INDUSTRY BRIEFS

PETROCHEMICALS

QATAR FERTILISER CO., Umm Said, Qatar, borrowed $368 million to help finance a $520 million fertilizer plant expansion at Doha, Qatar. It will build a 1,500 metric ton/day ammonia plant, 2,000 ton/day urea plant, 20,000 ton ammonia storage site, 100,000 ton urea storage unit, seawater intake, a jetty for urea export, 42,000 kw power plant, a desalination plant, an auxiliary boiler, and utilities.

QATAR PETROCHEMICAL CO. borrowed $200 million to help fund a $385 million expansion of petrochemical production and upgrade utilities at an electric power plant and desalination and nitrogen production units at Doha. It plans to increase ethylene production to 525,000 metric tons/year in 1996 from 330,000 tons/year at present and polyethylene production to 360,000 tons/year from 180,000 tons/year.

COMPANIES

TALISMAN ENERGY INC. and Bow Valley Energy Inc., both of Calgary, proposed a stock trade in which Talisman would acquire all of Bow Valley's outstanding common shares, Class Z preferred shares, Series 4 and 5, in exchange for Talisman shares and a cash payment limited to $480 million (Canadian).

SHENZHEN OCEAN OIL & GAS CO. LTD., China's first shareholding offshore oil enterprise, has been established in Zhanjiang City in South China's Guangdong province. It will process and ship crude, trade products, build and repair marine oil field equipment, and engage in shipbuilding.

ARCO ALASKA INC., Anchorage, Alas., will eliminate 750 jobs during the next several months in a reorganization. Personnel cuts will be made in Anchorage and on the North Slope.

TEXACO LTD. entered the U.K. natural gas market, offering its Texaco Natural Gas brand to industrial and commercial gas users nationwide.

PARKER & PARSLEY PETROLEUM CO., Midland, Tex., offered 80cts (Australian) (59cts U.S.)/share for all the issued and outstanding common shares of Bridge Oil Ltd., Sydney. Closing of the offer is scheduled July 4. As of June 20, it had received acceptances covering 465,788 shares.

PARKER & PARSLEY sued Gantry Acquisition Corp. and Gantry parent Joint Energy Development Investments LP (JEDI), asking a U.S. district court in Dallas to enjoin them from buying shares of Bridge Oil outside of Gantry's tender offer for Bridge shares. The suit alleges the companies violate Section 1 0(b) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Gantry and JEDI offered to pay 630 (U.S.)/share for Bridge stock.

PAKISTAN'S Oil & Gas Development Corp. (OGDC) is to become privatized and transformed into a joint stock company by the end of June 1995. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources will grant OGDC complete autonomy in a bid to restructure the state petroleum company as a commercially viable public company.

TERMINALS

CONSTRUCTION will begin by mid-July on nine gasoline and distillate storage tanks at GATX Terminals' Rothesay Dock, Clydebank, Glasgow, Scotland. Upon completion by mid-1996, the project will add 52,000 cu m of storage to the terminal's present 5,200 cu m capacity.

REFINING

FARMLAND INDUSTRIES INC. during the next 18 months will increase capacity of its 62,500 b/d Coffeyville, Kan., refinery to 125,000 b/d. To aid the upgrade, Farmland bought a crude unit, vacuum unit, reformer, flare system, and other items from a Winnie, Tex., plant.

REFINERY 2000 INVESTITION GMBH (RIG) let contract worth more than a combined 3 billion deutschemarks ($1.83 billion) to partners Technip, Lurgi Oel Gas Chemie GmbH, and Thyssen Rheinstahl Technik GmbH for detailed engineering and construction of a 1 75,000 b/d refinery to be built at Leuna, Germany. The plant, to be owned by French, German, and Russian interests led by Ste. Elf Nationale Elf Aquitaine and to be operated by RIG, is slated for start-up in 1997.

UNITED STATES EXPLORATION INC., Independence, Kan., agreed to buy the idle 10,000 b/d capacity Tonkawa Crude Oil Refinery, Arnett, Okla., and use the plant in its refining joint venture in Kyrgyzstan (OGJ, June 6, p. 44). It will acquire the refinery for 300,000 shares of stock valued at $5/share.

