The Oil and Gas Journal articles from December 2000

The Oil and Gas Journal archives from December 2000

OGJ Newsletter.
December 18, 2000... Market Movement IEA sees oil market cooling off IEA, in its December Oil Market Report (OMR), suggests that the market is easing after all. Industry stocks of crude oil in OECD countries are up, refining margins are down, and demand...

US INDUSTRY SCOREBOARD -- 12/18.
December 18, 2000... US INDUSTRY SCOREBOARD -- 12/18 4 wk. 4 wk. avg. % Year-to-date YTD avg. Latest week 12/8 average year ago [1] change average [1] year ago [1] Demand (1,000 b/d) Motor...

GLOBAL MARINE SCORE [*].
December 18, 2000... GLOBAL MARINE SCORE [*] % % % change change change on on on By region ...

THE PROFITABILITY OF OFFSHORE DRILLING RIGS CONTINUES TO IMPROVE.
December 18, 2000... Houston-based offshore drilling contractor Global Marine reports its Summary of Current Offshore Rig Economics (SCORE) for October increased to 34.8, up 2.9% from September (see table). SCORE compares the profitability of current mobile...

AGA SAYS THAT ALMOST HALF OF US HOMES MAY BE ABLE TO CHOOSE THEIR OWN NATURAL GAS SUPPLIER.
December 18, 2000... AGA said that nearly half the US households with gas service can, or soon may be able to, buy from a supplier other than their local utility. AGA said its updated study demonstrates the continued growth of competition in the gas...

IOGCC SAYS THAT US NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION NEEDS FEDERAL INCENTIVES.
December 18, 2000... IOGCC this month urged the next Congress to enact incentives aimed at increasing US gas production. The 30-state group approved a resolution, during its annual meeting in San Antonio, that asked Congress and the next, president to focus...

EPA HAS UNVEILED UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK COMPLIANCE PROGRAM INITIATIVES.
December 18, 2000... EPA may ask Congress for more authority to regulate storage tank system components not under EPA jurisdiction, such as leak detection or other aboveground equipment, said a spokesman for the agency late last month. "We haven't determined...

PAPUA NEW GUINEA HAS ASKED AUSTRALIA FOR UP TO $650 MILLION (AUS.) TO HELP IT TAKE A DIRECT INTEREST IN THE PROPOSED 3,500-KM GAS PIPELINE FROM PAPUA NEW GUINEA TO QUEENSLAND.
December 18, 2000... Papua New Guinea has already raised $190 million (Aus.) from the European Investment Bank but needs a further $650 million to fund the major wet gas component of the project. Any Australian contribution would come on top of the $300 million...

PERU HAS SIGNED DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSPORTATION CONTRACTS FOR THE CAMISEA GAS PROJECT.
December 18, 2000... The new Peruvian government headed by Pres. Valentin Paniagua signed the development and transportation contracts for the long-awaited Camisea natural gas project. He said that his government would propose a natural resource tax on gas...

CONOCO IS MAKING PLANS TO DEVELOP TWO UK NORTH SEA DISCOVERIES.
December 18, 2000... Conoco said that two appraisals confirmed discoveries in the UK central North Sea that could yield estimated gross reserves of more than 100 million hoe, once developed. Conoco is evaluating the fields, one oil and the other gas, and...

MMS WILL SUSPEND ROYALTIES ON THE FIRST 87.5 MILLION BOE THAT CHEVRON PRODUCES.
December 18, 2000... MMS WILL SUSPEND ROYALTIES ON THE FIRST 87.5 MILLION BOE THAT CHEVRON PRODUCES from Green Canyon Block 236 field off Louisiana The field, also known as Typhoon, is 173 miles southwest of New Orleans and lies partially in water deeper than...

BRIGHTENING PROSPECTS FOR ALASKAN NORTH SLOPE GAS TOP THIS WEEK'S PIPELINE NEWS.
December 18, 2000... Principal ANS gas producers BP, Phillips, and ExxonMobil have agreed to a joint work program to study feasibility of a pipeline to move gas from Alaska via Canada to the Lower 48. In making the announcement, the three producers did not...

