The Oil and Gas Journal articles from April 1994

The Oil and Gas Journal archives from April 1994

World ethylene capacity tops 71 million mt/y; recovery on horizon. (includes International Survey of Ethylene from Steam Crackers) (Industry Overview) (Cover Story)
April 25, 1994... The Journal's survey of world ethylene capacity reveals a global total of more than 71 million metric tons/year (mt/y). This is an increase of more than 17 million mt/y, or 32%, since 1990 (OGJ, Sept. 10, 1990, p. 49). The survey, which...

API reports exceptionally strong U.S. demand for some products in the first quarter. (American Petroleum Institute) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... API reports exceptionally strong U.S. demand for some products in the first quarter. Deliveries of kerosine jet fuel were up 5.5%, distillate fuel 8.6%, and residual fuel 17.7% from first quarter 1993. U.S. crude production averaged 6.762...

Nymex next month WTI hit a 5 month high last week. (April 20, 1994) (West Texas Intermediate) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Nymex next month WTI hit a 5 month high last week, closing Apr. 20 at $16.82/bbl and up almost $1 on the week.

Dean Witter says the worst may be over for oil but it is about as good as it's going to get for natural gas this year. (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Dean Witter says the worst may be over for oil but it is about as good as it's going to get for natural gas this year. The analyst sees a demand-driven improvement in oil prices in the second half with no major help from OPEC in the way...

Merrill Lynch says independents' earnings are likely to remain weak until the fourth quarter. (independent petroleum producers) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Merrill Lynch also expects U.S. independents to report sharply lower earnings for the first quarter as a result of lower oil prices. Noting a first quarter average for WTI spot prices of $14.83 vs. $19.83 a year ago, Merrill Lynch says...

Industry analysts focus on U.S., Asian, Latin American markets. (petrochemicals) (Industry Overview)
April 25, 1994... International consultant Chem Systems Inc., Tarrytown, N.Y., brought together its principle specialists from around the world to assess the state of the petrochemical industry earlier this year. Although the global industry is in a cyclic...

Argentine polybutenes producer installing dehydro unit. (Polibutenos Argentinos S.A.; isobutane dehydrogenation unit)
April 25, 1994... Polibutenos Argentinos S.A. plans to more than double its polymer capacity with the installation of a 40,000 mt/y isobutane dehydrogenation unit at its Ensenada, Argentina, plant. The plant, located 37 miles south-east of Buenos Aires,...

Rock dumping secures twin pipelines across Michigan straits.
April 25, 1994... Great Lakes Gas Transmission Co., Detroit, in 1993 successfully stabilized its two 24-in. natural-gas pipelines crossing the Straits of Mackinac in northern Michigan. Placing approximately 152,000 tons of limestone rock around and under...

Canadian oil and gas companies in 1993 posted their best collective earnings since 1990 despite a steep drop in oil prices in the fourth quarter. (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Canadian oil and gas companies in 1993 posted their best collective earnings since 1990 despite a steep drop in oil prices in the fourth quarter. Only nine of 90 companies Nickle's Statistics Quarterly tracks had losses as the group logged a...

Hibernia oil field development costs are likely to jump 15-20% from the original $5.2 billion estimate. (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Hibernia oil field development costs are likely to jump 15-20% from the original $5.2 billion estimate, says Petro-Canada, and project sponsors are taking steps to rein costs of the project off Newfoundland. That's from a study sparked by...

The top bid block in last month's Gulf of Mexico lease sale that focused on the sizzling subsalt play contains a huge structure about 500 ft updip from Mahogany oil and gas field, says Anadarko. (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... The top bid block in last month's Gulf of Mexico lease sale that focused on the sizzling subsalt play contains a huge structure about 500 ft updip from Mahogany oil and gas field, says Anadarko. The structure covers about 3,500 acres on...

Infill wells contradict claims of new gas in huge Hugoton field. (Kansas gas field)
April 25, 1994... Optional infill drilling in the Kansas Hugoton gas field has failed to prove increased gas reserves, contradicting claims that in some infill wells higher pressures and deliverabilities indicate new reserves. A study by Phi]lips...

