The Oil and Gas Journal articles from August 1998, page 2

The Oil and Gas Journal archives from August 1998

BG plc
August 31, 1998... BG plc and Texaco Inc. made a "significant" gas/condensate discovery on Block 5a in the East Coast Marine Area off Trinidad. Dolphin Deep 1 discovery well, operated by BG, is about 60 miles off Galeota Point, Trinidad, in 650 ft of water. The...

Unocal Corp.
August 31, 1998... Unocal Corp. and Mitsui Oil Exploration Co. Ltd., Tokyo, agreed to acquire from Thailand's PTT Exploration & Production plc (Pttep) a 20% stake in three gas-prospective blocks-B14, B15, and B16--adjacent to the Thai-Vietnamese boundary in the...

Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corp.
August 31, 1998... Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corp. (CPC) and China National Offshore Oil Corp. (Cnooc) agreed to form a joint venture to explore a 15,400 sq km block southeast of the Zhu Jiang River estuary off China's Guangdong Province. The venture--the first...

A group of seven
August 31, 1998... A group of seven Alberta natural gas producers, led by Paramount Resources Ltd., Calgary, agreed to acquire Pan-Alberta Gas Ltd., the gas brokerage unit of TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., Calgary, for $5 million (Canadian). The sale would turn...

Canada's National Energy Board
August 31, 1998... Canada's National Energy Board approved routing for an extension of the Trans Quebec & Maritimes Pipeline from Lachenaie, Que., to the Canada-U.S. border near East Hereford, Que. The 132-mile extension arid associated facilities will connect...

Midcoast Energy Resources Inc.
August 31, 1998... Midcoast Energy Resources Inc., Houston, entered a definitive agreement to purchase El Paso Field Services Co.'s Anadarko pipeline system in Oklahoma and Texas for about $35 million. The system comprises more than 696 miles of 16-in. and 20-in,...

Chinese firm
August 31, 1998... Chinese firm Concord Oil & Petrochemicals Ltd. let a $300 million contract to Samsung Engineering Co., Seoul, to construct a refinery at Ningbo, China. Samsung will provide engineering, procurement, and construction on a turnkey basis. Included...

Study predicts decontrol to cut electric cost 14%
August 31, 1998... The American Gas Association reports that U.S. electric industry restructuring will result in an average decrease of 14% in real electricity prices by 2015. The AGA study projected electricity prices (residential, commercial, industrial) to...

Tires fuel oil field cement manufacturing
August 31, 1998... CEMENT COMPARISON Tire-burn Conventional cement cement 160[degress] F. iluid loss, cc/30 min 64 72 ...

Shroud protects air-cooled probe
August 31, 1998... The new Model 022 air cooled probe shroud allows the use of standard borescopes in high temperature, high pressure, and corrosive environments. The probe shroud has a hermetically sealed sapphire window, which is noble metal brazed to 300...

Shore to ship message ability
August 31, 1998... Shore based Internet users are offered a way to send shore to ship messages to Inmarsat-A or B terminals. Internet users can now communicate from home, the office, or any land location to Inmarsat-A or B mobile terminals via the Inmarsat...

Engineered approach to scale removal
August 31, 1998... The new Scale Blaster service provides downhole scale removal. The scale removal system, coiled tubing conveyed, uses fluid jetting and abrasive jetting. It offers cleaning of tubing jewelry (gas lift mandrels, sub-sea safety valves), through...

India moves to launch long awaited licensing
August 31, 1998... India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) is set to tie up with a consortium formed by Shell and Petrobras to undertake deepwater exploration off India. The new combine will participate in the first round of bidding for deepwater blocks. ONGC...

Galveston Bay production climb continues
August 31, 1998... Gas, condensate, and oil production are growing in Galveston and Trinity Bays off Texas. TransTexas Gas Corp., Houston, and Vintage Petroleum Inc., Tulsa, are pressing exploration and development activities there (see map, OGJ, Aug. 11,...