A US CONSORTIUM HEADED BY ENBRIDGE HAS AGREED TO PROVIDE OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES FOR A MAJOR OIL EXPORT TERMINAL IN NORTHEASTERN VENEZUELA, SAYS PDVSA.
December 18, 2000... The agreement ends months of dispute regarding a $385 million contract signed in 1998 under which Embridge and its partner Williams were scheduled to purchase the facility at Jose, Anzoategui state. After Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chavez took...

STATOIL AWARDED LINDE AG A 65 MILLION KRONER PRELIMINARY ENGINEERING CONTRACT FOR A GAS LIQUEFACTION PLANT.
December 18, 2000... The Norwegian company will build the Snohvit gas liquefaction plant at Melkoya in northern Norway. The plant will produce LNG from gas supplied from the Snohvit field development in the Barents Sea off Norway, as well as from nearby...

A PARAXYLENE PRODUCTION UNIT HAS STARTED OPERATIONS IN IRAN.
December 18, 2000... A 180,000 tonne/year paraxylene production unit has gone on stream at the Bandar Imam petrochemical complex in Iran, Bandar Imam Petrochemical Managing Director Abbas Sherimoqadam said. He said the project had cost $82 million. Iran's...

Fill'er up?
December 18, 2000... Over the past decade, retail gasoline stations have continued to modernize their facilities in order to give customers what they desire most, convenience, which is the operative word that continues to drive the evolution of service stations...

US needs energy growth.
December 18, 2000... With a protracted presidential election finally over, the US oil and gas industry faces a difficult task. It has to rebuild infrastructure. It has to convince an apparently doubtful public of the need to rebuild infrastructure. And it has to...

US heating fuel price differential nears trigger level.
December 18, 2000... The US Northeast Heating Oil Reserve is in place, and conditions for oil release from the reserve have been defined in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 2000 (EPCA). Among the conditions triggering release is a "dislocation in...

EIA: US winter heating tab continues to rise.
December 18, 2000... Heating oil prices remain a major concern for the US Northeast. In its latest short-term energy outlook, the US Energy Information Administration said, "Extraordinarily low heating oil inventories continue to put East Coast markets at...

914th and last.
December 18, 2000... This column will be absent from the pages of your Jan. 1 Oil & Gas Journal. I have left the Washington bureau to become managing editor of OGJ Online in Houston. Watching Government will be suspended for a while. When I began writing...

A marriage of inconvenience.
December 18, 2000... One would have not a little difficulty convincing Aker Maritime AS and Kvaerner AS that the industrial logic of the consolidation has found its niche in the turn-of-the-millennium oil industry. The business of mergers and acquisitions has so...

High US gas prices expected to persist.
December 18, 2000... US natural gas spot prices, which have recently risen past $9/Mcf on the New York Mercantile Exchange, are unlikely to fall significantly in the short term. That was the prevailing view in testimony by natural gas industry...

Exploration starts on large block in Central African Republic south of Chad oil project.
December 18, 2000... A Denver independent will prospect a large area of northern Central African Republic (CAR), just south of where an ExxonMobil Corp. group is moving to tap significant oil finds in southern Chad. The rights granted to RSM Production Corp.,...

Cores show promise on new play off W. Australia.
December 18, 2000... A group led by a unit of Apache Corp., Houston, said analysis of core samples from the Tusk 1 oil discovery has validated a new play concept in the offshore Carnarvon basin of western Australia. Tusk is on the WA-246-P Permit. The well...

EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT.
December 18, 2000... Apache has high hopes of commercializing the discovery and plans to drill an appraisal well in early 2001 that should indicate the lateral and downdip extent of the oil accumulation in the Athol formation and provide further data on the...

Project-management techniques improve dual-activity drillship operations.
December 18, 2000... Transocean Sedco Forex Inc.'s Discoverer Deep Seas will utilize modern project-management techniques to shorten cycle time and improve workflow procedures. This ultradeepwater vessel (Figs. 1 and 2), which uses a dual-activity design...

