The Oil and Gas Journal articles from July 2000

The Oil and Gas Journal archives from July 2000

Oil prices persist above $30/bbl despite OPEC increase.
July 3, 2000... Oil prices remain stubbornly above $30/bbl, despite OPEC's announcement of a 708,000 b/d production increase. This points to two things: the driver of high gasoline prices in the US, propelled by parochial elements; and the market's...

Service-supply sector rebounding.
July 3, 2000... Rising demand and prices for oil and gas in the US and Canada will help the oil field service and supply sector continue its revitalization. So said Gary R. Flaharty, director of investor relations for Baker Hughes, at a Banc of America...

Energy stocks prospects brightening.
July 3, 2000... The bullish US economy is beginning to slow, but energy stocks are finally starting to rebound. That observation came from John K. Skeen, BAS director of portfolio strategy, at that same BAS conference. Because so many energy sector stocks...

OIL AND GAS CONSUMPTION ROSE LAST YEAR, EVEN AS GLOBAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION STAGNATED.
July 3, 2000... OIL AND GAS CONSUMPTION ROSE LAST YEAR, EVEN AS GLOBAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION STAGNATED for the second consecutive year, growing only 0.2% in 1999 in the aftermath of Asia's economic crisis and changing fuel use patterns in China, BP Amoco reports...

INTEREST IN GREENHOUSE EMISSIONS TRADING IS ON THE RISE.
July 3, 2000... A number of Queensland companies have joined forces to form the Queensland Emissions Trading Forum, a nonprofit organization that will provide member companies with hands-on simulated greenhouse gas emissions-trading experience in a virtual...

THE US SUPREME COURT HAS UPHELD THE SANCTITY OF FEDERAL OIL AND GAS LEASES.
July 3, 2000... The court ruled 8-1 last week that the federal government owes ExxonMobil and Marathon $156 million for voiding their leases to drill off North Carolina (see map). The court overruled an appeals court ruling. Marathon and a unit of...

A GORE PRESIDENCY WOULD ENSHRINE ALTERNATE ENERGY.
July 3, 2000... US presidential aspirant and Vice-Pres. Al Gore last week proposed a $75 billion program to reduce US dependence on imported oil, lower pollution, thwart purported global warming, and prevent electricity shortfalls. For the gas industry,...

TRITON'S SUCCESS OFF EQUATORIAL GUINEA.
July 3, 2000... TRITON'S SUCCESS OFF EQUATORIAL GUINEA continues. Its Ceiba-3 appraisal on Block G confirmed the primary reservoir found by the Ceiba-1 and Ceiba-2 wells and encountered a deeper, "similar-quality" oil reservoir, says Triton. Ceiba-3 cut...

PTT Exploration & Production.
July 3, 2000... In other exploration news, PTT Exploration & Production is eyeing exploration opportunities in Viet Nam and Indonesia, as well as in Iran, where it is pursuing concessions. At the same time, PTTEP is striving to increase the proportion of oil...

Woodside.
July 3, 2000... Meanwhile, Woodside acquired BP Amoco's one-sixth share of reserves associated with the undeveloped Egret and Dixon oil discoveries in the North West Shelf venture off Western Australia (see map). In addition, Woodside will acquire BP Amoco's...

BHP.
July 3, 2000... BHP encountered a significant oil column in its Griffin-8 appraisal well in producing Griffin field off Western Australia. This has increased the field's reserves and will boost production. The well was drilled as part of an infill program that...

BHP.
July 3, 2000... BHP made a second gas discovery off Trinidad and Tobago. The Aripo-1 wildcat, about 40 km off eastern Trinidad, flowed a stabilized 21.6 MMcfd through a 44/64-in. choke after reaching a maximum flow of 46.3 MMcfd through an 80/64-in. choke....

SMEDVIG AND KEPPEL FELS SHIPYARD.
July 3, 2000... SMEDVIG AND KEPPEL FELS SHIPYARD plan to jointly build and market an $82.5 million self-erecting semisubmersible tender rig rated to 6,000 ft of water. Keppel will build and own the $59.5 million semisubmersible hull and Smedvig will own the...

Pride Foramer.
July 3, 2000... Elsewhere on the drilling front, Pride Foramer agreed to manage rigs working off Angola owned by Ocean Rig. The agreement also covers management of units as planned by the Sonangol-Ocean Rig JV under an MOU the firms signed in February The JV's...

Friede Goldman Offshore Texas (FGOT).
July 3, 2000... Friede Goldman Offshore Texas (FGOT) reached an agreement with Petrodrill IV and Petrodrill V regarding contract disputes over FGOT's construction of two Amethyst-class deepwater semis for Petrodrill. The transaction, to he completed in July,...