Russia plans to develop a natural gas infrastructure in the Murmansk region ahead of developing nearby supergiant Shtockmanovskoye gas field in the Barents Sea. (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Russia plans to develop a natural gas infrastructure in the Murmansk region ahead of developing nearby supergiant Shtockmanovskoye gas field in the Barents Sea. Plans call for laying a spur from the western Siberian gas grid near the...

Kazakhstan is pushing a major overhaul of its refining industry. (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Kazakhstan is pushing a major overhaul of its refining industry. Mitsubishi, Mitsui, and Toyo Engineering have agreed to construct a $1.5 billion, 60,000 b/d refinery in the former Soviet republic on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea,...

Thailand is getting serious about a third world scale petrochemical complex to meet that country's soaring demand for petrochemicals. (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Thailand is getting serious about a third world scale petrochemical complex to meet that country's soaring demand for petrochemicals. Partly state owned National Petrochemical plc (NPC), key player in Thailand's first such complex NPC1,...

Expect the standoff on higher U.S. polyethylene resin prices to come to a head by the end of April, says Bonner & Moore, Houston. (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Expect the standoff on higher U.S. polyethylene resin prices to come to a head by the end of April, says Bonner & Moore, Houston. Price increases of 5/lb announced in the U.S. earlier this year by many sellers of high density polyethylene...

Novel procedures accurately measure drilling mud dynamic filtration.
April 25, 1994... New equipment and test procedures can determine dynamic mud cake properties such as equilibrium cake thickness, porosity, permeability, compressibility, and erosion resistance. The following were developed to study dynamic filtration: a...

Tri-Tech Fishing Services. (new company formed) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Tri-Tech Fishing Services, Lafayette, La., has been formed by Ray Daugherty, Raymond McKaskle and Tommy Lashley, former employees for Tri-State Oil Tools, to provide fishing tool rentals and services along the Gulf Coast. Daugherty will...

Accurate Arms Co., Inc. (acquires Jet Research Center Defense and Aerospace Div.) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Accurate Arms Co., Inc., McEwen, Tenn., has acquired Jet Research Center (JRC) Defense and Aerospace Div., a subsidiary of Halliburton, Inc. Accurate Arms is a major supplier of commercial and military bulk explosives, melt castable...

B.L. Key, Inc. (wins concrete weighting requirements contract for section of Florida Gas transmission pipeline) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... B.L. Key, Inc., Tulsa, Okla., has been awarded the contract for concrete weighting requirements for spreads 5-9 on the Florida Gas Transmission, Phase 3 Expansion. The new pip@line construction is over 800 miles long, stretching from...

Energy Ventures, Inc. (new chief financial officer T. William Alexander; includes news of other appointments) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Energy Ventures, Inc., Houston, Tex., has named T. William (Bill) Alexander vice president of finance and chief financial officer. Alexander was president of M & T Capital Corp., a New York based investment subsidiary of First Empire State...

John Wood Group PLC. (forms new company Sulzer Wood Ltd. with Sulzer UK Pumps Ltd.) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... John Wood Group PLC, Aberdeen, Scotland, has announced the formation of a new joint company with Sulzer (UK) Pumps Limited. The new company, Sulzer Wood Limited, will be based in Sulzer's existing facility at Ellon, 15 miles north of...

Betz Process Chemicals, Inc. (signs licensing agreement with R.E. Davis Chemical Corp.) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Betz Process Chemicals, Inc., The Woodlands, Tex., and R.E. Davis Chemical Corp. have signed a world-wide licensing agreement. It allows for the global marketing of a unique alkylation catalyst, designed and proven to improve performance in...

Potential of Pacific frontiers of former Soviet oil, gas empire.
April 25, 1994... The poorly explored and mostly undeveloped hydrocarbon resources of the Russian Far East (RFE) are large enough to support several large scale projects, with an aggregate exportable surplus of as much as 30 billion cu m/year of gas. ...

Luis Giusti. (named Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. president) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Luis Giusti has been named president of Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (Pdvsa). Giusti was formerly vice-president of Maraven S.A., and served as director and head of strategic planning for Pdvsa. Named vice-presidents were Claus Graf, formerly...

Kerry Lyons. (appointed marketing vice president for Cimarron Petroleum) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Kerry Lyons has been promoted to vice-president of engineering and marketing for Cimarron Petroleum, Calgary. He joined the company in 1989 as reservoir engineer and has served as manager of exploitation and marketing since 1993.

