INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS
TRANSPORTATION
BETA GROUP plans a products pipeline from the mothballed Wilhelmshaven refinery-formerly Mobil Oil AG's-to Dresden in eastern Germany. Main shareholders Bulk Oil of Switzerland and Dreyfus Group of France will seek partners for the $280 million project. Last month Royal Dutch/Shell Group also disclosed plans for a products line from Hamburg to Dresden (OGJ, Apr. 29, p. 77).
CABINDA GULF OIL CO. LTD. let a $90 million contract to Offshore Pipelines International Ltd., Houston, for marine pipeline and related construction services for expansion of its Takula onshore oil storage project in West Africa. The contract includes offshore and onshore construction and modifications. Work on the project, to begin this summer, is to be complete by May 1, 1992.
NORSKE SHELL AS let a design contract to a joint venture of Single Buoy Moorings Inc., Monaco, Aker Verdal, and Norwegian Contractors for a tanker export loading facility for Draugen field being developed on the Haltenbanken off mid-Norway.
LNG
INDONESIA'S Pertamina signed a 20 year contract to sell liquefied natural gas to Korean Gas Corp. Deliveries of 2.3 million metric tons/year will start in 1994. LNG will come from liquefaction plants at Arun and Bontang.
PROCESSING
DOW CHEMICAL CANADA let contract to Foster Wheeler Fired Heaters Ltd., Calgary, for design, procurement, and construction of six ethane cracking furnaces as part of Dow's ethylene plant expansion at its Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., complex, scheduled for completion in 1993. Furnace process design, including pyrolysis coils and quench system, is based on C.F. Braun Inc.'s high selectivity long runlength (HSLR) technology licensed by Brown & Hoot Braun.
SAUDI ARABIA'S Eastern Petrochemical Co. (Sharq) let a construction contract to Chiyoda Corp. and its Saudi affiliate Chiyoda Petrostar Ltd. for expansion of its ethylene glycol plant at Al-Jubail that would double Sharq's production. The plant produced 452,000 metric tons of mono-, di-, and triethylene glycol and 188,000 metric tons of polyethylene in 1990.
CHINESE NATIONAL TECHNICAL IMPORT/EXPORT CORP. let contract to Kinetics Technology International Group BV of Netherlands and TPL SpA of Italy for design and supply of a 115,000 metric ton/year ethylene plant and associated butadiene unit to be built in Beijing. It is to start up in fall 1994 using naphtha and/or heavy gas oil for feedstock.
NESTE OY completed preproduction trials at its synthetic lubricant base oils plant in Beringen, Belgium. The plant uses ethylene feedstock and has a capacity of 20,000 metric tons/year, or about 30% of total European consumption. Output will go to lubricant and specialty oil producers in Europe and North America. First deliveries are expected in early May.
NANJING JINLING Petroleum & Chemical Corp. started up China's fifth fluid catalytic cracker, a 50,000 b/d plant in Nanjing in East China's Jiangsu province. Projected 1991 production is more than 140,000 b/d of gasoline, diesel fuel, and liquefied petroleum gas.
TEXACO LTD. let contract to M.W. Kellogg Ltd. to engineer, procure, and manage construction of a 10,600 b/sd light naphtha isomerization unit at its Pembroke refinery in South Wales.
DRILLING-PRODUCTION
PHILLIPS PETROLEUM CO. let contract to Fluor Daniel Ltd. to study possible expansion of its natural gas liquids plant at Seal Sands, Teesside, U.K. The plant handles liquids moved via pipeline from the greater Ekofisk area in the Norwegian North Sea.
PENTEX OIL LTD. received U.K. Department of Energy approval to develop Rempstone oil field 10 miles southwest of Nottingham in the Mid lands of England. Production will start at 80 b/d later this month and build to a 350 b/d plateau next year.
EXPLORATION
GULF CANADA RESOURCES LTD. joined other companies in a decision not to drill in the Canadian Beaufort Sea this summer. Gulf could not interest prospective partners in a drilling project. Gulf will relinquish 593,000 acres of leases near its 1984 Amauligak oil discovery. The company said it is not abandoning frontier exploration but is considering sale of its Beaudril Ltd. unit, which operates a northern drilling fleet.
MOBIL NORTH SEA LTD.'S 48/17a-11 wildcat in the U.K. North Sea's southern basin flowed 19.5 MMcfd of gas through a 56/64 in. choke with 1,220 psi flowing tubing pressure from Permian Rotliegendes. The 9,267 ft well is on a separate structure north of Mobil's Lancelot gas field development on Blocks 48/17a and 48/18a, which is to start up in 1993. Mobil owns a 100% interest in the discovery.
INTERNATIONAL PETROLEUM LTD., Vancouver, will spud in mid to late June a wildcat on Block KGOS-IV off India. It has hired a rig it will move from Singapore to the drillsite in late May.
HAMILTON OIL CORP., Denver, 1 Bunga Orkid, off Malaysia in Block PM-3, flowed at a combined rate of 4,400 b/d of 38-42 gravity oil and 14 MMcfd of gas on two production tests of several zones at 7,000-9,600 ft. Four other tests covering the same interval yielded gas at a combined rate of 34 MMcfd. This year PM-3 partners plan at least one more wildcat on the block.
COMPANIES
VIKOMA INTERNATIONAL LTD., Isle of Wight, and Hoyle Marine Ltd., Liverpool, merged to form one of the world's largest manufacturers of oil spill cleanup equipment. The two companies will combine under the Vikoma name. Both manufacturing facilities will be expanded. Vikoma Hoyle manufactures polyurethane containment booms and will target the U.K. market. Vikoma International will focus on world markets.
RESEARCH
U.K. GOVERNMENT will sponsor and partly fund a 12 million research program covering fundamental physical and chemical processes involved in oil and gas generation and production. The program also will cover new techniques for acquisition, integration, and interpretation of reservoir data. The Department of Energy's Offshore Supplies Office and Natural Environmental Research Council will promote collaborative research among U.K. oil field service companies, oil companies, and U.K. research and academic institutions.
Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.