Mobil-Ocean press action off Equatorial Guinea
August 31, 1998... Mobil Corp. and Ocean Energy Inc. plan to ramp up exploration and production on Block B off Equatorial Guinea. Four wildcats are to be drilling by yearend. The firms have notched seven commercial oil discoveries out of 16 wildcats drilled...

Libyan Sirte field to start up next year
August 31, 1998... International Petroleum Libya Ltd. plans to start production in 1999 from En Naga North field in the southwestern Sirte basin of Libya. IPL, a unit of Red Sea Oil Corp., and Lundin Oil AB, Stockholm, spudded one of two planned appraisal...

China
August 31, 1998... XCL Ltd., Lafayette, La., signed a production sharing contract with China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Corp. to appraise and develop the Zhang Dong Block in Bohai Bay shallows. Dagang Gilfield Group Ltd., a unit of China...

Guatemala
August 31, 1998... Enterprise Development Corp., Calgary, said it tested the highest gravity oil produced in the country upon re-entering a well in the South Peten basin. Las Casas 1X, on the company' s 100% owned 300,000 acre concession, flowed 43[degrees]...

Louisiana
August 31, 1998... Kestrel Resources Inc., Dallas, completed a discovery at a re-entry 3 miles northwest of Eloi Bay field in St. Bernard Parish. The 1 Lake Eugenie Land & Development Inc., in 32-14s-18e, flowed 2.836 MMcfd of gas, 4 b/d of 41.2[degrees]...

Mississippi
August 31, 1998... Benz Energy Ltd., Houston, said an exploratory well in Wayne County is an indicated discovery. Logs indicated 68 ft of apparent pay in three pay zones at 14,962-15,150 ft at the 1 Board of Education 16-12, in 16-8n-9w, Wausau prospect,...

Phillips Petroleum Co.
August 24, 1998... Phillips Petroleum Co. began commercial production of metallocene compounds at a new plant at Bartlesville, Okla. The compounds are used to manufacture metallocene catalysts for polyethylene production. Metallocene catalysts can provide control...

Continental Energy Marketing Ltd.,
August 24, 1998... Calgary, acquired two exploration properties in Indonesia. Both were made through the purchase of 100% of the outstanding shares of the companies that owned the properties. The sole asset of Apex (Bengara-II), a British Virgin Islands firm, was...

PTT moving to shed subpar downstream assets
August 24, 1998... Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) is moving to shed or downsize its petroleum refining and petrochemical assets that offer little or no return on investment. The action will be taken in connection with a major capital restructuring that...

Mathematical technique improves directional well-path planning
August 24, 1998... INPUT PARAMETER--PREFERRED VALUES AND RANGES Parameter Preferred Minimum Maximum Rank TR 1, [degrees]/100 6.0 0.25 12.0 5 TR 2, [degrees]/100 ft 6.0 0.25 25.0 5...

Explosionproof oil and gas transmitter
August 24, 1998... The PTX and PMP 1240 Series is a new range of pressure transmitters designed specifically for wellhead and pipeline applications. The new sensors utilize piezoresistive silicon technology featuring 400% overpressure, fast delivery, long term...

Directional drilling brochure
August 24, 1998... A new, free four color brochure describes a range of products and services for directional drilling operations. The company offers a complete line of nonmagnetic and steel components, as well as providing custom manufacturing services. It...

Enhancements added to E&P software package
August 24, 1998... Network operability and post stack trace processing have been added to the Kingdom suite, an integrated exploration and production software package. Kingdom Suite, Version 5.1, showcases the addition of network operability. The network...

Inorganic chemical reference materials catalog
August 24, 1998... The fourth edition Inorganic Chemical Reference Materials catalog has been redesigned for ease of use. It provides technical information and includes new analytical standards for use in environmental, petrochemical, or research applications....

Caspian production, export, investment outlooks sized up
August 24, 1998... PROJECTS INCLUDED IN NEW DEVELOPMENT SECTORS Country Field Azerbaijan Azeri-Guneshli-Chirag Neft Dashlary Guneshli (shallow water) Mishovdag & Kamaleddin ...

