The Oil and Gas Journal articles from December 1998

The Oil and Gas Journal archives from December 1998

WORLD CRUDE PRICES.
December 7, 1998... WORLD CRUDE PRICES [($/bbl).sup.*] 11-20-98 United Kingdom-Brent 38[degrees] 10.68 Russia-Urals 32[degrees] 9.98 Saudi light 34[degrees] 11.48 Dubal Fateh...

PAGE REFINING MARGINS.
December 7, 1998... PAGE REFINING MARGINS Sept. Oct. Nov. Nov. % 1998 1998 1998 1997 Change change $/bbl U.S. Gulf Coast West Texas...

U.S. NATURAL GAS BALANCE DEMAND/SUPPLY SCOREBOARD.
December 7, 1998... U.S. NATURAL GAS BALANCE DEMAND/SUPPLY SCOREBOARD Aug. Total YTD Aug. July Aug. change YTD change...

WORLDWIDE NGL PRODUCTION.
December 7, 1998... WORLDWIDE NGL PRODUCTION 8 month average Chg. vs. Aug. July Production previous year 1998 1998 ...

OXYGENATES.
December 7, 1998... OXYGENATES Sept. Aug. YTD YTD 1998 1998 Change 1998 1997 Change 1,000 bbl Fuel ethanol Production 2,926 2,709 217...

U.S. COOLING DEGREE [DAYS.sup.*].
December 7, 1998... U.S. COOLING DEGREE [DAYS.sup.*] 1998 % change Total degree days Sept. Sept. from Jan. 1 through...

U.S. CRUDE PRICES.
December 7, 1998... U.S. CRUDE PRICES [($/bbl).sup.*] 11-27-98 Alaska-North Slope 27[degrees] 8.90 Southern Louisiana Light 9.50 California-Kern River 13[degrees] 6.75 ...

New hunting grounds studied on Peru's continental slope.
December 7, 1998... Among the 10 sedimentary basins along the coast of [Peru.sup.1], at least four have been recognized on the upper and middle continental slope (Figs. 1-3). All are strongly linear and essentially parallel to the coastline and to the axis of the...

Publication.
December 7, 1998... The Deep Hot Biosphere, by Thomas Gold, published by Copernicus/Springer- Verlag, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10010. 225 p., $27 (suggested) in bookstores. This is the first book on Thomas Gold's controversial and astonishing theories....

South Australia.(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Santos Ltd. groups reported two gas field discoveries in the Cooper/ Eromanga basins. Moonanga 1, on the Patchawarra Southwest Block 49 kin west-northwest of Moomba gas plant, flowed 9.3 MMcfd of gas on a I in. choke with 29 bid of...

China.
December 7, 1998... China National Star Petroleum Corp. discovered Luodai gas field near Chengdu City in Sichuan Province. CNSPC's Southwestern Petroleum Administration determined that the field covers about 150 sq km and contains as many as 17 gas...

Indonesia.(Unocal production sharing contracts)(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Unocal Corp. added the Sangkarang and Lompa production sharing contracts in the Makassar Strait about 480 km south of the company's existing offshore producing operations. Sangkarang covers nearly 8,100 sq km and Lompa more than 10,100 sq...

Gulf of Mexico.
December 7, 1998... Seneca Resources Corp., Houston, said preliminary log analysis indicated that the OCS-G-17912 well No. 1 on Vermilion Block 253 cut about 900 ft (TVD) of oil and gas pay in 18 sands. TD is 11,270 ft. Seneca planned to determine reservoir...

Texas.
December 7, 1998... West Magnum Hunter Resources Inc., Irving, Tex., will determine further locations from 3D seismic data that led to an Abo reef completion in the Kingdom field area of Terry County. The 1 Lilly et al., 90 miles north of Midland, cut...

API IMPORTS OF CRUDE AND PRODUCTS.
December 7, 1998... API IMPORTS OF CRUDE AND PRODUCTS Districts 1-4 District 5 11-20 [11-13.sup.*] 11-20 [11-13.sup.*] 1998 ...

OGJ CRACK SPREAD.
December 7, 1998... OGJ CRACK SPREAD [11-20-98.sup.*] [11-27-97.sup.*] Change % $/bbl Change SPOT PRICES Product value 14.41...

API CRUDE AND PRODUCTS STOCKS.
December 7, 1998... API CRUDE AND PRODUCTS STOCKS Motor gasoline Blending Crude oil ...

API REFINERY REPORT--NOVEMBER 20, 1998.
December 7, 1998... API REFINERY REPORT--NOVEMBER 20, 1998 REFINERY OPERATIONS Total Input refinery Crude to crude Operable...

