INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS
TRANSPORTATION
VENEZUELA'S Petroleos de Venezuela SA signed a preliminary agreement with Mitsubishi for financing eight double hulled tankers to be built by South Korean shipyards. The ships are part of Pdvsa's plans to add about 20 tankers to its oil fleet the next several years. Sizes and costs of the vessels were not disclosed.
SNAM let contract to Europipe GmbH, Ratingen, Germany, for manufacture of about 56,000 metric tons, equal to 106 km, of longitudinally welded 48 in. pipe for a gas pipeline it plans to lay in Italy. The pipe, to be produced at the Mulheim, Germany, large diameter pipe mill, will have 16.1-25.9 mm W.T., epoxy lining, and polyethylene coating. Deliveries began in June and will continue until January.
SUEZ CANAL AUTHORITY is considering new rules that would fine ships $1 million for pollution and increase insurance requirements for vessels carrying dangerous materials. Owners of ships that break down and block the canal because of faulty equipment would be fined heavily and required to pay full salvage and towing costs. The canal was shut down for 12 hr earlier this month, blocked by a tanker that ran aground.
DALIAN SHIPYARD in Northeast China delivered the 98,000 dwt Wilomi Eira tanker, the largest of its kind designed and built in China, to Norway's Anders Wilheimsen & Co. and OMI Corp. The ship is 240.7 m long and 41.2 m wide.
TRANSCANADA PIPELINES LTD. requested approval from Canada's National Energy Board to expand its gas pipeline system in West and Central Canada, including construction of 301 km of loop line in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. The $389 million (Canadian) expansion would provide 152.1 MMcfd of new firm service from Empress, Alta., of which 53% is intended for eastern Canada and 47% for the U.S., and 37.5 MMcfd of new firm service on its St. Clair, Mich.-Niagara Falls, Ont., system.
COSMO OIL CO. LTD., Tokyo, may increase its refined products storage capacity in the United Arab Emirates to accommodate supply/demand fluctuations in Japan. In January, Cosmo signed a contract to rent a 188,000 bbl storage tank in the Central U.A.E. and plans to increase the number of tanks at the site. The rented storage tank has been full since January.
TOTAL OIL MARINE let contract to Fisher Controls International Inc., Austin, for a remote control system for its MCP-1 platform, part of its U.K. North Sea gas gathering system, giving Total remote monitor and control capability from St. Fergus onshore terminal.
DRILLING-PRODUCTION
NORSK HYDRO AS let a 500 million kroner contract to Kvaerner Rosenberg AS, Kvaerner Egersund, Norway for delivery of drilling package modules for a drilling-production platform to be installed in Brage field in the Norwegian North Sea. The contract covers fabrication and includes yard engineering and procurement. Delivery is slated for spring 1993. Brage partners are Den norske stats oljeselskap AS 56%, Esso Norge AS 17.6%, and operator Norsk Hydro and Neste Petroleum 13.2% each.
TYUMEN REGIONAL SOVIET OF PEOPLE'S DEPUTIES signed a protocol with Chartered WestLB, London, under which the Anglo-German merchant bank will act as financial advisers to Tyumen in new oil field development.
TURKEY'S Petoil and Basneft, the Soviet Bashkiria republic's oil company, agreed to form a joint venture for oil production in the republic in western Siberia near the Ural Mountains. The new company, Baspetoil, will begin producing an undisclosed Volume of oil from three undisclosed fields as soon as it's registered with the central government.
EGYPT plans to place three gas fields on stream during July 1991-June 1992 to produce a combined 565 MMcfd by the end of that period. Al Qara field on the northern Nile Delta is to produce 60 MMcfd at first and increase to 300 MMcfd by June 1992. North Abu Qir field in the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria is to go on stream at a rate of 60 MMcfd and increase to 140 MMcfd. Bed-2 gas field in the Western Desert is to produce 90 MMcfd at first and increase to 125 MMcfd.
SHELL GABON production averaged 144,400 b/d of crude last year, up from 78,900 b/d in 1989, due in part to increased production from Rabi Kounga oil field where reserves are estimated at 480 million bbl. Shell, which operates the field in association with Elf Gabon, drilled 11 wells there in 1990.