Two more options correct fluid-density logs for friction.
December 18, 2000... Two more methods for correcting friction effects on differential-pressure density logs from wells with high flow rates are third-party software and a nonlinear regression method. Friction affects production logging tool response by...

New JV markets one-stop GTL package.
December 18, 2000... Sasol Ltd. has joined with Chevron Corp. to position its low-temperature Sasol Slurry Phase Distillate (SPD) process as the technology of choice for monetizing natural gas reserves and satisfying cleaner fuel demands. Speaking in...

Events drive up oil-tanker rates; LNG tankers move into new role.
December 18, 2000... Events of the past year have surprised oil tanker owners and charterers alike with higher-than-expected rates. At the same time, a fundamental shift under way in the utilization of LNG shipping signals that those vessels are leaving their...

Worldwide refining capacity steady in the past year.
December 18, 2000... After years of steadily increasing, worldwide refining capacity remained essentially flat the past 2 years. In last year's refining report, OGJ reported a worldwide capacity of 81.5 million b/cd as of Jan. 1, 2000; this year, OGJ's...

2000 Worldwide Refining Survey.
December 18, 2000... Worldwide Refineries-Capacities as of January 1, 2001 Charge capacity, b/cd No. of ...

World crude and natural gas reserves rebound in 2000.
December 18, 2000... Worldwide reserves of crude oil and natural gas expanded in 2000. Crude oil reserves grew by 12.3 billion bbl, nearly erasing last year's decline while natural gas reserves reached an all-time high. This slight reserves increase occurred...

WORLDWIDE PRODUCTION.
December 18, 2000... WORLDWIDE PRODUCTION 1999 Depth, Production, production API [o] Name of field, discovery date ft...

Cadcentre Group plc.
December 18, 2000... Wilmington, Del., has named Randy Williams vice-president of business development. Williams joins Cadcentre from Kvaerner, where he most recently was vice-president of information technology and computer-integrated engineering functions....

CONMEC Inc.
December 18, 2000... Bethlehem, Pa., has announced that Murari Singh has joined the company as director, engineering technology. Singh has over 30 years of turbomachinery industry experience. He holds an MSME from City College of New York and a PhD from...

GS Metals Corp.
December 18, 2000... Pinckneyville, Ill., has appointed Jon Taylor and Tracey McHale as regional sales managers for its Flextray Cable Management Systems product line. Taylor, formerly national account manager with CommScope, is responsible for sales...

Harbison-Fischer Manufacturing Co.
December 18, 2000... Crowley, Tex., has named Steve Amburn director of export and marketing services, and Don Ceballos director of international sales. Amburn has 23 years of experience in various capacities within the export sales department of...

Hoerbiger Corporation of America Inc.
December 18, 2000... Pompano Beach, Fla., has named Hans Mathews manager of gas engine systems. Mathews comes to Hoerbiger from Tennessee Gas Pipeline, where he most recently served as superintendent of reliability analysts. He holds a degree in mechanical...

Matheson Tri-Gas.
December 18, 2000... Parsippany, NJ, has announced the appointment of Rick Kowey to senior vice-president and general manager of its Specialty Gas Division. Kowey joined Matheson in 1997 as eastern region sales manager and most recently was vice-president of...

PennNET.
December 18, 2000... Houston, Texas, has announced the acquisition of Madison Energy Advisors as an addition to its Oil & Gas Journal Exchange. Madison has been the energy industry's fastest-growing transaction advisor over the last 6 years. Oil & Gas Journal...

Titan Group.
December 18, 2000... Pampa, Tex., named Harvey Deharde vice-president of marketing. Deharde has more than 30 years of industry experience in logging, perforating, and charge manufacturing. He has a BS degree and is a member of SPE, OIPA, and IPAA. Titan...

Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue.
December 18, 2000... Cleveland, Ohio, has announced the appointment of senior litigation partner Hugh R. Whiting to be partner-in-charge of the firm's Houston office, set to open in January, 2001. Joining a number of Jones Day lawyers who will relocate to...

OGJ CRACK SPREAD.
December 18, 2000... OGJ CRACK SPREAD 12-8-00 [*] 12-10-99 [*] Change % $/bbl change SPOT PRICES Product value 35.80 28.94 6.86...

API CRUDE AND PRODUCT STOCKS.
December 18, 2000... API CRUDE AND PRODUCT STOCKS Motor gasoline Blending Jet fuels Crude oil Total Comp. [2] ...

API REFINERY REPORT--DECEMBER 8, 2000.
December 18, 2000... API REFINERY REPORT--DECEMBER 8, 2000 REFINERY OPERATIONS Total Input refinery Crude to crude Operable %...

API IMPORTS OF CRUDE AND PRODUCTS.
December 18, 2000... API IMPORTS OF CRUDE AND PRODUCTS Districts 1-4 District 5 Total U.S. 12/8 12/1 [1] 12/8 12/1 [1] 12/8 ...

OGJ GASOLINE PRICES.
December 18, 2000... OGJ GASOLINE PRICES Price Pump Pump ex tax price [*] price 12-6-00 12-6-00 12-8-99 ...

REFINED PRODUCT PRICES.
December 18, 2000... REFINED PRODUCT PRICES 12-1-00 ([cts.]/gal) Spot market product prices Motor gasoline (Conventional-regular) New York Harbor ...

BAKER HUGHES RIG COUNT.
December 18, 2000... BAKER HUGHES RIG COUNT 12-8-00 12-10-99 Alabama 6 7 Alaska 13 5 Arkansas 8 1 California 25 24...

SMITH RIG COUNT.
December 18, 2000... SMITH RIG COUNT 12-8-00 12-10-99 Proposed depth Rig % Rig % (ft) count footage [*] count footage [*] 0-2,500 40 7.5 18 ...

OGJ PRODUCTION REPORT.
December 18, 2000... OGJ PRODUCTION REPORT 12-8-00 [1] 12-10-99 [2] (1,000 b/d) (Crude oil and lease condensate) Alabama 30 30 Alaska ...

U.S. CRUDE PRICES.
December 18, 2000... U.S. CRUDE PRICES ($bbl) [*] 12-8-00 Alaska-North Slope 27[degrees] 27.74 Southern Louisiana Light 28.25 California-Kern River 13[degrees] 20.00 Lost Hills...

WORLD CRUDE PRICES.
December 18, 2000... WORLD CRUDE PRICES ($/bbl) [1] 12-1-00 United Kingdom-Brent 38[degrees] 31.12 Russia-Urals 32[degrees] 29.52 Saudi light 34[degrees] 29.08 Dubai Fateh...

AGA NATURAL GAS STOBAGE [*].
December 18, 2000... AGA NATURAL GAS STOBAGE [*] 12-1-00 11-24-00 Change (bcf) Producing region 611 622 -11 Consuming region east 1,495 1,552 -57 Consuming...

INTERNATIONAL RIG COUNT.
December 18, 2000... INTERNATIONAL RIG COUNT Oct. 2000 Oct. 99 Region Land Off. Total Total WESTERN HEMISPHERE Argentina 65 1 66 41 Bolivia ...

ERNST & YOUNG WRIGHT KILLEN GASOLINE MARKETING MARGINS [1,5].
December 18, 2000... ERNST & YOUNG WRIGHT KILLEN GASOLINE MARKETING MARGINS [1,5] Jan. Feb. Jan. Feb. [2] Y-T-D 1999 1999 2000 2000 avg. ...

OIL IMPORT FREIGHT COSTS [*].
December 18, 2000... OIL IMPORT FREIGHT COSTS [*] Cargo Freight size (Spot rate) Source Discharge Cargo (1,000 bbl) worldscale ($/bbl) Caribbean New...