OGJ GASOLINE PRICES.
December 7, 1998... OGJ GASOLINE PRICES Price ex tax (Approx. prices for self-seivice unleaded gasoline) 11-25-98...

REFINED PRODUCT PRCIES.
December 7, 1998... REFINED PRODUCT PRCIES 11-20-98 ([cent]/gal) Spot market product prices Motor gasoline (coventional-regular) New York Harbor ...

BAKER HUGHES RIG COUNT.
December 7, 1998... BAKER HUGHES RIG COUNT 11-27-98 11-28-97 Alabama 5 4 Alaska 10 12 Arkansas 0 14 California ...

SMITH RIG COUNT.
December 7, 1998... SMITH RIG COUNT 11-27-98 11-28-97 Proposed depth (ft) Rig Count % [footage.sup.*] Rig Count % [footage.sup.*] 0-2,500 11 9.0 13...

OGJ PRODUCTION REPORT.
December 7, 1998... OGJ PRODUCTION REPORT [11-27-98.sup.*] [11-28-97.sup.+] (1,000 b/d) (Crude oil and lease condensate) Alabama 34...

R.W. MeClaughlin Tubefabs Ltd.
December 7, 1998... R.W. MeClaughlin Tubefabs Ltd., Westgate, Aldridge, West Midlands, has been acquired by the Maloney Industries U.K. division of Maloney Industries Inc., Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Maloney Industries is a designer and fabricator of a complete...

EPA names oxygenates panel.
December 7, 1998... The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has named 14 persons to serve on an advisory committee to study issues posed by the use of methyl tertiary butyl ether and other oxygenates in gasoline. Carol Browner, EPA administrator, said, "While...

European pipeline performance improving, spill study shows.
December 7, 1998... Recent analysis of 25 years of spill statistics for Western European pipelines suggests that a pipeline system poses no greater risk because it is aging. That's the major conclusion of a report prepared by Concawe's D. Lyon and released...

TAPS replaces, repairs valves in 3-year inspection program.
December 7, 1998... The longest planned shutdown in the history of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline system (TAPS) ended in September with replacement of one main line valve and repair in-place of another, according to Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., Anchorage, which...

Permeability function describes core permeability in stress-sensitive rocks.
December 7, 1998... THE AUTHORS Tom A Jelmert is associate professor of petroleum engineering at the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH), in Trondheim. He previously was a research engineer with Sintef, (Foundation for Scientific & Industrial Research at...

BOOKS.
December 7, 1998... Tempest aver Teapot Dome, by David H. Stratton. Published by University of Oklahoma Press, 1005 Asp Ave., Norman, Okla. 73019-0445. 392 pp., $29.95. This book is the fascinating biography of Albert Fall, former U.S. Secretary of the...

NELSON-FARRAR COST INDEXES.
December 7, 1998... NELSON-FARRAR COST INDEXES Refinery Construction (1946 Basis) (Explained on p. 145 of the issue of Dec. 30, 1985) Aug....

Asset management delivers quick returns to Canadian refinery.
December 7, 1998... THE AUTHOR Martin Flatley is senior instrument engineer at the Sunoco refinery in Sarnia, Ont. Prior to this position he was an instrument technician and technologist for about 10 years. Before joining Sunoco he was an instruments...

Rubber coating protects Platform riser.
December 7, 1998... Externally rubber-coated steel pipe provides a new option for protecting offshore platform risers from seawater corrosion. In one example, Keramchemie GmbH (KCH) installed a rubber coating to a gas pipeline riser on a Shell Expro platform...

Russian test facility allows direct inspection of bottom-hole assemblies under in situ conditions.
December 7, 1998... Russian drilling-research facility, located in Perm, provides a unique test environment for examining downhole motor, bottom-hole assemblies (BRA), drill bits, and geophysical tools under conditions simulating in situ drilling environments. ...

Junction design based on operational requirements.
December 7, 1998... Multilateral well systems now allow for to a variety of junctions be installed, depending upon the operators' needs as dictated by geologic, engineering, and economic considerations. There are currently six distinct categories or levels of...

Flat panel monitor.
December 7, 1998... The Survivor-LightLink, a Class I, Division 1 and 2 compliant flat panel monitor, communicates via fiber optic link with its host as far as 20 km away. Designed for harsh environments and high ambient conditions, the system's 15 in....

Gas jet compressor.
December 7, 1998... A new gas jet compressor promises to triple gas production from low pressure wells. In field installations, the company notes, its gas jet compressors have increased production rates from offshore gas fields by combining gas from high and...