ORYX ENERGY CO., Dallas, will increase its working interest in Audrey gas field on U.K. North Sea Blocks 49/11a and 48/15a to 33.6% from 24%. In the contract year beginning Oct. 1, a retroactive redetermination of interests is expected to allow Oryx to take 100 MMcfd of gas-about 42% of Audrey field production-until past shortfalls are made up. Oryx will pay about $25 million to a group led by Phillips Petroleum Co. to help equalize past capital and operating costs. Oryx expects the deal to increase its net Audrey gas reserves by 60 bcf.
SAMEDAN OF TUNISIA INC.'S 2 Zinnia confirmation well on the 17,779 acre Zinnia concession in Northeast Tunisia flowed 675 b/d of oil and 18.3 MMcfd of gas through a 1/8 in. choke with 1,750 psi flowing tubing pressure. The well cut about 95 feet of pay in several Cretaceous Abiod zones. The 1 Zinnia discovery well (OGJ, Dec. 11, 1989, p. 36), is 4,100 ft southwest. Interests are held by operator Samedan 53.3%, Agip Africa 33.3%, and Ste. Nationale Elf Aquitaine 13.3%.
CONOCO INC. received approval from Petroleos del Ecuador to produce 50,000 b/d of 17 gravity oil on Block 16 in Ecuador's Yasuni National Park. Environmental groups opposed the request. Conoco will spend about $600 million building a road and drilling 100 wells to develop the 494,000 acre area with estimated reserves of 200 million bbl. About 10% of the outlays will go to environmental preservation. Production is to begin in July 1993.
PANARCTIC OILS LTD., Calgary, will make two shipments of oil from its Bent Horn oil field in Canada's Arctic Islands beginning in August and taking about 40 days. Each shipment will cover 150,000 bbl of oil. Panarctic made one 155,000 bbl shipment last year.
NCE RESOURCES GROUP INC., Toronto, acquired an 11,680 acre farmout of gas leases in the Hatton area of Southwest Saskatchewan from Bow Valley Industries Ltd. NCE plans an $8 million drilling program and a pipeline. Proved reserves are estimated at 18 Bcf.
COMPANIES
REPSOL EXPLORACION SA, agreed to buy exploration and production assets in Spain held by Elf Aquitaine de Investigaciones Petroliferas SA, mainly consisting of a 12% interest in Gaviota gas field. The sale fits Elf's rationalization of its upstream assets in Spain, where it recently has increased refining, chemicals, and marketing investment and development.
REFINING
TOTAL let contract to Technip to construct isomerization units at its La Mede, Provence, and Mardyck, Flanders, France, refineries at a cost of $139 million. The units will be fed by captive refinery naphtha. Scheduled to go on stream in summer 1993, the project is part of Total's $164 million program to boost its unleaded gasoline production. Scheduled for start-up this year are an isomerization unit at its Gonfreville refinery in Normandy and fractionating units at La Mede and Mardyck. Total has about 19% of the unleaded gasoline market in France.
CHINESE PETROLEUM CORP. let contract to Zimpro Passavant Environmental Systems Inc., Rothschild, Wis., for three wet air oxidation units for its Talin refinery in Kaohsiung. It is the second such system Zimpro will have supplied the refinery.
EXPLORATION
INDONESIA'S Pertamina and Trend East Java Ltd., a unit of Adobe Resources Corp., New York, 1 Gondang exploratory well flowed 779 b/d of oil and 4.41 MMcfd of gas from two Ngrayong zones on the Tuban contract area of East Java. Pertamina holds 50% interest in the jointly operated 1.8 million acre contract area, with remaining interests split equally among Trend East, Enserch Far East Ltd., Risjad Salim Resources Petroleum Tuban Ltd., and Total Tuban. Partners plan delineation drilling in 1992.
CHINA NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORP.'S Dagang Oilfield subsidiary let contract to Fairfield Industries Inc., Houston, for two radio telemetric seismic systems. Delivery later this year will bring to five the number of Fairfield systems working in China. Fairfield also is to provide complete technical support in China for all its systems.
CONOCO (U.K.) LTD.'S 49/11b-8 in the U.K. North Sea, 80 miles southeast of Lincolnshire, England, flowed 43 MMcfd of gas and 360 b/d of condensate through a 1 in. choke from Lower Permian Rotliegendes. Total depth is 11,817 ft. Conoco, with 25% interest, operates the block in partnership with OMV (U.K.) Ltd. 50% and BP Exploration 25%.
