The Oil and Gas Journal articles from June 1997

The Oil and Gas Journal archives from June 1997

Deregulating with mandates.(Editorial)
June 2, 1997... Even in a move toward deregulation, the urge to regulate remains strong. Nearly everyone agrees that deregulating the U.S. electric energy industry is the right thing to do. Serious issues linger over how best to do it. Yet the reason to...

India's oil supply deficit spurs reforms to lure foreign capital.
June 2, 1997... India's rapidly growing domestic oil supply shortfall is regarded increasingly as a crisis in that country. With forecasts calling for a continued rise in imports of crude oil, natural gas, and refined products, the government is stepping up...

Pdvsa readies third marginal fields round.(Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.)
June 2, 1997... Venezuela's state-owned petroleum company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (Pdvsa) is putting the final touches on its forthcoming third round of bidding for marginal oil fields scheduled for June 2-6 in Caracas. About 200 private, mostly foreign...

A grand day.(Canadian government support of the Hibernia offshore oil field in Newfoundland)(Column)
June 2, 1997... Last week, the Hibernia partners towed a massive concrete gravity platform out to sea with the intent of planting it soon on what will become Canada's first commercial offshore oil field development. The project already has planted an oil...

Oman marks progress on LNG export project.(liquefied natural gas)
June 2, 1997... Oman reports progress in its liquefied natural gas export project based on gas reserves under development in the central region. LNG production is to start in first quarter 2000 from a plant at Qalhat, 125 miles southeast of Muscat and just...

Thailand sending mixed signals on status of Omani LNG deal.(liquified natural gas)
June 2, 1997... There are fresh signs that Thailand may scrap its tentative; agreement to purchase liquefied natural gas supplies from Oman, despite recent indications to the contrary. Concerns over price apparently mirror those that led Thailand to drop...

Papua New Guinea seeks help to develop gas.
June 2, 1997... The Papua New Guinea Department of Mining and Petroleum is soliciting oil and gas industry interest in that country's gas resource development. The government has been examining various options for development and utilization of gas...

Interconnector to cut gas prices, contracts?(U.K.-Belgium Interconnector gas pipeline)
June 2, 1997... The U.K.-Belgium Interconnector gas pipeline, due to start up in October 1998, will lead to lower gas prices in continental Europe and shorter-duration gas contracts. This is the view of Wood Mackenzie Consultants Ltd., Edinburgh. Wood...

El Paso Energy International Co.(acquires interest in Czech power project)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... El Paso Energy International Co., Houston, acquired a 31.15% interest in the Czech Republic's $401 million ECKG power project at Kladno, west of Prague. The project involves expanding an existing 27-MW power plant by 316 MW, 66 MW of which will...

Algeria.(new LPG plant)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... Algeria inaugurated a new LPG plant at Hassi Messaoud, 800 km south of Algiers. The 40 million cu m/day capacity unit is part of a network being developed to double Algeria's LPG exports by 2000.

U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.(approves Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. storage facility expansion)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a $275 million expansion of Columbia Gas Transmission Corp.'s storage facilities. The 3-year project will provide another 500 MMcfd of storage and transportation services to local gas...

Petro-Canada.(Transocean Offshore Inc. contract)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... Petro-Canada, Calgary, and partners in Terra Nova oil field off Newfoundland let contract to Transocean Offshore Inc., Houston, to charter the semisubmersible Transocean Explorer for 2 years, with three 1-year extension options. Upgrading the...

Apache Corp.(planned recompletion of Harmattan well in Alberta, Canada)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... Apache Corp., Houston, plans to recomplete the Harmattan 6-16 well in Alberta, following completion of its nearby Harmattan 12-18-33-3 horizontal well, which flowed 22 MMcfd of gas and 150 b/d of condensate with 500 psi flowing tubing pressure...

Sasol Petroleum International (Pty.) Ltd.(oil discovery development plans)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... Sasel Petroleum International (Pty.) Ltd., Johannesburg, reports plans to develop its first oil discovery, Djambala field, about 55 km off the Congo. The field is expected to go on stream less than 2 years after discovery, with initial output...

Qatar General Petroleum Corp.(planed production-sharing agreement)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... Qatar General Petroleum Corp. plans to sign a production-sharing agreement with one or more foreign companies for the Idd Al Shargi South Dome offshore concession, about 150 km northeast of Doha. Qatar's Idd Al Shargi North Dome field, operated...