John H. Gray. (new chief operating officer of Leviathan Gas Pipeline Co.; Grant E. Sims named president) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... John H. Gray has been elected chief operating officer of Leviathan Gas Pipeline Co., Houston. He has served as director and president since 1991. Grant E. Sims replaces Gray as president. Sims served most recently as senior vice-president of...

James H. Dorman. (new president and chief executive officer of Aztec Energy Corp.) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... James H. Dorman has been named president and chief executive officer of Aztec Energy Corp., Dallas, replating Eugene A. Soltero. Dorman has served as president of Aztec International Energy Corp. since 1993.

Larry Petropoulos. (named marketing vice president of Remington Energy Ltd.) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Larry Petropoulos has been appointed vice-president, production and marketing, for Remington Energy Ltd., Calgary. He was formerly manager of engineering. Michael Woofter will replace Petropoulos. He served previously as operations...

Mike Bowlin. (named chief executive officer of ARCO) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Mike Bowlin has been elected chief executive officer of ARCO, Los Angeles. Bowlin has been ARCO's president and chief operating officer since June, 1993. He succeeds Lodwrick M. Cook, who will remain as chairman until his retirement in 1995.

Tom N. Richardson. (new president and chief financial officer for Tyrex Oil Co.) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Tom N. Richardson has been named president and chief financial officer of Tyrex Oil Co., Casper, Wyo. Richardson has served as vice-president and director since 1986. He replaces William P. Gruman as president. Gruman will remain as a...

Petroleum companies are likely to report a big drop in first quarter earnings because of depressed oil prices. (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Petroleum companies are likely to report a big drop in first quarter earnings because of depressed oil prices. However, a surge in products demand is pulling up crude prices and likely sets the stage for improved earnings, especially...

There is now fundamental market support for crude and product prices. (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... There is now fundamental market support for crude and product prices, maintains CGES. "Sour crudes remain strong in the Atlantic Basin as refiners are still trying to rebuild low stocks of heating oil and residual oil now that the...

Russia's loan tax bad for business. (foreign loan tax) (Editorial)
April 25, 1994... What will they do next? Oil companies and other investors in Russia must be tired of asking that question about the country's regulators, politicians, and tax collectors. The first two rules of Russian business are that there are no...

TransCanada pipeline system sets sights on further growth. (includes related article in which TransCanada Pipelines CEO Gerald J. Maier is interviewed)
April 25, 1994... TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., Calgary, has almost doubled its North American gas transmission volumes since 1989 and is seeking new markets to conquer. Mainline capacity is running at 6.3-6.4 bcfd, compared with less than 3.9 bcfd in 1989....

Florida utility to burn Orimulsion from Venezuela. (Florida Power and Light Co.) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Venezuela has landed its first U.S. long term buyer for Orimulsion. Orimulsion is a liquid fuel made up of 70% bitumen and 30% water. It's used as a fuel for electric utility and industrial power generation. The U.S. buyer is Florida...

Natural gas is top hydrocarbon in Indonesia. (Wood Mackenzie Consultants Ltd. survey) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Natural gas dominates the upstream scene in Indonesia. That's apparent in a ranking of Indonesia's major players by Wood Mackenzie Consultants Ltd., Edinburgh. Mobil Oil Indonesia Inc. is the top upstream operator in terms of value...

Russian refineries tap western technology. (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Russia is increasing its call on western technology. Among the latest action in a program to update Russian refineries: * Texaco Inc. awarded three licenses for use of its technologies at refineries in Perm and Novokuibyshevk. *...

Supply contract may resolve issue of Frigg field gas exports. (North Sea) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... One of three gas supply contracts signed by Norway's gas negotiating committee (GFU) could be the key to solving a dispute between Norwegian and British governments over gas exports from Frigg field in the North Sea. GFU agreed to supply...

First abandonment of major N. Sea platform slated. (Northwest Hutton platform) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Amoco (U.K.) Exploration is laying plans for the first abandonment of a major oil platform in the North Sea. The company expects to cease production from the Northwest Hutton platform in Block 211/27 during 1996. "Exact timing...

U.S Environmental Protection Agency. (toxic chemical release report) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports industrial releases of toxic chemicals dropped 224 million Ib, or 6.5%, in 1992, and have fallen 35% since the base line year of 1988. Although releases declined, EPA said the combined volume of...

