INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

TRANSPORTATION

ARAB PETROLEUM Pipelines Co. will raise the tariff on its Sumed crude oil pipeline across Egypt to $2.55/metric ton from an average $2/metric ton retroactive to Jan. 1 . The increase has been approved by the Egyptian government. The company plans to increase capacity of the line by 50% to 2.4 million b/d.

CAMPSA, Spain's products distribution company, is expanding storage capacity in preparation for full liberalization of the Spanish market in 1992, when it will lose its downstream monopoly. The company is building storage at Castellon, Corunna, and Valencia with combined capacity of 824 million bbl. The Castellon site is due on stream in September, the other two by mid-1 991.

MANNESMANN Anlagenbau, a unit of Mannesmann GmbH, Dusseldorf, let contract to Fluor Daniel Inc. for engineering services for pump stations, support facilities, and loops on Saudi Aramco's eastwest crude oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco earlier let contract to Mannesmann for system expansion. The project calls for additions of horsepower and upgrading of control systems at 11 pump stations.

PROCESSING

MITSUBISHI Petrochemical Co. chose Lummus Crest Inc.'s SRT V Short Residence Time ethylene pyrolysis technology for its 450,000 metric ton/year ethylene plant to be built at the Kashima, Japan, complex (OGJ, Jan. 29, p. 34). Total cost of the project, including utilities and downstream units, is about $720 million. Downstream capacities, expressed in metric tons/year, are to be 150,000 benzene, 80,000 polyethylene, 80,000 polypropylene, 110,000 ethylene oxide, and 100,000 ethylene glycol.

NATIONAL IRANIAN Oil Co. let a contract to Chiyoda Corp. of Japan and Snamprogetti SpA of Italy to build a 240,000 b/d refinery at Bandar Abbas on the approaches to the Strait of Hormuz. The $1.2 billion plant is to be on stream in 1993.

CANADA'S Petro-Canada and Neste Oy of Norway plan to build a 530,000 metric ton/year, $350 million methyl tertiary butyl ether plant at Edmonton, Alta., subject to regulatory approval. Construction is to begin this spring, aiming for completion about yearend 1991. Fluor Daniel Canada Inc. will handle engineering, procurement, and construction management. MTBE is to move by pipeline to Vancouver, B.C., for shipment by tanker to export markets, mainly in California.

FIRE heavily damaged Alkylation Plant No. 2 at Maraven SA's 291,300 b/d Punta Cardon refinery in western Venezuela. There were no deaths or injuries. The alkylation unit, recently overhauled, will be out of service for about 6 months, unofficial reports said.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

DEN NORSKE STATS oljeselskap AS let two contracts for development of Sleipner gas field in the Norwegian North Sea. Kvaerner Rosenberg's Egersund yard in Norway won a 320 million kroner ($49.2 million) contract for a compressor module. A contract for two drilling modules worth 370 million kroner ($56.9 million) went to Mercon Steel Structures BY, Netherlands. Both contracts are to be complete in November 1991 .

SELM PETROLEUM, a unit of Italy's Montedison group, drilled two horizontal wells from Platform Vega off southern Sicily. Preussag Erdol und Erdgas GmbH's directional drilling department, which planned and conducted the operation, said the wells, 18/LD-1 and 5/LD-1, are the world's longest horizontal displacement holes with short radius. They were plugged back from vertical wells, sidetracked to horizontal with a radius of 42 m, and drilled horizontally to maximum lengths of 321 m and 372 m, respectively. The reservoir lies at 2,600 m vertical depth.

IRAN expects to produce an average 3.14 million b/d of oil during its next 5 year plan starting next month at a projected average price of $17/bbl with fluctuations between $10 and $22. It plans to spend $27.7 billion in the oil and gas sector during the period in programs involving 115 projects, including refinery construction and oil field development.

MARATHON Petroleum Ireland Ltd. agreed to sell production from Ballycotton gas field off Ireland in the Celtic Sea to Bord Gais Eireann, Ireland's gas board. Marathon's field development plan, awaiting regulatory approval, calls for a single subsea well tied back to the company's Kinsale Head Platform Bravo, 9 miles south. Start-up is due in fourth quarter 1991. Kinsale Head, Ireland's only source of gas, is producing 220 MMcfd.

TWO SUBSIDIARIES of Phillips Petroleum Co. are among a group that completed the $134 million purchase from Bond Corp. Pty. Ltd. of a 57.6747% interest in Harriet oil field and 1.6 million acres of related permits off Western Australia. Harriet produces 11,000 b/d. Main working interest owners are Phillips Australian Oil Co. and Phillips Petroleum International Australia Pty Ltd. with a combined 25%, field operator Hadson Australia Development Pty. Ltd. 22.5%, and Kufpec Australia Pty. Ltd. 19.2771%. Phillip Australian will be exploration operator.

COMPANIES

REPSOL SA, Spain's state owned oil group, will cut capital spending this year by 12.5% to $1.27 billion. Largest outlays will be for refining, petrochemicals, marketing, and acquisition of downstream assets. Spending for exploration and production will be substantially lower than in 1989 when it accounted for more than 20% of the budget. Repsol said it has no plans to buy oil and gas reserves but will consider any "interesting opportunity."

EXPLORATION

BHP PETROLEUM, Melbourne, agreed with Omnis, Madagascar's state resources company, to explore a 25,000 sq km permit area off the northwest coast of Madagascar. The first 3 years of an 8 year program will see geological studies, acquisition and processing of 5,000 line km of seismic surveys, and drilling of one well.

BOLIVAR International Oil Co. SA, Bogota, began a 200 line km seismic survey on its 1 million acre Cartagena and Tolu blocks in Northwest Colombia. Digicon Geophysical Co. has the contract.

HARKEN BAHRAIN Oil Co., a subsidiary of Harken Energy Corp., Dallas, signed a production sharing contract with Bahrain National Oil Co. covering most of Bahrain's offshore area. The contract calls for Harken to start a 13,000 ft Permian Khuff wildcat within 2 years.