BOW VALLEY INDUSTRIES' BVI et al. Ricinus 2-15-36-9w5, about 80 miles northwest of Calgary in West Central Alberta, flowed 10 MMcfd of gas from 44.5 m of Devonian Leduc pay. The gas contains about 30% hydrogen sulfide and no liquids. The discovery is between two large Leduc gas pools 8 miles apart discovered more than 20 years ago. Development plans are on hold pending well performance evaluation and further seismic studies. Bow Valley is operator of the well with 31.875% interest in partnership with Mobil Oil Canada 68.125%.
HADSON ENERGY RESOURCES CORP., Oklahoma City, 1 Tanami, next to Harriet oil field in the Carnarvon basin off Northwest Australia, cut a 21 ft gross oil column in Lower Cretaceous Flag sandstone at 5,685-5,706 ft. The discovery well, drilled onshore from Varanus Island on EP-307 exploration permit and deviated to a bottomhole target offshore in TL/1 production license, has been suspended as a future oil producer.
INTERNATIONAL PETROLEUM LTD., Dubai, and Hardy Oil & Gas (U.K.) Ltd. spudded the 1 Godavari wildcat well on Block KG-OS-IV about 14 km off eastern India in 15 m of water (OGJ, May 20, p. 39). The well will be drilled to 10,000 ft, taking about 45 days, to test part of a postulated 11,000 acre Paleocene carbonate buildup. IPL and Hardy are 50-50 partners on the block.
UNOCAL CANADA LTD. is drilling at the first well in a 2 year, four well, oil prospect wildcat program on a 6,200 sq km block in Central Myanmar. The 1 Kandaw is planned to 13,000 ft. The $60 million program includes a completed 2,000 line km seismic program. Unocal holds 50% interest in the project with partners Unocal Myanmar Ltd. 10%, Petro-Canada 30%, and Thailand's state owned PTT Exploration & Production 10%.
OILSANDS
SYNCRUDE CANADA LTD. plans to cut 400 jobs or 10% of the work force at its Fort McMurray, Alta., oilsands plant. The company wants to increase efficiency and profits and trim production costs to $15/bbl from the current $1 7. Syncrude hopes to reduce its payroll the next 5 years, mainly by attrition.
PETROCHEMICALS
SONATRACH, Total, and Ecofuel agreed to build a 600,000 ton/year methyl tertiary butyl ether plant at Arzew, Algeria, at a cost of about $400 million. The three will select technologies as well as an engineering company for technical studies before proceeding with the project.
IRAN'S National Petrochemical Co. let a $150 million contract to Germany's Kloeckner Industriesanlage and Krupp Koppers GmbH to build a 175,000 metric ton/year polyvinyl chloride plant at the Bandar Imam Khomeini petrochemical complex on Iran's southern coast, Middle East Economic Survey reported. The plant is to be on stream within 28 months.
BP OIL successfully demonstrated a second generation higher activity catalyst at its Cyclar process demonstration unit, Grangemouth, Scotland. Catalyst requirements are cut 30% from original formulation. The unit is the world's first to directly convert propane and butanes into high quality aromatics and hydrogen. The process is a collaboration of BP and UOP Inc.
YUKONG LTD. dedicated a $480 million petrochemical complex at Ulsan, South Korea, with capacities of 400,000 metric tons/year of ethylene, 200,000 metric tons/year of paraxylene, and 50,000 metric tons/year of orthoxylene. M.W. Kellogg Co., Houston, provided ethylene process technology, engineering, materials and equipment procurement, construction advisory services, and start-up assistance.
NORSK HYDRO will pull out of a joint venture with Venezuela's state owned Pequiven to build a 500,000 metric ton/year ammonia plant in Venezuela, citing economic concerns, according to press reports in Caracas.
PETROLEOS MEXICANOS let contract to Spie Batignolles and Badger BV for a front end engineering/financing study of a 600,000 ton/year aromatics complex at Cadereyta, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Using naphtha as feedstock, the complex would start up in 1994. The study will focus on projections of Mexico's paraxylene, orthoxylene, and benzene demand and possible exportable surplus. The study is a follow-up to an earlier Spie feasibility study.
Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.