Conoco (U.K.) Ltd.(Brown and Root Energy Services Ltd.)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... Conoco (U.K.) Ltd. let contract to Brown & Root Energy Services Ltd., Leatherhead, U.K., for two new unmanned wellhead platforms and a reception module in Viking field. Conoco is developing four accumulations in Viking with estimated gas...

Colombia Gas System Inc.(to acquire Alamco Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... Columbia Gas System Inc., Charleston, W. Va., will acquire independent producer Alamco Inc., Clarksburg. W. Va., for about $101 million, including the assumption of about $18 million debt. The merger plans hinge on approval by Alamco's...

Italy's ENI.(third public share offering)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... Italy's ENI will hold a third public share offering June 23-27 towards its goal of privatizing as much as 49% of the national oil company. The procedures and goals will be the same as previous offers (OGJ, Oct. 7, 1996, Newsletter); however,...

Birch Mountain Resources Ltd.(Syncrude Canada Ltd. oilsands agreement)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... Birch Mountain Resources Ltd., Calgary, signed an agreement with Syncrude Canada Ltd. for exploration, development, extraction, and production at a new oilsands site. Syncrude holds oilsands rights for the proposed Aurora mine in the Fort...

Solv-Ex Corp.(planned oil sands mine and extraction complex development)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... Solv-Ex Corp., Albuquerque, plans to spend more than $1 billion for commercial-scale development of its oilsands mine and extraction complex on Leases 5 and 52 near Fort McMurray. Plans include increasing synthetic crude output to 80,000 b/d...

State Petroleum Corp.(planned Sudan export pipeline and marine terminal)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... State Petroleum Corp., a unit of Calgary-based Arakis Energy Corp., and partners plan to construct a 28-in., 1,540-km export pipeline and marine terminal in Sudan. The pipeline will have 250,000 b/d initial capacity, with start-up volumes of...

TransCanada Pipelines Ltd., Calgary, will spend as much as $2.6 billion (Canadian) in 3 years on its Nexus project. (moving gas from Alberta to midwestern and northeastern US)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., Calgary, will spend as much as $2.6 billion (Canadian) in 3 years on its Nexus project to move gas from Alberta to the U.S. Midwest and Northeast, adding as much as 3 bcfd to its current 7 bcfd system capacity. The...

State-owned China Oil, Beijing, let contract to Petroleos de Venezuela SA unit Bitumenes Orinoco SA to supply 1 million metric tons/year of Orimulsion.(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... State-owned China Oil, Beijing, let contract to Petroleos de Venezuela SA (Pdvsa) unit Bitumenes Orinoco SA to supply 1 million metric tons/year of Orimulsion, the company's trademark boiler fuel that is an emulsion of extra-heavy crude, water,...

Petrochemical Co. Ltd., Eleme, Nigeria, cannot commission its $1.8 billion petrochemical plant near Port Harcourt, Nigeria. (financial difficulties)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... Petrochemical Co. Ltd., Eleme, Nigeria, cannot commission its $1.8 billion petrochemical plant near Port Harcourt, Nigeria, because it is unable to cover overhead and meet debt obligations. The plant was designed to produce 330,000 metric...

Gaz de France (GdF) and partners will spend about $150 million to develop a gas distribution network for the northeastern Argentina provinces.(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... Gaz de France (GdF) and partners will spend about $150 million to develop a gas distribution network for the northeastern Argentina provinces of Entre Rios, Misiones, Corrientes, Chaco, and Formosa. The project involves laying 3,000 km of...

Mobile Bay Processing Partners (MBPP), Houston, signed a letter of intent with Mobile Exploration & Producing U.S. Inc.(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... Mobile Bay Processing Partners (MBPP), Houston, signed a letter of intent with Mobil Exploration & Producing U.S. Inc. to process as much as 300 MMcfd of Mobile Bay, Ala., area gas sweetened at Mobil's plant near Coden, Ala. MBPP's planned...

Texaco Pipeline Inc. reopened its Eugene Island pipeline May 22, following a rupture 2 days earlier that spilled about 5,000 bbl of crude oil into Louisiana's Lake Barre.(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... Texaco Pipeline Inc. reopened its Eugene Island pipeline May 22, following a rupture 2 days earlier that spilled about 5,000 bbl of crude oil into Louisiana's Lake Barre (OGJ, May 26, 1997, p. 31). About 2,500 bbl were mopped up with absorbents...

NGSA: flawed power restructuring could crimp gas demand.(Natural Gas Supply Association)
June 2, 1997... Ineffective restructuring of the U.S. electricity industry might hold demand for natural gas well below expected levels, warns Nicholas Bush, president of the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA). Bush last month projected gas demand in...