SPOT GAS PRICES.
December 18, 2000... SPOT GAS PRICES Dec. price Pipeline Receipt point ($/MMBTU) ANR Custer County, Okla. 5.85 ANR Eunice, La. ...

NATURAL GAS LIQUIDS PRICES [*].
December 18, 2000... NATURAL GAS LIQUIDS PRICES [*] Mont Belvieu, TX Conway, KS Oct. Nov. Oct. Nov. 2000 ...

ERNST & YOUNG WRIGHT KILLEN ETHYLENE MARGINS [2].
December 18, 2000... ERNST & YOUNG WRIGHT KILLEN ETHYLENE MARGINS [2] E/P Light Propane mix naphtha Gas oil ...

BAKER OIL TOOLS WORKOVER RIG COUNT.
December 18, 2000... BAKER OIL TOOLS WORKOVER RIG COUNT Nov. Nov. % Region 2000 1999 change Gulf Coast 240 235 2 Mid Continent 189 136...

ERNST & YOUNG WRIGHT KILLEN REFINING MARGINS [3].
December 18, 2000... ERNST & YOUNG WRIGHT KILLEN REFINING MARGINS [3] Conversion Regional High Medium average ($bbl) December,...

ERNST & YOUNG WRIGHT KILLEN GAS PROCESSING MARGINS [3].
December 18, 2000... ERNST & YOUNG WRIGHT KILLEN GAS PROCESSING MARGINS [3] Apr. Mar. Y-T-D 2000 2000 avg. ...

Market shrugs off Iraqi oil stoppage, watches weather.
December 11, 2000... Oil prices fell last week as markets refused to be rattled by another stoppage of Iraqi crude exports. NYMEX crude fell through the $30/bbl watershed last week for the first time in 4 months, closing at $29.53/bbl Dec. 5 vs. topping...

Natural gas withdrawal rates rising.
December 11, 2000... The return to normal winter weather suggests a hefty withdrawal rate throughout the next 4 months that will keep markets exceptionally tight and gas prices extremely volatile (but volatile at the high end of the range). Yet another price...

US ELECTRIC POWER PRODUCERS CONTINUE TO DRAW HEAVILY ON NATURAL GAS SUPPLIES THIS WINTER.
December 11, 2000... Increased consumption of natural gas by electric power producers coupled with low natural gas storage levels heading into the winter season could spell disaster, according to Raymond James & Associates Inc. The analyst noted that...

STAR PROGRAM.
December 11, 2000... EPA IS EXPANDING ITS STAR PROGRAM to promote cost-effective management practices that could save up to 25 bcf, or more than 70%, of the natural gas lost annually by the gathering and processing segment of the industry. The new program...

CONVENTIONAL OIL RESERVES.
December 11, 2000... CONVENTIONAL OIL RESERVES IN WESTERN CANADA CONTINUED TO DECLINE IN 1999, but remaining reserves of crude oil and oil equivalent increased by 2.1 billion bbl, says the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). The CAPP reserves...

GULF OF MEXICO.
December 11, 2000... MMS IS PROPOSING NATURAL GAS DRILLING INCENTIVES FOR THE FEDERAL LEASE SALE IN THE GULF OF MEXICO next March that officials say could increase US gas production by 1 tcf within 6 years. During first quarter 2000, gulf gas production fell...

THE US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.
December 11, 2000... THE US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE filed suit Nov. 28 against Colonial Pipeline, alleging the company violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) by spilling about 3 million gal of oil and petroleum products from its 5,349-mile pipeline over 20 years. ...

WOODSIDE ENERGY AND PHILLIPS HAVE JOINED FORCES ON THE TIMOR SEA GAS PROJECT.
December 11, 2000... Woodside Energy and Phillips Petroleum have put their names to an "in-principle" deal that will see the two firms cooperate in moving ahead on development of their respective Timor Sea gas resources, the Greater Sunrise and Bayu-Undan...

Lasmo.
December 11, 2000... In other development news, Lasmo signed a revised agreement with Pakistan's Petroleum Ministry for the development of Bhit gas field in Sindh Province. Lasmo and partners Kirthar Pakistan and Oil & Gas Development Co. will invest $260 million...