Sensor detects ppb levels of hydrogen sulfide.
December 7, 1998... A new, sensitive, and selective sensor detects and measures hydrogen sulfide at low parts per billion levels. Designed to measure [H.sub.2]S concentrations of 15-300 ppb, the TX-261FMD detector is suited for monitoring refinery control...

Manual defines role of duplex stainless steel in refineries.
December 7, 1998... New Technical Manual S-1541 defines the role of duplex stainless steel tubes in refinery heat exchanger uses. The free 21 page manual examines the refinery environment and describes the part to be played by duplex alloys in heat exchangers,...

MOVES AND PROMOTIONS.
December 7, 1998... Pool Energy Services Co., Houston, Tex., has named Dennis R. Hendrix to its board of directors. Hendrix was chief executive officer of PanEnergy Corp. from 1990 to 1995 and was chairman from 1990 until 1997, when the company merged with...

The Falcon Group.
December 7, 1998... The Falcon Group, Houston, Tex., is expanding the Baker Hughes training center by adding 32,000 square feet to the existing facility. The expansion space will include a 3500 square-foot state-of-the-art data center, classrooms, a small...

Weir Engineering Services (WES).(agreement with Demag Delaval Turbomachinery )(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Weir Engineering Services (WES), Glasgow, Scotland, and Demag Delaval Turbomachinery have signed a cooperation agreement to provide maintenance services for turbomachinery in the U.K. The deal means that as a combination, WES and Demag...

EPA'S agenda.
December 7, 1998... U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol Browner continues to talk cooperation with industry, although her agency often takes a tougher line. Browner told a National Association of Manufacturers meeting last week that EPA...

Sunwing Energy Ltd.(plans to develop Tuyuke oil field in China)(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Sunwing Energy Ltd., Calgary, plans to develop its third oil field project in China. The company will conduct a joint venture study of the Tuyuke oil field, near Turpan in northwestern China, together with the Tuha Petroleum Exploration &...

Royal Dutch/Shell.(reopens five oil flow stations in Nigeria )(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Royal Dutch/Shell reopened five oil flow stations, restoring 30,000 b/d of flow to the Forcados terminal in southern Nigeria. The stations Egwu 1 and 2 and Odidi 1 and 2 are in complete operation, while Jones Creek station was reopened but...

Statoil.
December 7, 1998... Statoil installed Sin platform on Nov. 18 off Denmark after delays caused by bad weather (OGJ, Nov.30, 1998, p. 34). The jack up production unit was mounted on a seabed storage tank that was installed in the field earlier this year (OGJ, Aug....

Oryx U.K. Energy Co.(renews contract with KCA Drilling Ltd.)(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Oryx U.K. Energy Co. renewed its drilling contract with KCA Drilling Ltd., Aberdeen, covering three U.K. North Sea platforms: Ninian, Hutton, and Murchison. The term of the contract, worth more than [pounds]13 million/year to KCA, is 3 years...

Saga Petroleum.(lets contract to Dragados Offshore S.A.)(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Saga Petroleum will have the hull for its Snorre B production semisubmersible built at the Cadiz, Spain, yard of Dragados Offshore SA. Dragados was awarded the contract by the alliance of Oslo-based Kvaerner AS and Aker Maritime AS, which is...

Texaco North Sea U.K. Co.(lets contract to Kvaerner Oil & Gas Ltd.)(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Texaco North Sea U.K. Co. let a [pounds]100 million contract to Kvaerner Oil & Gas Ltd., London, for engineering, construction, and installation of a process and utilities platform on Block 13/22a Captain field. The platform will boost...

Enron Oil & Gas India Ltd.(lets contract to Kvaerner Process India )(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Enron Oil & Gas India Ltd. let a front-end engineering and design contract to Kvaerner Process India for two wellhead platforms to be installed in Panna field off India's west coast. The work on the PH and PJ platforms is expected to take about...

Cabinda Gulf Oil Co. Ltd.(lets contract to )(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Cabinda Gulf Oil Co. Ltd., a unit of Chevron Corp., let contract to Coflexip Stena Offshore Group to lead a consortium of companies for the design, construction, and installation of Kuito Phase 1A facilities on Block 14 off Angola. Other...

FPL Group Inc.(want to buy geothermal power plants from Pacific Gas & Electric Co.)(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... FPL Group Inc., Juno Beach, Fla., plans to acquire certain geothermal power plants, known as The Geysers, with a total capacity of 700 MW, from Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for $213 million. The transaction is expected to be completed by second...

CalEnergy Co. Inc.(two contracts with Stone & Webster Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... CalEnergy Co. Inc. let two contracts to Stone & Webster Inc., Boston, for work on two geothermal power projects in the Salton Sea geothermal area of Southern California's Imperial Valley. The contracts are for engineering, procurement, and...