U.S. Coast Guard. (Louisiana Offshore Oil Port safety zone rule) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... U.S. Coast Guard issued a rule expanding the boundaries of the safety zone for the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port. The rule, issued in the Apr. 13 Federal Register, bans exploration and production in a wider area around the terminal in the Gulf...

PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd. (1994 budget) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd., Calgary, plans a record $725 million (Canadian) capital budget this year, with increased Canadian spending and reduced outlays. The company said a joint venture working over Siberian wells with Canadian Fracmaster...

Pennzoil Petroleum Ltd. (offer for Co-enerco Resources Ltd.) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Pennzoil Petroleum Lid., Houston, made a $250 million (U.S.) takeover offer for Co-enerco Resources Ltd., Calgary. The offer came on the last day for Co-enerco shareholders to accept a takeover bid from Numac Energy Inc., also of Calgary....

Freeport McMoRan Inc. (McMoRan Oil and Gas Co. start up) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... (FTX), New Orleans, started up McMoRan Oil & Gas Co. to conduct most of its oil and gas exploration. FTX will transfer to McMoRan $35 million cash, most of its exploration rights, leases, including interests in Vermilion 160 field, and oil...

Panhandle Eastern Corp. (Centana Energy Corp. acquires gas storage and processing facilities) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Panhandle Eastern Corp. unit Centana Energy Corp., Houston, agreed to pay $120 million to Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. unit MND Energy Corp. for the Texas intrastate Winnie Pipeline Co., Spindletop gas storage site, and a Liquid Energy...

Marathon Oil Co. (settles oil claims with Alaska) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Marathon Oil Co. will pay Alaska $122 million to settle oil and gas tax claims dating back to 1976. The money will be placed in the state's budget reserve.

British Petroleum Co. plc. (sells interest in New Zealand project to Fletcher Challenge Ltd.) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... British Petroleum Co. plc agreed to sell its 35,800 acre share in New Zealand's Hikurangi forestry project to joint venture partner Fletcher Challenge Ltd. for $71 million. BP bought into the estate in 1980 to use cash surpluses from Maul...

U.S. Minerals Management Service. (royalty dispersal) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... U.S. Minerals Management Service disbursed $45.5 million to six coastal states, their share of royalties, delay rentals, and bonuses from federal offshore leases. California received $20.23 million, Alaska $9.38 million, Texas $9.38 million,...

Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas Corp. (sells interest in Gulf of Mexico block to Midcon Offshore Inc.) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas Corp., Oklahoma City, agreed to sell its working interest in West Delta Block 152 acreage in the Gulf of Mexico to Midcon Offshore Inc. for $26.6 million. The lease divestment will result in a $5 million loss, before...

ARCO British Ltd. (acquires North Sea interest from Shell U.K. Ltd. and Esso Exploration and Production U.K. Ltd.) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... ARCO British Ltd. bought a 60% share in U.K. North Sea Block 49/24 from Shell U.K. Ltd and Esso Exploration & Production U.K. Ltd. The block holds part of Gawain gas field. Operator ARCO and partner Mobil North Sea Ltd. agreed to share...

Great Northern Gas Co. (sells Colorado interests to White River No. 1 Corp.) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Great Northern Gas Co., Denver, sold its interest in 13 gas wells and 20,000 acres in White River Dome field in western Colorado's Rio Blanco County to White River No. 1 Corp., a Texas company. Sale was for $3.6 million cash and combined...

Wintershall (U.K.) Ltd. (acquires North Sea interest from Mobil North Sea Ltd.) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Wintershall (U.K.) Ltd. completed purchase of a 35% interest in U.K. North Sea Block 49/9b from Mobil North Sea Ltd. This brings Wintershall's equity in the block to 60%. The block contains part of the Avalon gas reservoir, which Wintershall...

Mitsubishi Oil Co. Ltd. (acquires North Sea assets from Fina PLC) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Mitsubishi Oil Co. Ltd. acquired from Fina plc a package of U.K. North Sea assets that involves several fields scheduled for development. Asset interests are 30% in Block 16/27a (South), containing Andrew field; 5% in Blocks 22/20 and...