India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp.
December 11, 2000... TOPPING PRODUCTION NEWS THIS WEEK, India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp. awarded a $27 million contract to National Petroleum Construction Co., a unit of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., for a platform and the laying of subsea pipelines in the Bombay...

Coflexip Stena Offshore (CSO).
December 11, 2000... Elsewhere on the production front, Petrobras awarded Coflexip Stena Offshore (CSO) and Premier Marche's Brazilian unit Flexibras a contract to design and install 566 km of flexible risers, flowlines, and umbilicals to tie back 21 satellite...

Samedan Oil.
December 11, 2000... Samedan Oil, a subsidiary of Noble Affiliates, said last week that production has begun from its 12-block Viosca Knoll 252 Unit. The project consists of four wells, producing 106 MMcfd of gas, 42 MMcfd of which is net to Noble's interest. The...

Fort Hills.
December 11, 2000... The Fort Hills JV signed a licensing agreement with Syncrude Canada to use technologies employed by Syncrude at its North Aurora oil sands mine. Fort Hills is in Alberta's Athabasca oil sands region 90 km north of Fort McMurray. Syncrude will...

OFFSHORE EXPLORATION IN AFRICA TOPS THIS WEEK'S EXPLORATION NEWS.
December 11, 2000... Esso Exploration Angola had another discovery on prolific deepwater Block 15 off Angola, parent company ExxonMobil announced. The discovery, Batuque, drilled in 2,400 ft of water to a TD of 12,400 ft, flowed at a test rate of 5,200 b/d....

Repsol Exploracion Egipto.
December 11, 2000... Elsewhere in Africa, Repsol Exploracion Egipto said its Neith South-3X appraisal well in the Khalda Offset concession in Egypt's western desert tested 1,100 b/d of 45[degrees] oil from one zone in the Jurassic Khatatba. The 3X well is 1.5 km...

UNION FENOSA HAS AWARDED AN ENGINEERING DESIGN SERVICES CONTRACT TO M.W. KELLOGG FOR ITS PROPOSED EGYPTIAN LNG PLANT.
December 11, 2000... Spanish utility Union Fenosa awarded a front-end engineering design services contract to M.W. Kellogg Ltd., the London affiliate of Halliburton Co.'s Kellogg Brown & Root, for Union Fenosa's proposed LNG project in the northern Egyptian port...

Royal Dutch/Shell.
December 11, 2000... In other LNG news, Royal Dutch/Shell decided to double capacity of the proposed LNG terminal at Hazira in south Gujarat, India, to 5 million tonnes/year from 2.5 million tonnes/year. On a 2-day visit to Gandhinagar, capital of Gujarat, Shell...

NOVA CHEMICALS PLANS TO CLOSE ITS JOLIET POLYSTYRENE PLANT IN 2001.
December 11, 2000... Nova Chemicals says it will close a polystyrene plant at Joliet, Ill., early in 2001 because of high costs and low profits there. The company said it plans to write off nonproductive assets at several locations and will take an after-tax...

THE ALLIANCE PIPELINE HAS FINALLY REACHED STARTUP.
December 11, 2000... The 2,300-mile Alliance natural gas and liquids pipeline system from Western Canada to the Chicago market celebrated its commercial start-up after three earlier start-up delays caused by weather and commissioning problems. Originally...

Daugherty Resources.
December 11, 2000... In other pipeline action, Daugherty Resources completed a 13-mile, 4-in, pipeline as part of the gathering system serving its Kay Jay gas field in Knox County, Ky. Three shut-in natural gas wells have been connected to the system, with six...

Bay Gas Storage.
December 11, 2000... Bay Gas Storage, a subsidiary of EnergySouth, will construct a 24-in., 18-mile pipeline in Mobile County, Ala. The line will stretch from an interconnect at Koch Gateway Pipeline's 30-in, interstate pipeline in Whistler, Ala., to Bay Gas's...