PRODUCTION HAS BEGUN.
July 3, 2000... PRODUCTION HAS BEGUN from the first well on Jade platform in the ExxonMobil-operated Zafiro field on Block B off Equatorial Guinea. The well is flowing more than 12,000 b/d of oil. The $560 million Jade project pushes Zafiro output to more than...

TotalFinaElf.
July 3, 2000... Topping the rest of the week's production news, a JV of TotalFinaElf and NNPC will soon begin development of Amenam-Kpono oil field off Nigeria. TotalFinaElf pegs development costs of the 500 million bbl field at 1 billion. Production via an...

Newfoundland.
July 3, 2000... Under a revised royalty agreement covering the Hibernia offshore oil development, Newfoundland expects to receive about $100 million (Can.) in additional revenues over the next 5 years. The estimate is based on an average price of $25 (US)/bbl....

AN EXPLOSION CAUSED BY A GAS LEAK.
July 3, 2000... AN EXPLOSION CAUSED BY A GAS LEAK at Kuwait's Mina Al-Abmadi refinery on June 25 killed four people and injured 49 others, according to the Kuwaiti News Agency. The refinery was to be closed for 7-10 days for an investigation and damage...

PDVSA.
July 3, 2000... As for refining developments elsewhere, Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Ch[acute{a}]vez presented Ecuadorian Pres. Gustavo Noboa with a proposal involving an agreement between PDVSA and Petroecuador under which Ecuadorian crude would be processed at...

Nan Ya Plastics.
July 3, 2000... Nan Ya Plastics plans to spend $1.9 billion (Twn.), or about $62.3 million (US), to construct a second 100,000 tonne/year phthalic anhydride (PA) plant at Formosa Plastics Group's petrochemicals complex in central Taiwan. The plant is to begin...

Iran.
July 3, 2000... In the week's other petrochemicals report of note, Iran's first JV contract to build a petrochemicals plant at Bandar Imam Khomeini will cost an estimated $140 million, reports the UK's Balli Group Chairman, Vahid Alaghband. Balli was reported...

Sunoco and Epsilon Products.
July 3, 2000... Sunoco and Epsilon Products have formed a JV combining Epsilon's polypropylene plant at Marcus Hook, Pa., with Sunoco Chemicals' polymer-grade propylene splitters. The polypropylene plant adjoins Sunoco's Marcus Hook refinery The new venture...

CHINA HAS UNVEILED A NEW ELEMENT.
July 3, 2000... CHINA HAS UNVEILED A NEW ELEMENT in its long-term natural gas supply plan. CNOOC intends to build a gas pipeline to move China's offshore gas to markets in eastern China and will ramp up offshore development work in order to support the...

PDVSA Gas.
July 3, 2000... Western Hemisphere projects dominate the rest of the week' pipeline action. PDVSA Gas expects to sign by September a contract covering project aimed at the expansion of the Anaco-Jose gas transmission system in eastern Venezuela that will...

Imperial Oil.
July 3, 2000... Imperial Oil and partners with natural gas reserves in Canada's Mackenzie Delta are considering an 800 MMcfd pipeline from the delta to Norman Wells, NWT, where Imperial operates an oil field. The firms are studying feasibility of shipping gas...

A DOWNED GTL PLANT.
July 3, 2000... A DOWNED GTL PLANT has resumed operations. Shell MDS Malaysia resumed production at its gas-to-liquids plant at Bintulu 2 1/2 years after an explosion badly damaged its air separation unit (OGJ, Jan. 26, 1998, p. 48). The plant, which uses...

Correction.
July 3, 2000... Syntroleum Corp.'s Sweetwater project in Australia is at the design and engineering stage, not under construction, as reported incorrectly (OGJ, June 19, 2000, Newsletter, p. 8). Construction is not likely to get under way before next year,...

Letters.
July 3, 2000... Wildly variable oil prices "The lay-off legacy," OGJ's June 19, 2000, editorial, incorrectly (in my view) identifies "wildly variable oil prices" as the key determinant of employment in the oil and gas industry. According to American...

OGJ's new design.
July 3, 2000... "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." That advice has come this way a time or two since the May 1 overhaul of Oil & Gas Journal's organization and appearance. All comments from readers about OGJ receive close attention here, especially...

The precautionary principle.
July 3, 2000... The World Petroleum Conference in Calgary last month gave voice to a climate-change approach called the precautionary principle. It's a new label for an old argument favoring costly remedy for theoretical disease. For the oil and gas industry...

Rodriguez: OPEC faces new challenges in changing oil market.
July 3, 2000... The formation of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in 1960 was one of the great ground-breaking events of the last century, but the organization today is faced with a series of new challenges, says OPEC conference Pres. All...

The blame game.
July 3, 2000... Political pundits have begun to proclaim that higher energy prices will be a major campaign issue in the US elections this fall. More attention to US energy needs would be good, but at this point, it appears unlikely that prices will be an...