Adams Resources & Energy Inc. (Adams Resources Exploration Corp. acquires Texas lease interests) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Adams Resources & Energy Inc. unit Adams Resources Exploration Corp., Houston, expects to drill 70 horizontal wells during the next 4 years on lease interests it bought in Giddings and Brookeland fields in the Austin chalk trend of Central...

British Petroleum. (contract with Camco International Inc. units) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... British Petroleum teamed up for 5 years with Camco International Inc. unit Camco Services Norway, Smedvig Offshore AS, and Dowell Schlumberger for oil and gas development projects on the Norwegian shelf. Camco believes it's the first such...

An insurance claim. (against Norwegian Contractors A/S) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... An insurance claim of 2.3 billion kroner ($310 million) is sought from Norwegian Contractors AS, Stavanger, Norway, over the sinking of the North Sea's East Sleipner field gravity base structure Aug. 23, 1991 (OGJ, Oct. 28, 1991, p. 19). The...

Norway's. (Statoil design contract with Kongsberg Offshore) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Norway's Den norske stats oljeselskap AS asked Kongsberg Offshore AS, Kongsberg, Norway, to design and fabricate subsea installations for Norne field development. The 860 million kroner ($120 million) job calls for five templates with 20...

Mangistaumunaigaz. (oil field development in Kazakhstan) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Mangistaumunalgaz (MMG) production association, Aktau, Kazakhstan, by third quarter is to begin development drilling and well workovers in Uzen oil field, 120 km east of Aktau, with three custom all-wheel-drive rigs manufactured by...

BP Exploration Operating Co. Ltd. (North Sea gas field development) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... BP Exploration Operating Co. Ltd. plans to start development drilling in May on its Northeast Sean prospect on U.K. North Sea Block 49/25a. The prospect is a satellite of Sean gas field. Two extended reach wells will be drilled from Sean...

Azerbaijan's. (Socar and McDermott International joint venture) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Azerbaijan's state oil company Socar and McDermott International Inc. formed joint venture companies McShelf and McDock to produce and repair equipment for use in development of Caspian Sea oil and gas fields. McShelf and partner...

BHP Petroleum Pty. Ltd. (Vietnam field development) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... BHP Petroleum Pty. Ltd. completed drilling a second development well in Dai Hung field off Viet Nam using the Treasure Seeker drilling rig. The Dai Hung2P well was suspended as a producer without testing. The rig will stay in the field for...

Dreco Energy Services Ltd. (contract to build workover rigs for Russian company) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Dreco Energy Services Ltd., Edmonton, completed a $9.9 million (U.S.) deal to build and deliver 13 workover rigs for an undisclosed Russian company. The rigs, to be delivered by November, will be used in western Siberia's Ugansk region.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative. (Dakota Gasification Co. to install scrubber) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Basin Electric Power Cooperative unit Dakota Gasification Co. will install a scrubber at its Great Plains coal gasification plant near Beulah, N.D. The scrubber is designed to remove sulfur dioxide from flue gas in the plant's main stack and...

Santa Fe Energy Resources Inc. (wildcat plans) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Santa Fe Energy Resources Inc., Houston, and partners plan to drill at least eight more 11,000-13,000 ft wildcats this year in the Permian basin near Midland, Tex. They found oil with four of eight earlier wildcats in the area. Santa Fe and...

China National Oil & Gas Exploration & Development Corp. (wildcat plans) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... China National Oil & Gas Exploration & Development Corp. as operator heads a group of eight companies that plans to drill a wildcat this year on the Kamusi prospect on Papua New Guinea's proposed Petroleum Prospecting License 168. One of the...

American International Petroleum Corp. (exploring in Peru) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... American International Petroleum Corp., New York, formed Pan American International Petroleum Corp., which plans to drill three wells and acquire seismic data in Contract Area Lot IV of Peru's Talara basin. Work will be conducted in the...

Japan's. (Kazakhstan survey by Japan National Oil Corp.) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Japan National Oil Corp. agreed to conduct a 3 year, 5.3 billion yen ($48 million) geological survey program in Kazakhstan. Surveys will cover a 10,000 sq km area northwest of the Aral Sea.

Inspectors. (code violations on trans-Alaska pipeline) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Inspectors recorded 5,549 electrical code violations at Pump Station 8 on the trans-Alaska pipeline. The inspectors were hired by line operator Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. Pump Station 8, 40 miles south of Fairbanks, is the first to be...

