INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

TRANSPORTATION

TANKSTORE, a joint venture of GATX Terminals Corp., Paktank International, and Chicago Bridge & Iron Co., opened a new $100 million petroleum products storage terminal on Pulau Busing island off Singapore. It has 35 tanks with more than 3.2 million bbl of capacity. Plans call for a second phase to add 755,000 bbl of capacity with eight more tanks.

ARAMCO SERVICES CO. let contract to Stone & Webster Engineering Corp. and its Saudi affiliate Bugshan S&W Co. Ltd. for detailed engineering, materials procurement support, construction management, and project services for a number of oil and gas pipeline projects in Saudi Arabia. Work will cover installing new pipelines and upgrading existing lines in the northern, southern, and central areas of Saudi Arabia.

COMPANIES

CLYDE PETROLEUM PLC exchanged U.K. North Sea block interests with Fina Petroleum Development. Clyde will acquire Fina's 25% interest in 9/18b, which contains Gryphon field. Fina will acquire a 2.65% interest in 16/26, containing Alba field and part of Kilda gas field, and a 15% interest in 16/27b, which also holds part of Kilda. Fina also will get Clyde's 5.5% stake in 22/5b, part of the Maggie/Armada gas area.

INTERHOME ENERGY INC. approved in principle a proposed spinoff of Home Oil Co. Ltd. to shareholders, following similar approvals by GW Utilities Ltd. and Gulf Canada Resources Ltd., Interhome's biggest shareholders (OGJ, Dec. 3, p. 26).

TOTAL NORGE exchanged Offshore Norway interests with AS Norske Shell. Total acquired seven Shell blocks including interests in Froy, Midgard, and Albatross fields. Shell acquired Total's interest in a block that includes Trym field. The deal calls for additional compensation to Shell. Subject to government approval, the trade is to be final in first half 1991 .

MONGOLIAN PETROLEUM CO. (MGT), Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, hired Exploration Associates International of Texas Inc., Houston, to provide technical assistance to MGT on all matters related to oil and gas exploration and production in Mongolia.

PETROCHEMICALS

BADGER CO. INC., Cambridge, Mass., will supply technology for a 60,000 metric ton/year styrene monomer plant in Beijing. Subsidiary Badger Engineers Inc. will supply an expanded process design package and start-up assistance. Partec Lavalin is prime contractor on the project, which will use a Canadian loan. Japan's Marubeni will handle styrene sale and export.

ANDEAN DEVELOPMENT CORP. loaned $42 million to Pralca, a joint venture of Venezuela's state owned Pequiven and privately held Corimon, for an ethylene derivatives plant in Venezuela's Zulia state. That completes financing for the project, including a $32 million credit from International Financing Corp. and $11 million from Credit Lyonnais. The plant will produce 72,000 metric tons/year of ethylene glycol and 16,000 tons/year of ethylene oxide.

EXPLORATION

HAMILTON OIL CORP.'S 2-110/13 wildcat flowed 1,800 b/d of 44 gravity oil through a 36/64 in. choke in Morecambe Bay off western England. It is 5 1/2 miles southwest of Hamilton's 70 MMcfd 1-110/13 gas discovery on the same block. Hamilton also extended the gas discovery to the north with 3-110/13. It plans more exploratory and appraisal drilling on the block in 1991 . Interests are operator Hamilton 45%, Ultramar Exploration Ltd. 30%, and Monument Resources Ltd. 25%.

NIGERIA extended to Jan. 7, 1991, its deadline for bids for 136 exploration blocks. Twenty-six of the blocks are in the offshore portions of the Niger Delta and Benin basins.

SHELL CANADA LTD. plans to delineate a gas/condensate strike near Caroline field in Central Alberta. The discovery well flowed 5.5 MMcfd and about 115 b/d from Upper Swan Hills pay. Majority interests are operator Shell 50%, Canadian Hunter Exploration Ltd. 24.1%, and Conwest Exploration Co. 22.1%.

PETROCORP LTD. 1-A Stratford flowed 5.5 MMcfd of gas and 360 b/d of condensate from a 43 ft section just north of Stratford, North Island, New Zealand. The well was sidetracked from the 1 Stratford oil and gas discovery, drilled in 1985, to test a satellite structure.

BRITISH GAS PLC reported flow rates from its Gulf of Suez oil discovery off Egypt (OGJ, Dec. 10, Newsletter). HB 78-2 Warda cumulative flow from five intervals at 5,0606,428 ft was more than 7,500 b/d with gravities of 18-241. Total depth is 8,400 ft. British Gas 50% and partners Yukong Ltd. and Union Pacific Petroleum Suez Ltd. 25% each will drill appraisal wells early in 1991. The group has two concessions covering more than 241,000 acres in the northern Gulf of Suez.

CONOCO U.K. LTD. drilled a gas/condensate discovery in Block 44/21a about 90 miles off Lincolnshire, U.K. It flowed 23 MMcfd of gas and 202 b/d of condensate from Carboniferous sandstone. Total depth is 15,650 ft. Conoco will drill and test a second well on the block as part of a farmout agreement on the block with BP Exploration 46% and Norsk Hydro 8%.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

AMOCO-GABON GOMBE MARIN CO. let contract to Oceaneering International Services Ltd. for a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) system to be installed in Gombe-Beta field off Gabon. Oceaneering will provide and operate a 78,000 dwt FPSO, including well hookups and shuttle tanker offloading systems. The system, which Oceaneering will have developed at a cost of $25 million, will process as much as 15,000 b/d from two wells.

TOTAL CFP and partners will develop Canadon Alfa gas/condensate field in the Strait of Magellan off Argentina under a contract from state owned Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales. Flow is expected to reach 116 MMcfd of gas and 3,000 b/d of condensate. The field adjoins Ara gas field, due on stream soon. Total, Deminex, and Bridas expect to double their gas/condensate production in Argentina. The group also plans to develop four satellites to Hidra field in the Atlantic Ocean off Tierra del Fuego, if studies prove economic feasibility.

REFINING

OBERRHEINISCHE MINERALOELWERKE GMBH let contract to Setpoint Inc., Houston, for a blend optimization/quality control package for gasoline/middle distillate blending at its 142,000 b/d Karlsruhe, Germany, refinery. Installation is under way and scheduled for completion by yearend 1991.