High gasoline prices spark political furor.
July 3, 2000... High gasoline prices in the US have sparked a political furor in a presidential election year. Republicans in US Congress have stepped up pressure on the administration of Pres. Bill Clinton over rising gasoline prices. In addition to...

EBRD calls for Gazpram break-up.
July 3, 2000... The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development has called for the breakup of Gazprom in order to encourage competition in Russia's gas supply sector. EBRD's recommendation is a repeat of a similar call made some time ago by the...

Russia's oil privatization is more greed than fear.
July 3, 2000... Lukoil would like to take over Rosneft's international projects off Sakhalin Island and seeks after the oil-rich Arkhangelskgeoldobycha--Rosneft's geological Subsidiary in the far-north Timan Pechora province. After 7 years of dramatic...

Teamwork, extensive preplanning pay oil for Norwegian Sea well.
July 3, 2000... The results of a wildcat well, located in the Voring Plateau of the Norwegian Sea, show that coordinated management and planning from the service company, drilling contractor, and operator can improve drilling performance over other regional...

Residual oil determination, advances key to program.
July 3, 2000... The main keys for determining how to redevelop the Romashkinsky field include proper characterization of the volume and location of the remaining oil reserves and implementation of technologies for recovering these reserves. This...

Canadian company builds largest ethylene and polyethylene complex.
July 3, 2000... Nova Chemicals Corp., Calgary, is nearing completion of a $1.4-billion (US) expansion that will make its Joffre petrochemical site in central Alberta the largest ethylene and polyethylene complex in the world, according to the company. ...

Malaysian company more than doubles petchem complex capacity.
July 3, 2000... Titan Petrochemicals Sdn. Bhd., the largest petrochemical company in Malaysia, commissioned a new 330,000 tonnes/year (tpy) ethylene unit in Pasir Gudang, Johor, Malaysia, in October 1999. The cracker can also produce 165,000 tpy of propylene...

Environmental concerns govern design of UK gas-fired power plant.
July 3, 2000... Design and construction of the Scottish Power generating station at Knapton, North Yorkshire, placed environmental considerations ahead of economic ones in important process decisions. The result is a plant that was installed in some of the...

How indexes have changed.
July 3, 2000... Nelson-Farrar indexes for finished steels changed randomly during the period 1996-1999. Generally speaking, the alloy steels changed less than carbon steel products. Alloy bars started the period with an index value of 857.6 and finished...

Monitoring data system underpins pipeline-integrity program.
July 3, 2000... Statoil's comprehensive, pipeline-integrity management system for buried onshore systems accounts for the unique operation and environmental characteristics of various systems. Most of the pipelines operated by Statoil are short onshore...

Mass flowmeter, controller web sits.
July 3, 2000... A new web site describes a line of mass flowmeters and controllers. The new Mass Flow Solutions section allows visitors to search by application, fluid, or industry type for answers to flow measurement problems. The Solutions pages describe...

New flexible polyurea coating.
July 3, 2000... Iraseal 200 is a 100% solids, sprayable polyurea coating system that provides hydrolytic stability in long-term immersion conditions and resistance to moderately concentrated acid and alkali slurries and aqueous solutions. It offers resiliency,...

Tow system for marine geophysical surveys.
July 3, 2000... A new brochure, yours free for the request, introduces a second generation deep tow system for marine geophysical surveys. The new DT3500 can be used in water depths to 3,500 m. This is an enhancement of bottom-referencing survey systems,...

New molecular sieves.
July 3, 2000... New Siliporite second generation molecular sieves promise good performance in petrochemical and gas processing operations. SPX3000 molecular sieves are suited for use in xylene separation for the production of paraxylene. Also...

New refined product sampling system.
July 3, 2000... A new series of samplers is designed for safe and efficient handling of large volumes used in refined products metering. Samplers in the SSO-9 stand up to uninterrupted use and harsh environments, the company says. They are pneumatically...

LAGCOE.
July 3, 2000... LAGCOE has named Ron Garber of Apache Corp. chairman for 2001. Serving in key positions with Garber will be John Bodin, co-chairman, and Francis Broussard, treasurer. Garber, district production manager for Apache, was co-chairman of the...

The Oil & Gas Journal Exchange.
July 3, 2000... The Oil & Gas Journal Exchange, the leading Web-based independent trading exchange for the oil and gas industry, has named H.W. Norton, Jr. vice president of operations of the Global Equipment Exchange. From the Global Equipment Exchange's new...

NKK Corp.
July 3, 2000... NKK Corp. of Japan and Siderca SAIC of Argentina have successfully concluded the negotiations to establish a joint venture embracing the seamless pipe manufacturing business that NKK conducts at Kehin Works (Tokyo, Japan). The new company,...