Bolivia
August 24, 1998... Vintage Petroleum Inc., Tulsa, plans a production test of up to 90 days at its Supuati X1-ST in the southern part of Vintage's Chaco block. The well flowed 1,083 b/d of light oil and 1.4 MMcfd of gas. It encountered 20 ft of net pay in...

New Zealand
August 24, 1998... Fletcher Challenge Energy Ltd. was to start two appraisal wells in the Mangahewa license area in the Taranaki basin onshore by mid-1999. The first, Ohanga-2, was to spud in August 1998. The western half of the 3D seismic survey of the...

Arkansas
August 24, 1998... Enogex Inc., Oklahoma City, acquired the 437 mile Ozark Gas Transmission System from McAlester, Okla., to Searcy, Ark. It is to be interconnected in Franklin County, Ark., with the 302 mile Noark Pipeline System from Fort Smith to Paragould,...

California
August 24, 1998... Kern County has a new field designation, Monument Junction, named for a tight anticlinal fold in a syncline between Belridge and Cymric oil fields. Informally called the East Welport area the past 5 years, was a 1992 Unocal discovery at a...

Louisiana
August 24, 1998... Mobil E&P and St. Mary Land & Exploration Co., Denver, plan to spud the 5 St. Mary well in Horseshoe Bayou field late this year or early in 1999 to evaluate the 17,300 ft sand in an untapped fault block. The 3 St. Mary, in 24-17s-9e, St. Mary...

Mississippi
August 24, 1998... Denbury Resources Inc., Dallas, plans to run a pilot test of carbon dioxide injection into the Christmas sands in Heidelberg oil field, Jasper County, by yearend 1998. The company drilled eight horizontal wells and three horizontal injection...

Pennsylvania
August 24, 1998... Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., Houston, gauged a Devonian Oriskany fault block discovery in Indiana County. One development location is possible. Initial flow after stimulation at the 1 Carino, 16 miles east of Indiana, was 12 MMcfd of gas on a 1/2...

Texas
August 24, 1998... Offshore ATP Oil & Gas Corp., Houston, completed the B1 well at its 100% owned Brazos Block 544. Previously mud-line suspended, it was tied back and sidetracked to a new bottom-hole location. Completed with a single trip tubing conveyed...

Newsletter.ugust 24/y'98/?n34
August 24, 1998... OPEC is paring production but still is falling short of pledged cuts. Middle East Economic Survey estimates OPEC's total production in July averaged 27.485 million b/d. This is a significant fall from the June total of 28.257 million bid, but...

U.S. INDUSTRY SCOREBOARD 8/24.
August 24, 1998... U.S. INDUSTRY SCOREBOARD 8/24 4 wk. 4 wk. avg. % Latest week 8/14 average year [ago.sup.*] change Demand (1,000 b/d) Motor gasoline 8,587 8,364...

LETTERS.
August 24, 1998... Climate change I am a geologist, and have earned my living as a petroleum geologist for 22 of 32 years in the profession. I have personally made inquiry into the record of climate change, particularly the geological record. It is clear to me...

Speaking of art...(Editorial)
August 24, 1998... Not everyone thinks of art when they think of oil. My dictionary says, "... the arts are usually distinguished from the sciences... ." But art is also defined as "...products of creative work... ." And as "...skill, dexterity, or the power of...

What Clinton must do.(Editorial)
August 24, 1998... In the matter of U.S. President Bill Clinton and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, the problem for the oil and gas industry is not that the President lied. It is that he lies. His televised confession last week fit a pattern. Earlier...

Alaskan North Slope operators shift focus from stemming decline to hiking production.
August 24, 1998... After fretting for years that Alaskan North Slope oil production would enter into a steep de dine at the turn of the century, North Slope operators now are focusing instead on increasing output. Giant fields are buoying the production curve...