Producers seek fairness in power decontrol.(gas producers and electricity decontrol)
June 2, 1997... U.S. gas producers have urged the Senate energy committee to allow fair competition between fuels should Congress consider retail electricity decontrol legislation. Witnesses testified at the committee's May 8 workshop on the effects of...

API: industry environment outlays top EPA's.(American Petroleum Institute)
June 2, 1997... The American Petroleum Institute reports the U.S. petroleum industry spent about $9.6 billion on the environment in 1995, or about $100/household. It noted the expenditure is about $2 billion more than the annual budget of the...

BP joins Shell across invisible frontier. (both companies believe that climate change should be prevented but have challenged Greenpeace to provide plan to curtail fossil fuel use and maintain socioeconomic growth)(Watching the World)(Column)
June 2, 1997... For the last few months Shell U.K. Ltd. and BP Exploration Operating Co. Ltd. have been under fire from Greenpeace. The attacks have been aimed at field developments west of the U.K.'s Shetland Islands, where BP is operator and Shell its...

LNG report.(liquefied natural gas)
June 2, 1997... Reserves of natural gas, the cleanest hydrocarbon fuel, are abundant worldwide. Technological advances in gas-fired electrical power generation, as well as environmental considerations, are making natural gas the fastest-growing fossil fuel...

U.S., Canada continue dominance of world's gas processing.
June 2, 1997... Gas plants in the U.S. and Canada continued to lead the rest of the world in processing capacity, throughput, and NGL production in 1996 (Table 1). The consolidation of gas-processing assets that has been rolling through U.S. companies in...

LNG links remote supplies and markets.(liquified natural gas)
June 2, 1997... Liquefied natural gas (LNG) has established a niche for itself by matching remote gas supplies to markets that both lacked indigenous gas reserves and felt threatened in the aftermath of the energy crises of the 1970s and 1980s (Fig. 1). ...

World economic growth pushing LNG use.(liquefied natural gas)
June 2, 1997... Natural gas, especially liquefied (LNG), is in position to participate in the energy growth now being triggered by strong worldwide economic growth, increasingly open markets, and expanding international trade. Natural gas is abundant,...

Project financing knits parts of costly LNG supply chain.(liquefied natural gas)
June 2, 1997... 1he supply and distribution infrastructure of an LNG project requires project sponsors and LNG buyers to make large, interdependent capital investments. For a grassroots project, substantial investments may be necessary for each link in the...

Technology advances keeping LNG cost-competitive.(liquefied natural gas)
June 2, 1997... LNG plants, often very expensive in the past, will in the future need to cost less to build and operate and yet maintain high safety and reliability standards, both during construction and operation. Technical advancements, both in the...

LNG fleet increases in size and capabilities. (liquefied natural gas)
June 2, 1997... The LNG fleet as of early 1997 consisted of 99 vessels with total cargo capacity of 10.7 million cu m, equivalent to approximately 4.5 million tons.(1) One of the newest additions to the fleet, the 137,000-cu m tanker Al Zubarah (Fig. 1),...

Drill bit benchmarking improves drilling performance. (standardized drill bit selection)
June 2, 1997... A practical method for standardizing drill bit selection reduced drilling costs by $5.5 million on the North Slope of Alaska. Shared Services Drilling (SSD), a consortium of BP Exploration Alaska and ARCO Alaska Inc., developed a...

New gas pseudocritical property equations developed. (new natural gas pseudocritical temperature and pressure)
June 2, 1997... New equations have been developed for calculating natural gas pseudocritical temperature and pressure over a wider range of gas specific gravities than previously published equations. Both pseudocritical temperature and pressure are...

Smith International, Inc. (acquires Tri-Tech Fishing Services, L.L.C.)(Technology Business)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... Smith International, Inc., Houston, Tex., has completed the acquisition of Tri-Tech Fishing Services, L.L.C. Tri-Tech is a supplier of fishing, electric wireline freepoint and backoff, and other downhole remedial products and services...

Schlumberger Limited and Baker Hughes Incorporated. (units sign contracts for Intelligent Completion System marketing and development)(Technology Business)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... Schlumberger Limited and Baker Hughes Incorporated have announced that their respective business units of Wireline & Testing and Baker Oil Tools have signed agreements covering the joint development and marketing of the initial phase of...