Amoseas Indonesia Inc.
December 7, 1998... Amoseas Indonesia Inc. let contract for an undisclosed price to Stone & Webster for engineering, design, procurement, and construction of a cogeneration power plant at Dun field, in Sumatra, Indonesia. The plant will produce 305 MW of...

Chevron Corp.(newest double-hull oil tanker)(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Chevron Corp. launched a 305,500 dwt, double-hull tanker at Koje, South Korea. The tanker, named M/T Frank A. Shrontz, is the largest of Chevron's 11 double-hulled tankers and is the first of four being built for Chevron by Samsung Heavy...

The U.S. Coast Guard.
December 7, 1998... The U.S. Coast Guard may allow single-hull oil tankers that are refitted with double sides or bottoms to remain in service longer. The 1990 Oil Pollution Act allows longer life spans for double-hulled tankers than for single-hulled ships. The...

Canada's NED approves Alliance pipeline.(National Energy Board; natural gas and liquids pipeline project )(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Canada's National Energy Board has approved the $4 billion (Canadian) Alliance natural gas and liquids pipeline project from Western Canada to Chicago. NEB attached 54 conditions to its approval relating to protection of property, the...

Frontier gas boosts Indonesia's reserves.(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Indonesia's oil and gas sector is thought by the industry to be relatively mature, but there is still significant potential to prove up further reserves. This is the view of Wood Mackenzie Consultants Ltd., Edinburgh, which said that,...

Russian JV slates Viet Nam refinery.
December 7, 1998... A joint venture of Russian and Vietnamese state firms has signed an agreement to build Viet Nam's first refinery at Dung Quat in central Quang Ngai province. Zarubezhneft and Petrovietnam plan to build a 130,000 b/d refinery to process...

Union Carbide Corp.(with Petronas lets contract to Kvaerner Process and Kvaerner (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.; contracts also to Linde AG and Linde Engineering & Contracting (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. )(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Union Carbide Corp. and Malaysian state firm Petronas chose Kvaerner Process and Kvaerner (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. as project management consultancy contractors for their joint venture Malaysian petrochemical complex (OGJ, Apr. 13, 1998, p. 38)....

Exxon-Mobil, Total-Petrofina mergers slated.
December 7, 1998... The landscape of the global petroleum industry has changed dramatically again, with the announcements that two pairs of major companies will merge in separate deals-one of which is the biggest industrial merger in history. U.S. majors...

Majors' merger rash.(more mergers of petroleum companies expected)
December 7, 1998... With the merger of British Petroleum Co. plc and Amoco Corp. going according to plan, other majors look set to follow their lead in the race to cut unit costs. On Nov. 25, BP shareholders voted almost unanimously at a London meeting in...

Mexico's Energy Regulatory Commission.(issues permit to Fuerza y Energia de Hermosillo)(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Mexico's Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) issued an independent power producer (IPP) generation permit to Fuerza y Energia de Hermosillo, a unit of Spain's Union Fenosa y Accion Exterior. Fuerza will build the $185 million, 253-MW...

Amoco Canada Petroleum Ltd.(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Amoco Canada Petroleum Ltd. and Northstar Energy Corp., both of Calgary, discovered natural gas with the WeeJay d57-G-93-I-09 well, in northeastern British Columbia. The well was drilled to 15,100 ft into the Mississippian and tested at a rate...

ARCO Alaska Inc.(forms alliance with PetroFina Delaware Inc. and Murphy Exploration & Production Co. )(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... ARCO Alaska Inc., PetroFina Delaware Inc., and Murphy Exploration & Production Co. formed a North Slope exploration alliance, called the Stockton Islands Alignment Agreement. The agreement covers all or parts of 16 leases totaling more than...

Penn Octane Corp.(lets contract to unit of Cowboy Pipeline Service Co.)(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Penn Octane Corp., Redwood City, Calif., let a $14 million contract to a unit of Cowboy Pipeline Service Co., Houston, for the construction, operation, and financing of two 8-in, pipelines to be laid from Penn Octane's terminal at the port of...

Caracas-based Sincor CA.(lets contract to )(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Caracas-based Sincor CA, a consortium of France's Total, Petroleos de Venezuela SA; and Norway's Statoil, let a 170 million deutschemark turnkey contract to Krupp Uhde GmbH, Dortmund, Germany, for the supply of a 422 ton/day hydrogen plant. The...

Enron Europe Ltd.(acquires )(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Enron Europe Ltd. bought the Teesside Utilities & Services (TUS) unit of Imperial Chemical Industries plc (101) for [pounds]300 million. TUS provides industrial customers in the Wilton, Billingham, and North Tees areas of northeast England with...