CNG Gas Services Corp. (gas superhub start up) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... CNG Gas Services Corp. expects this year to begin operations of its CNG/Sabine Center, which will function as a gas superhub offering services at many points, rather than a single point, along CNG Transmission Corp.'s 7,400 mile, six state,...

UK-Continent Interconnector Study Group. (contract let for Belgium-to-United Kingdom pipeline) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Interconnector Study Group let design contracts for its proposed gas pipeline to Zeebrugge, Belgium, from Bacton, Norfolk, U.K. (OGJ, Nov. 15, 1993, p. 29). Proposed diameter was increased to 38 in. from 36 in., and a 40 in. option will be...

Chevron Corp. (refinery sold to Petroleum Independent and Exploration Corp.) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Chevron Corp. sold its 28,000 b/d Nikiski refinery near Kenai, Alas., to Petroleum independent & Exploration Corp., Lubbock, Tex., which plans to disassemble the plant and rebuild it as part of a joint venture outside the U.S. Sale price of...

Imperial Oil Ltd. (refinery shut down) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Imperial Oil Ltd. will shut down its 176,000 b/cd Strathcona refinery near Edmonton May 10-June 22 for a turnaround.

Formosa Petrochemical Corp. (refineries licensed) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Formosa Petrochemical Corp. licensed two resid catalytic cracking units with combined capacity of 146,000 b/d from UOP. The units will be part of a refinery and petrochemical complex to be built in Taiwan. They will process hydrotreated...

Saba Petroleum Co. (acquires Conoco Inc. refinery) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Irvine, Calif., agreed to buy Conoco Inc.'s 9,500 b/cd Santa Maria, Calif., refinery.

Mozambique gas field marked for development. (Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos de Mocambique, Sasol Ltd.)
April 25, 1994... Mozambique's state owned Empresa National de Hidrocarbonetos de Mocambique (ENH) and South Africa's Sasol Ltd., Johannesburg, plan a $700-850 million joint field development project. Pande gas field in Mozambique, which lies 20 km inland...

Deepwater royalty relief to get Clinton support.
April 25, 1994... The Clinton administration is preparing to support U.S. legislation that would provide royalty relief for new deepwater production and any production off Alaska. Bill White, deputy secretary of the Department of Energy, told the Senate...

A way to reduce damage to pipelines. (Column)
April 25, 1994... The recent rupture of a natural gas trunkline in New Jersey may prompt Congress to require excavators to use "one call" programs operated by states. In a number of states, construction crews can make one telephone call to ensure their...

Exploration heating in South China Sea.
April 25, 1994... The pace of exploration is picking up speed in the South China Sea off Viet Nam and China. Mobil Corp. and partners signed a production sharing contract (PSC) with Viet Nam's state oil company Petrovietnam coveting exploration and...

Shell's deepwater gulf TLP on stream. (tension leg platform) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Shell Offshore Inc. has started oil and gas production from its Auger field in 2,860 ft of water in the Gulf of Mexico, 1,100 ft deeper than previous gulf production. Shell installed its record setting Auger tension leg platform (TLP)...

U.S. gas storage sites to continue growth pattern. (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... The list of proposed U.S. gas storage projects keeps on growing. In the latest round of proposals: * Panhandle Eastern Corp. unit Panhandle Storage Co. (PSC), Houston, teamed up with MG Ventures Storage and Howard Energy Co. to develop...

Krapels dissents on OPEC strength. (Edward N. Krapels, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) (Column)
April 25, 1994... Speakers at a London conference explained how the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is in crisis right now but will regain market dominance in the next century (OGJ, Apr. 18, p. 75). All speakers, that is, except one. Edward N....

Drewry sees continued rise in tanker costs. (Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd.) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... The tanker industry's move to improve its safety record, after a rash of casualties during the past 5 years, has triggered increases in operating costs that are expected to continue until the end of the decade. Increases are expected...

Singapore petrochem contracts let. (Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore) (Brief Article)
April 25, 1994... Petrochemical Corp. of Singapore Pte. Ltd. (PCS) has let three contracts under a planned total $3.4 billion expansion of Singapore's Pulau Ayer Merbau petrochemical complex. PCS is a 50-50 venture between Shell International Petroleum Co....