citgo Products Pipeline Co. closed its acquisition of the southern section of ARCO Pipe Line Co.'s southern products system (OGJ, Mar, 21, p. 44) and renamed it Eagle Pipeline. The 700 mile Eagle system links the 265,000 b/cd Lyondell-Citgo Refining Co. Ltd. refinery at Houston to Drumright, Okla., where it ties into the Williams Pipe Line Co. system..
PETPOCHEMICALS
MOBIL CHEMICAL CO. started up three projects at a combined $250 million cost that will increase its worldwide paraxylene production capacity to 785,000 metric tons/year from 345,000 tons. Work is under way on a 275,000 ton/year grassroots project at its Beaumont, Tex., olefins and aromatics facility; expansion at its Chalmette, La., aromatics plant to increase capacity to 160,000 tons/year from 70,000 tons; and debottlenecking at its Jurong, Singapore, plant to increase capacity to 350,000 tons/year, about 30% above original design levels.
SPILLS
BURNING OIL caused by an explosion at an undisclosed Egyptian government aircraft/diesel fuel depot was carried by floodwater into the village of Dronka Nov. 2, killing about 400 persons. News agency reports from Egypt said Dronka, near the town of Assuit on the Nile River 200 miles south of Cairo, was caught unaware by a river of burning fuel. One report said the explosion was caused when flooding caused a bridge to collapse on pipelines. Another report said the depot was struck by lightning. About 15,000 metric tons of fuel were spilled.
DRILLING-PRODUCTION
SHELL OFFSHORE INC. chose Sonat Offshore Drilling Inc.'s Sonat Rather semisubmersible rig to conduct a deepwater drilling program in the Gulf of Mexico starting in midyear 1995. The rig, currently at work for a unit of British Petroleum Co. plc in the North Sea, is scheduled this month to begin a two well program for Agip SpA in the Adriatic Sea before entering the U.S. gulf by June 1995.
EBCO RESOURCES INC., Oklahoma City, conducted a combined $16.1 million sale Nov. 4 in Houston for a total of 380 oil and gas leases auctioned for Phillips Petroleum Co., Pennzoil Exploration & Production Co., and Kerr-McGee Corp.
NORWAY'S Gas Supply Committee (FU) gave operators until Aug. 1, 1995, to submit proposals to meet existing European sales commitments. FU plans to submit to the Ministry of Industry & Energy by Oct. 30, 1995, recommendations on phasing in of new gas fields. Den norske stats olieselskap AS and Saga Petroleum AS proposed a plan for timely joint development of Norwegian Sea gas fields to meet current gas sales requirements (OGJ, Oct. 31, p. 20).
NUEVA ENERGY CO., Houston, paid $9.5 million to Stone Petroleum Corp., Lafayette, La., and certain Stone units for working interests in 35 wells on oil and gas leases mainly in South Louisiana and Mississippi in which Nuevo owns participating interest. Current production there, net to Nuevo, is 300 b/d of oil and 3.5 MMcfd of gas.
MIDCON OFFSHORE INC., Houston, formed a joint venture with Prisma Maju, Jakarta, Indonesia, to develop three oil fields off eastern Sumatra and a coal concession on the island's east coast. The fields hold an estimated 400 million bbl of oil, with combined potential for 80,000 b/d production, Midcon reported. Coal reserves are 60 million metric tons.
BRITISH GAS PLC started oil production from Zaafarana field off Egypt in the Gulf of Suez. Formerly known as Warda, the field was developed using a drilling platform, subsea flow line, mooring buoy, and floating production storage and off loading vessel. Development costs after waterflooding will reach $100 million. Production rate of 24,000 b/d is expected within a year.
NORWAY'S Den norske stats oljeselskap AS let two contracts worth a combined 630 million kroner ($95 million) to Kvaerner AS, Oslo, for work on development of Norne field off Norway. One calls for a 2,500 metric ton prefabricated compressor module, the other for two 22,000 kw gas turbine generators with exhaust boilers. Norne field is expected to begin production in mid-1997.
PHILLIPS PETROLEUM CO. U.K. LTD. let contract to Grootcon (U.K.) Ltd., Aberdeen, for hookup and commissioning of its U.K. North Sea Judy and Joanne fields. The Block 30/7a fields are to be developed via conventional steel platform in Judy and a subsea manifold satellite in Joanne. Grootcon will begin offshore work in July 1995, with production scheduled in 1996.
BRITISH GAS PLC sold the Bay Driller jack up rig to Global Marine Inc., Houston. The rig is designed to operate in water as deep as 140 ft. British Gas was using the rig to move a slant drilling rig and for support drilling in Morecambe gas field off the U.K. The company said slant drilling at angles as great as 300 enabled South Morecambe field to be developed with five platforms rather than 13, which would have been required for conventional drilling. Global Marine will upgrade the rig to work in water as deep as 300 ft.
CONOCO (U.K.) LTD.'S 49/22-14 appraisal of its Europa discovery on U.K. North Sea Block 49/22 flowed 42.6 MMcfd of gas through a 1 in. choke from Rotliegendes sands. The well was drilled to 12,700 ft by the Cecil Provine jack up. Victor gas field has been in production on the block since 1984. Conoco is developing Ganymede and Callisto fields, also on the block, due to start producing in October 1995.
BHP PETROLEUM PTY. LTD. confirmed its Elang oil discovery in the Timor Gap Zone of Cooperation area between Australia and Indonesia. Its 2 Elang, a step-out on the ZOCA 91-12 permit 1.7 km west of the 1 Elang discovery well, flowed 5,300 b/d of oil from two 5 m intervals at 3,067 m. The discovery well flowed 5,800 b/d on tests earlier this year (see map, OGJ, Mar. 7, p. 30).
COLOMBIA'S Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos gave permission to Complex Resources NL, Hobart, Tasmania, to produce and sell oil from Colombia's Rubiales field starting Dec. 1. Production is to begin at a combined 1,200 b/d of oil on an extended test of the 4, 12, and 16 Rubiales wells. Production is expected to reach a total of 2,000 b/d when the 18 and 19 Rubiales wells begin producing in January 1995.
GOVERNMENT
LOUISIANA MID-CONTINENT OIL & GAS ASSOCIATION, Baton Rouge, voiced opposition to Louisiana Atty. Gen. Richard leyoub's investigation of oil and gas operations. leyoub's office is investigating possible environmental damage to Louisiana land, water, water bottom, and wetland areas. The association objected to the probe's methods.
OFFSHORE TERMINALS
SOUTH KOREA'S state owned Petroleum Development Group let contract to Imodco Inc., Calabasas Hills, Calif., to supply a catenary anchor leg mooring buoy system off Pusan. The system will be able to accommodate 80,000300,000 dwt tankers. Installation is scheduled for completion in February 1995.
MARKETING
FINLAND'S Neste Oy began sales of a 95 octane, additive enhanced gasoline in St. Petersburg, Russia. Neste's Futura brand fuel is unleaded and designed for use in all vehicles, including those with catalytic converters.
TANKERS
OVERSEAS SHIPHOLDING GROUP INC., New York, took delivery of the third of four double hull, 93,650 dwt tankers coming to it this year as part of the company's fleet modernization program. During the third quarter it ordered two double hull, 302,150 dwt tankers for delivery late in 1996 and early in 1997. Overseas Shipholding and an undisclosed partner ordered two double hull, 269,650 dwt tankers for delivery late in 1996 when the vessels will start 8 year charters to the partner.
Copyright 1994 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
Issue date: 11/21/94