A partnership.(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... A partnership between a unit of Abraxas Petroleum Corp., San Antonio, and a unit of GE Capital Structured Finance Group, Stamford, Conn., purchased about 8,700 net acres of natural gas producing properties in the Wamsutter area of southwestern...

Equatorial Energy Inc.(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Equatorial Energy Inc., Denver, acquired certain western Canada assets from Gulf Canada Resources Ltd., Calgary, for $50 million (Canadian) in cash and $20.5 million in Equatorial convertible preferred shares. The properties in Alberta,...

Gaz de France International.(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Gaz de France International acquired Oslo-based Saga Petroleum AS's interest in Production License 120 in the Norwegian North Sea for 530 million kroner. This transaction includes Saga's 4.2% interest in Visund oil and gas field. Operated by...

Deutag AG.(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Deutag AG, Bad Bentheim, Germany, plans to purchase Stavanger-based Smedvig AS's U.K. North Sea platform drilling operations for 340 million kroner. The agreement includes platform drilling contracts on six fixed installations and production...

An explosion.(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... An explosion at Equilon Puget Sound Refining Co.'s Anacortes, Wash., refinery killed six people last week. The plant was recovering from a power failure caused by wind storms when the refinery's coker unit exploded, sending nontoxic black smoke...

Phillips Petroleum Co.(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Phillips Petroleum Co. will license its Reduced Volatility Alkylation Process (Revap) to Cenco Refining Co. Revap uses an altered hydrofluoric (HF) acid catalyst system that, when used in existing HF alkylation units, makes it possible to...

Indian Oil Corp.(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) announced plans to build a 13 million metric ton/year crude oil import terminal at Pipavav, Gujarat. IOC also has a crude import terminal at Vadinar, Gujarat, and one at Haldia, West Bengal. Crude will be transparted from...

Oil price hits new low as OPEC squabbles.(Brief Article)
December 7, 1998... The outcome of the meeting of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries oil ministers in Vienna on Nov. 25 has taken the oil industry by surprise. While few expected any great price-reviving agreement from the meeting, even fewer...

Newsletter.(Industry Overview)
December 7, 1998... Oil industry mergers have achieved a mind-blowing scale, with Exxon gobbling up Mobil and Total swallowing Petrofina (see story. p. 37). Yet according to Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, the merger mania is...

U.S. INDUSTRY SCOREBOARD 12/7.(Illustration)
December 7, 1998... U.S. INDUSTRY SCOREBOARD 12/7 4 wk. 4 wk. avg. % Year-to-date Latest week 11/20 average year [ago.sup.*] change [average.sup.*] Demand (1,000 b/d) Motor gasoline...

LETTERS.
December 7, 1998... Global warming hoax? The article, "Buenos Aires climate change meet unlikely to achieve breakthroughs" (OGJ, Nov. 2, 1998, p. 27) neglects to mention the scientifically provable view that global warming is a hoax. Global temperatures...

Coring Jovian moons.
December 7, 1998... Antarctica's Lake Vostok, a subglacial lake buried below 3.7 km of ice, may provide clues as to whether life can exist in extremely cold environments- not only on Earth, but on the moons of Jupiter. Unfortunately, inadequate coring technologies...

A new strategy for Iraq.
December 7, 1998... With another unrequited provocation, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has shown that the U.S. doesn't want to attack his country. While U.S. President Bill Clinton shouldn't make empty threats against the bully in Baghdad, he was correct this...

Vastar uses technology, strategy to compete with majors in deep water.
December 7, 1998... Vastar Resources Inc. is defying conventional wisdom for independents and looking to the deepwater Gulf of Mexico as a key contributor to its future growth. Despite the high costs and elevated risks associated with exploration in this...

More gulf drilling needed to offset decline.
December 7, 1998... An acceleration of Gulf of Mexico shelf drilling is needed in order to offset gas production declines resulting from high well-depletion rates. This is the conclusion of Simmons & Co. International in a group of reports on depletion rates...

Newsletter.
December 14, 1998... The outlook for U.S. E&P has undergone a dizzying 180[degrees] turnaround in only 12 months. That can be seen in the results from Arthur Andersen's annual U.S. oil and gas industry survey, unveiled at the consultant's energy conference in...

U.S. INDUSTRY SCOREBOARD12/14.
December 14, 1998... U.S. INDUSTRY SCOREBOARD12/14 4 wk. 4 wk. avg. % Year-to-date Latest week 11/27 average year [ago.sup.*] change [average.sup.*] Demand (1,000 b/d) Motor gasoline ...