U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY certified PCI Consultants Inc., Houston, as a 1990 baseline verification auditor for its reformulated gasoline (RFG) and conventional gasoline programs. All U.S. refiners are required to have 1990 baseline gasoline formulation data verified before Sept. 1 to determine compliance with EPA's RFG rules beginning Jan. 1, 1995.

MOBIL OIL CO. LTD. let contract to Stone & Webster Engineering Ltd., Milton Keynes, U.K., to upgrade fire safety and tank farm protection systems at its 173,000 b/cd Coryton, U.K., refinery. The project calls for detailed engineering and procurement assistance.

SINOPEC INTERNATIONAL and Research Institute of Petroleum Processing (RIPP) named Stone & Webster Engineering Corp., Houston, licensing agent for RIPP's deep catalytic cracking (DCC) technology outside China. Stone & Webster will provide marketing, design, engineering, and procurement services associated with DCC. The process converts heavy feedstocks to olefinic products.

KUWAIT PETROLEUM CO. (KPC) is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding in August with Pakistan's government for a joint venture with Pakistani state petroleum interests to build a 120,000 b/d refinery on the coast of Baluchistan province in Pakistan.

TANKERS

THAILAND'S Star Petroleum Refining Co. Ltd. let a 5 billion yen ($48.5 million) contract to Nippon Steel Corp., Tokyo, to build a single point mooring buoy to handle 280,000 dwt tankers and lay a 48 in., 19 km underwater pipeline to a refinery Star is building in the Mab Ta Phud industrial estate in Rayong, south of Bangkok. Work is to be complete by November 1995.

A TANKER carrying 680 metric tons of fuel oil went aground off Goa in western India. Its cargo was pumped to onshore storage tanks, eliminating a pollution threat to tourist beaches at Aguada. The tanker is registered in Cyprus.

GAS PROCESSING

AMOCO PRODUCTION CO. spent $10 million to expand its Wattenberg gas processing plant in Colorado's Denver-Julesburg basin. It increased gas processing capacity to 200 MMcfd from 150 MMcfd and gas liquids recovery to more than 13,000 b/d from 9,800 b/d.

EXPLORATION

SHERRITT INC. unit Canada Northwest Energy Ltd., Calgary, suspended drilling at its 1X Cupey oil discovery off Cuba (OGJ, June 13, P. 40). It was suspended at 3,253 m because of high pressure.

AUSTRALIA awarded Plains Resources International, a unit of Plains Resources Inc., Houston, a permit to explore Block AC/P 14 in the Vulcan subbasin of the Timor Sea on Australia's Northwest Shelf. The area consists of 320,000 acres.

PREMIER CONSOLIDATED OILFIELDS PLC, London, farmed out a 50% interest in its Block 21 production sharing contract in Cuba to British-Borneo Petroleum Syndicate plc, London. The deal allows British-Borneo to earn the interest in the block while Premier retains 50% and operatorship. A seismic survey is to be conducted this year before drilling begins in 1995.

PLUSPETROL SA of Argentina will spend $26 million during 5 years to run a seismic survey and drill as many as three wells in Algeria on Block 237A/246A, EI ARF, a 4,406 sq km area. The block is in the western Ghadames basin, 150 km southeast of Hassi Messaoud oil field.

REPRESENTATIVES of Russia's Committee of Geology and Administration of the Astrakhan oblast on July 27 in Denver will present terms, conditions, and a model contract for the international competitive bidding round in the Astrakhan oblast. Wavetech Geophysical Inc., Denver, will help conduct the presentation.

U.S. MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE issued notices for 1995 Gulf of Mexico offshore lease sales. In March, Sale 152 will offer 5,759 blocks in the central gulf. In August, Sale 155 will offer 5,013 blocks in the western gulf. A draft environmental impact statement is available for both sale areas.