NPR-A sale plan carries heavy restrictions.(National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska)
August 24, 1998... Interior Sec. Bruce Babbitt's plan to lease most of the northeast quadrant of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) carries some extensive environmental stipulations. If the plan is approved, a lease sale could be held as early as...

DOE presses SPR lease, Maya trade.
August 24, 1998... The U.S. Department of Energy has renewed its offer to lease short-term crude oil storage space to private firms at its West Hackberry Strategic Petroleum Reserve site near Lake Charles, La. DOE will keep its offer open for several months in...

Nova Scotia sets new royalty regime.
August 24, 1998... The Canadian East Coast province of Nova Scotia has introduced a new variable royalty regime based on gross revenues and profits. Royalties will be based on the project and will range from 2% of gross revenues up to 35% of net profits. Mobil...

Namibia sets license terms.
August 24, 1998... Namibia's government has passed legislation designed to attract foreign firms to an offshore licensing round scheduled for October. Namibia's Ministry of Mines & Energy recently unveiled a third offshore licensing round covering all...

British Columbia exploration.
August 24, 1998... Patrick Crow The province of British Columbia is doing (almost) everything it can to encourage oil and gas exploration. Last spring, the provincial government and the oil industry negotiated regulatory and tax changes to prompt industry to...

Moray Firth study tops North Sea action.(Amerada Hess Ltd., ARCO British Ltd., BG Exploration &Production Ltd., Shell U.K. Ltd., TalismanEnergy (U.K.) Ltd.)
August 24, 1998... U.K. offshore operators unveiled a study of potential for joint development of a number of marginal finds in the Moray Firth off Northeast Scotland. In other U.K. offshore news, Shell U.K. Ltd. has decided to sell its stake in Kingfisher...

BG, ARCO double Tangguh proven gas reserves.
August 24, 1998... BG Exploration & Production Ltd. and ARCO Indonesia Inc. claimed to have more than doubled proven gas reserves earmarked to supply Indonesia's planned Tangguh liquefied natural gas project. The operators said a 13-well, 12-month appraisal...

Asian woes slow Aussie Gorgon LNG project.(Royal Dutch/Shell, Chevron Corp., MobilCorp., and Texaco Inc.)
August 24, 1998... The Asian economic crisis has halted plans for a fast-track development of the proposed $8 billion (Australian) Gorgon liquefied natural gas export project on the North West Shelf off Western Australia. The project participants--Royal...

India's GAIL plans big gas trunk line.(Gas Authority of India Ltd.)
August 24, 1998... Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL) plans to lay a natural gas trunk pipeline from Hazira in Gujarat to Bijapur, central India, at a cost of about 35 billion rupees ($825 million). The proposal has been identified as a core project that needs...

BP Amoco assessed.(merger)
August 24, 1998... davidk@ogjonline.com Industry watchers last week were expecting announcement of a takeover bid of some kind in the current low oil price trough, but nothing as big as the BP-Amoco deal. British Petroleum Co. plc and Amoco Corp. shook the...

Australia undertakes major overhaul of retail gasoline industry.
August 24, 1998... Australia's government has unveiled a major overhaul of the country's gasoline retailing industry that it says will increase competition and cut fuel prices for motorists and business in general. What's involved Under the deregulation...

Australian refiners confront market scramble.
August 24, 1998... Australia's refining industry is undergoing spasms of contraction and expansion. Shell Australia Ltd. and Mobil Australia Ltd. have confirmed reports of discussions between them regarding a possible merger of their refining assets. While...

U.S. gasoline production hits record.
August 24, 1998... American Petroleum Institute reports that U.S. gasoline production was a record 8.23 million b/d in July, a 3.5% increase from July 1997. The previous record was 8.19 million b/d in June 1997. API also said inputs to U.S. refineries last July...

Correction.
August 24, 1998... An industry brief about a helium supply agreement between BOG Gases and Union Pacific Fuels Inc. (UPFI) incorrectly stated that BOG has access to helium from six other UPFI plants (OGJ, Aug. 17, 1998, p. 46). The six other helium plants from...