UOP LLC.
July 3, 2000... UOP LLC, Des Plaines, Ill., has named Humberto Vainieri president and CEO. He replaces Michael D. Winfield who will retire in Dec. Winfield will be turning over management of UOP's day-to-day operations to Vainieri, who will become...

US INDUSTRY SCOREBOARD - 7/3.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

NELSON-FARRAR COST INDEXES.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

OGJ CRACK SPREAD.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

API IMPORTS OF CRUDE AND PRODUCTS.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

API CRUDE AND PRODUCT STOCKS.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

API REFINERY REPORT -- JUNE 23, 2000.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

OGJ GASOLINE PRICES.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

BAKER HUGHES RIG COUNT.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

OGJ PRODUCTION REPORT.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

U.S. CRUDE PRICES.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

WORLD CRUDE PRICES.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

REFINED PRODUCT PRICES.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

SMITH RIG COUNT.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

AGA NATURAL GAS STORAGE.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

PACE REFINING MARGINS.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

U.S. NATURAL GAS BALANCE DEMAND/SUPPLY SCOREBOARD.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

U.S. HEATING DEGREE DAY!
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

WORLDWIDE NGL PRODUCTION.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

OXYGENATES.
July 3, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

'Fool's rally' in petrochemicals?
July 10, 2000... Recent petrochemical price increases could be a "fool's rally," says one analyst who expects polyolefins prices to remain flat until about 2002, when economic recovery in Asia is expected to finally take hold and demand for basic petrochemicals...

Saudi report galvanizes market.
July 10, 2000... Conflicting reports that Saudi Arabia may unilaterally increase its oil production by 500,000 b/d to cool sizzling oil prices have turned the market on its ear. Oil futures prices plunged last week as traders reacted to the reports, which...

Saudis to go it alone?
July 10, 2000... Other crude oil exporters within and outside OPEC responded to market developments to varying degrees, suggesting a creeping erosion of the cohesiveness that OPEC and some of its non-OPEC counterparts have displayed since 1998's oil price...

Other exporters react.
July 10, 2000... Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries with sufficient spare capacity to boost production immediately. Most other OPEC members are already producing at maximum capacity Only the UAE and possibly Kuwait among that group currently have...

Venezuelan stance.
July 10, 2000... Labeling current world oil prices as "fair" rather than high, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said July 4 his country will not increase oil production beyond the level approved by OPEC last month. The Venezuelan leader said he held...

IS A SHAKEOUT LOOMING IN THE GTL RACE?
July 10, 2000... Several players in the GTL arena are proposing plants too small to be profitable, Conoco says. Small plants will not be able to compete against the economies of scale that larger plants will use to their advantage in future GTL applications....

CANADA'S NORTHWEST IS THE NO. 1 SPOT FOR GAS EXPLORATION.
July 10, 2000... CANADA'S NORTHWEST IS THE NO. 1 SPOT FOR GAS EXPLORATION in that country, notably the Yukon and Northwest Territories. An Arthur Andersen annual review shows that these areas, including offshore plays, are now favored over Alberta and British...

POSSIBLE US HEATING OIL SHORTAGES LOOM.
July 10, 2000... John Cook, EIA's petroleum division director, testified late last month to that effect before a Senate governmental affairs committee hearing on recent gasoline shortages and price spikes in the US Midwest: "Although consumers are now focusing...

THE REBUTTAL TO AL GORE'S ENERGY PLAN CONTINUES.
July 10, 2000... The US vice-president's energy policy proposal, unveiled in three stages in recent weeks, has come in for more criticism (OGJ, July 3, 2000, Newsletter, p. 7). The conservative Cato Institute said Gore's energy plan is "nothing more than...

OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION STARTED UP.
July 10, 2000... OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION STARTED UP from what ExxonMobil claims is the world's deepest-water drilling-production platform, part of the Hoover-Diana development project in 4,300 ft of water in the Gulf of Mexico. The Hoover-Diana development...

McMoRan Exploration.
July 10, 2000... In other production news, McMoRan Exploration reestablished sustained production earlier this month from four wells in a field on three Eugene Island blocks in the Gulf of Mexico. Gross production from Blocks 193, 208, and 215 is averaging...

CNOOC.
July 10, 2000... CNOOC began commercial production from Qikou 17-2, an oil and gas field in the western Bohai Sea off China. The field has estimated reserves of 16.55 million tonnes of oil and is expected to produce 300,000 tonnes/year of crude over 15 years....

LUKOIL IS TO MOVE AHEAD.
July 10, 2000... LUKOIL IS TO MOVE AHEAD with exploratory drilling plans at Yalama, a prospect in the Azeri Caspian Sea (see map), although drilling will not likely begin until 2003, due to rig delays and other factors. Lukoil Vice-Pres. Ravil Maganov says...