LNG

TAIWAN chose Tenneco Gas, Houston, and Tokyo Gas to study the feasibility of a $2 billion expansion of its gas transportation and liquefied natural gas infrastructure aimed at increasing Taiwan's LNG imports to 9 million metric tons/year by 2003 from 2 million tons/year in 1993. Tenneco is to study a proposed 190 mile offshore pipeline that would begin moving gas in 1997 to Taiwan's northern markets from the Yung-An receiving terminal on the southern end of the island near Kaohsiung.

GOVERNMENT

EPA proposed a rule to limit lending institutions' liability for underground storage tank (UST) spills. EPA said the rule should make more capital available to UST owners and operators who need to improve their facilities to comply with environmental rules. Lenders have been reluctant to extend loans to small businesses such as gasoline service stations for fear a borrower's bankruptcy would leave them with the property and cleanup obligations.

RESEARCH

GAS RESEARCH INSTITUTE, Chicago, asked the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve a $210 million budget for 1995, which would support 153 research projects. Surcharges on interstate pipelines' volumetric shipments and demand charges would be unchanged from 1994. GRI also plans to raise $98 million for other research in direct funding from the gas industry.

PIPELINES

ENSERCH CORP. unit Lone Star Gas International Inc., Dallas, completed an agreement that gives it the option to participate in a project to move natural gas to Chile from Argentina (OGJ, May 9, p. 24).

EL PASO NATURAL GAS CO. withdrew its FERC application to construct its proposed Yuma pipeline lateral expansion, a project designed to add capacity to and beyond Yuma, Ariz., to the Mexican border. It cited delays in conversion to natural gas and expansion of the Rosarito power plant in Baja California Norte, Mexico.

IROQUOIS GAS TRANSMISSION is building a meter station in New Bremen, N.Y., to deliver gas into the St. Lawrence gas market area. The station is to start up by mid-July. In addition, Iroquois' construction of a 4,600 ft, 12 in. lateral and meter station to move gas to Northeast Utilities' Devon power plant at Milford, Conn., will be complete by the end of this month. Work is expected to start this summer on Iroquois' Groghan, N.Y., compressor station to provide 55 MMcfd of firm volume to Selkirk II Cogeneration Partners' 252,000 kw cogeneration plant in Bethlehem, N.Y.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

UNOCAL CORP. sold its interests in 12 producing oil and gas leases in Mississippi, North Dakota, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming to nine undisclosed buyers for a combined $32 million. Proceeds will be used for gas development projects, mainly in the Gulf of Mexico.

ENTERPRISE OIL PLC'S U.K. North Sea Nelson field reached peak production less than 4 months after start-up. Eight wells are producing 160,000 b/d of oil. Completion work on two satellite wells was finished in May. These will be tied back to a platform this month,

MIKE MULLEN ENERGY EQUIPMENT RESOURCE INC., Dallas, completed its purchase of the Excelsior I cantilever jack up, currently in Sharjah, from Excelsior Investments Corp., Cayman Islands. Mullen renamed the rig Odin Explorer and plans to operate it in Southeast Asia.

SAKHALINMORNEFTEGAZ (SMNG), Okha, Sakhalin Island, and Zarubezhneft, Moscow, let a $10 million contract to Rauma Offshore Contracting Oy, Pori, Finland, to convert the Russian Arctic Kurilskaya slotted jack up to a cantilever drilling rig. The converted rig is to be operated in the Russian Far East by SMNG.

NEWFOUNDLAND'S Hibernia field platform concrete base construction is to be managed by Norwegian Contractors AS, Stavanger, Norway, under a contract valued at $70 million, The contractor also secured a contract for marine operations involved in construction, tow-out, and installation of the platform. Work is scheduled to be completed in 1997.

NORSK HYDRO AS exercised a 180 million kronor ($25 million) contract option with Kvaerner AS, Oslo, for subsea equipment to develop oil pay in Norway's Troll field gas area. Kvaerner also won a 100 million kroner ($14 million) contract for installation and Commissioning of piping at the Kollsnes gas processing plant on Norway's west coast.