Sun Co. Inc.
August 24, 1998... Sun Co. Inc. unit Sunoco Chemicals completed expansion of the cumene unit at Sun's Philadelphia refinery. The project increased cumene capacity to 850 million lb/year from 500 million lb/year. It involved installation of a new zeolite catalyst...

Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery Co.
August 24, 1998... Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery Co. let contract to Foster Wheeler Italiana SpA to provide engineering and procurement for a thermal gas oil unit to be built at its 310,000 b/d Jubail refinery. The unit will consist of a visbreaker/thermal cracker...

U.S. Minerals Management Service.
August 24, 1998... U.S. Minerals Management Service plans workshops Sept. 1 in Houston, Sept. 15 in New Orleans, and Sept. 24 in Camarillo, Calif., to explain its oil spill financial responsibility rule to offshore operators.

Shell Philippines Exploration BV.
August 24, 1998... Shell Philippines Exploration BV let contract to Allseas Marine Contractors SA, Chatel-St. Denis, Switzerland, for installation of pipelines for the Malampaya deepwater gas development off the Philippines. Work will include laying a 24-in.,...

MMS.
August 24, 1998... MMS issued a rule delineating responsibility for offshore pipelines between it and the Department of Transportation's Office of Pipeline Safety. MMS will oversee producer-operated facilities and pipelines, and OPS will regulate main lines and...

Duke Energy International LLC.
August 24, 1998... Duke Energy International LLC, Charlotte, NC., acquired the Queensland state gas transmission pipeline from PG&E Corp., San Francisco, for $200 million (Australian). Duke is relocating its Asia-Pacific headquarters from Hong Kong to Melbourne...

Altura Energy Ltd.(pipeline planned)
August 24, 1998... Altura Energy Ltd., Houston, signed a letter of intent with a unit of Koch Industries Inc., Wichita, to form an alliance to convert an 82-mile hydrocarbon gas pipeline in Southwest Texas back to [CO.sub.2] service. The pipeline would transport...

A combination of.
August 24, 1998... A combination of external corrosion and stress corrosion cracking were the likely causes of an Aug. 8 natural gas pipeline explosion in northern Alberta, says Nova Gas Corp., Calgary. The rupture occurred in the 36-in, main line about 186 miles...

Epic Energy.
August 24, 1998... Epic Energy revived a proposed $874 million (Australian) expansion of its Dampier-to-Bunbury gas pipeline in Western Australia by announcing it will increase capacity to allow it to meet new contracts. Epic will add 84 MMcfd of capacity in the...

Koch Midstream Gathering & Processing Co.
August 24, 1998... Koch Midstream Gathering & Processing Co., Wichita, signed a letter of intent with Duke Energy Field Services to exchange certain natural gas gathering and processing systems. Duke will acquire Koch's gathering and processing systems in South...

Mississippi Oil and Gas Board.
August 24, 1998... Mississippi Oil and Gas Board approved conversion of Four Mile Creek gas field in Monroe County, Miss., to a natural gas storage field. The field is northeast of Amory, Miss., between Texas Eastern Mainline M-1 and Tennessee Gas Pipeline 500...

Barrett Resources Corp.'s.
August 24, 1998... Barrett Resources Corp.'s Cave Gulch 1-29 LAK well, 45 miles northwest of Casper, Wyo., blew out Aug. 13. At presstime, Barrett had ignited the uncontrolled gas flow. No one was injured by the blowout, which appeared to have been caused by a...

BP Exploration Operating Co. Ltd.
August 24, 1998... BP Exploration Operating Co. Ltd. and Algerian state firm Sonatrach let contract to a combine of JGC Corp., Yokohama, and M. W. Kellogg Co., Houston, for front-end engineering design of the In Salah gas development in Algeria. BP-Sonatrach...

China National Offshore Oil Corp.
August 24, 1998... (Cnooc) let contract to Alliance Engineering Inc., Houston, for basic design of the Dong Fang 1-1 gas field development project. Facilities will include a central production platform with separation and dehydration units, two unmanned wellhead...

British-Borneo Petroleum Syndicate plc,.
August 24, 1998... London, installed a Seastar monohull tension-leg platform in Morpeth field in the Gulf of Mexico. The TLP was designed and built by Atlantia Corp., Houston, and installed in 1,700 ft of water by J. Ray McDermott Inc., New Orleans. The project...

Phillips Norway Group's.
August 24, 1998... Ekofisk II redevelopment project in the Norwegian North Sea began producing oil and gas (see story, p. 29, and OGJ, May 18, 1998, p. 46). The project was on schedule and 20% under budget, said Phillips. Production is expected to reach 306,000...

R&B Falcon Corp.
August 24, 1998... R&B Falcon Corp. signed a letter of intent to acquire Cliffs Drilling Co. Both companies are based in Houston. If the deal proceeds, R&B Falcon will issue 1.7 shares of common stock for each outstanding share of Cliffs Drilling. The deal,...

ARCO.
August 24, 1998... ARCO closed its purchase of Union Texas Petroleum Holdings Inc., Houston (OGJ, May 11, 1998, p. 36). ARCO will close Union Texas's Houston office by yearend. Only about six Houston employees will get job offers from ARCO, reports say. About 250...

An explosion at.
August 24, 1998... An explosion at Chinese Petroleum Corp.'s third naphtha cracker at Linyuan, Taiwan, killed one worker and seriously injured a second. The blast occurred when the two contract workers were performing regularly scheduled maintenance on a holding...

Uzbekneftegas.
August 24, 1998... Uzbekneftegas let contract to a group led by ABB Lummus Global, Bloomfield, N.J., for construction of the Shurtan gas chemical complex at Tashkent. The group includes Italy's ABB Soimi and a joint venture of Japanese firms Nissho Iwai Co.,...

Continental Energy Marketing Ltd.,.
August 24, 1998... Calgary, acquired two exploration properties in Indonesia. Both were made through the purchase of 100% of the outstanding shares of the companies that owned the properties. The sole asset of Apex (Bengara-II), a British Virgin Islands firm, was...

PTT moving to shed subpar downstream assets.
August 24, 1998... Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) is moving to shed or downsize its petroleum refining and petrochemical assets that offer little or no return on investment. The action will be taken in connection with a major capital restructuring that...

New line for slurry-oil filter solves plugging problems.
August 24, 1998... Hyung Soon Kim is an operations manager for the resid FCCU at LG-Caltex Oil Corp. He is in charge of the reactor, the regenerator, the CO-boiler, Desox, and utilities at the unit. Kim has 13 years of experience in refining, which includes...

First LNG from North field overcomes feed, start-up problems.
August 24, 1998... Nasser Hamad Khalid Al-Thani is a technical manager for Qatar Liquefied Gas Co. Ltd. (Qatargas), for which he has worked since April 1992 as a project coordination manager and project manager. From 1987 to 1992, he was employed by Qatar General...

Low-corrosion brine provides high-temperature completion alternative.
August 24, 1998... Daniel P Vollmer is a research scientist at OSCA Inc., Lafayette, La. He is responsible for developing drilling and completion fluid systems. Vollmer has BS and MS degrees in chemical engineering for the University of Southwestern Louisiana....

Mathematical technique improves directional well-path planning.
August 24, 1998... P. V. R. (Suri) Suryanarayana is a senior engineer at Mobil E&P Technical Center in Dallas. His current areas of interest include drillstring and tubular mechanics, thermal and fluid sciences, reliability-based design, coiled tubing, and...

World's largest bi-center bit directionally drills four wells in Malaysia.
August 24, 1998... Bi-center bits used to drill and underream in one continuous operation can now provide steerability in large hole diameters during directional surface drilling operations. The bi-center bit shown in Fig. 1 is currently the world's largest....