Baker Performance Chemicals Incorporated (BCPI). (acquires Petrochem Ltd. of Trinidad & Tobago)(Technology Business)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... Baker Performance Chemicals Incorporated (BPCI), Houston, Tex., has acquired Petrochem Limited of Trinidad and Tobago. Petrochem Ltd., a specialty chemical supplier to the oil-field industry, becomes part of BPCI's expanding international...

A geological assessment: what's ahead for Louisiana Austin chalk.
June 2, 1997... Both noteworthy and recent, the extension of the Austin chalk horizontal drilling play into Louisiana has been as closely watched as it has been controversial. The play has been controversial for the critics who claim the Louisiana chalk...

Texas. (Parker & Parsley Petroleum Co. takes 35% interest in property with Union Pacific Resources Co.)(Brief Article)
June 2, 1997... East Parker & Parsley Petroleum Co., soon to merge with Mesa Inc., took a 35% interest in 375,000 gross acres with Union Pacific Resources Co. in the Jurassic Cotton Valley pinnacle reef trend. UPR will operate. The first well is to be...

In London, Greenpeace staged a brief occupation of Conoco's Jet retailing and marketing office. (June 4, 1997)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... In London, Greenpeace staged a brief occupation of Conoco's Jet retailing and marketing office last week to protest the company's E&D activities in the West of Shetlands area. On June 4, Greenpeace sent 15 protesters to Jet's offices to...

On the sanctions front, even cities are getting in their licks following the White House's imposition of sanctions on Myanmar. (New York, NY, adopts sanctions)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... On the sanctions front, even cities are getting in their licks following the White House's imposition of sanctions on Myanmar (OGJ, May 26, 1997, Newsletter). New York City has become the 11th U.S. city to impose sanctions. Mayor Rudy...

More work is on tap to boost production from the Prudhoe Bay Unit on Alaska's North Slope.(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Project manager ARCO Alaska and partners BP and Exxon will spend $160 million on a 20,000 b/d incremental natural gas liquids expansion, seeking to boost liquids recovery by about 50 million bbl in the miscible injectant expansion (MIX)...

Planned power/natural gas mergers are advancing. (Destec shareholders approve merger with NGC Corp., Oregon Public Utility Commission approves Enron merger with Portland General)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Destec shareholders signed off on the proposed NGC-Destec combination; FERC approval remains (OGJ, Feb. 24, 1997, p. 42). Enron received final approval by Oregon's public utility commission for its merger with Portland General (OGJ, May 5,...

MMS has amended regulations governing surety bond provisions for Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) leases. (Minerals Management Service)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... MMS has amended regulations governing surety bond provisions for Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) leases. Changes will provide optimum flexibility for lessees to meet lease bond requirements and ensure they adequately fund lease abandonment and...

China's CNPC plans major projects in Kazakhstan and Iraq. (China National Petroleum Corp., pipeline from Kazakhstan, development deal with Iraq)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... CNPC will build a 2,000-mile pipeline from western Kazakhstan to Xinjiang province as part of a $4.3 billion project. The deal, part of a contract consummated June 4 in Almaty, calls for CNPC to invest $4 billion in the activities of...

Positive action by industry needed on global climate change, BP says. (British Petroleum Company PLC)(includes related articles on International Energy Agency ministers policy and British Petroleum solar energy research)
June 9, 1997... We've now come to an important moment in our consideration of the environment. It is a moment when we need to go beyond analysis to seek solutions and to take action. It is a moment for change and for a rethinking of corporate responsibility....

World gas industry indicators up in 1996. (gas production, trade and consumption estimates according to Cedigaz)
June 9, 1997... World gas production, trade, and consumption continued to grow in 1996, according to the latest estimates by French gas company Cedigaz. That followed growth in all three gas industry indicators in 1995. Production Marketed gas...

Venezuela's marginal fields draw heavy bids. (oil and gas fields)
June 9, 1997... Venezuela's third marginal fields round is resulting in significant industry interest as apparent winning high bids are disclosed for certain field areas. Before OGJ presstime, apparent high bids on five of 20 inactive and producing...

North American gas supply, demand changing. (Ziff Energy Group forecast)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... A new supply and demand pattern for North American natural gas will emerge after another 18 months of price volatility. That's the forecast of Ziff Energy Group, Calgary. "Until late 1998, when the first pipeline expansions come on...

Amoco to refocus its U.S. upstream business. (selling oil and gas properties and royalty interests)
June 9, 1997... In a major refocusing of its U.S. upstream business, Amoco Corp. plans to sell numerous oil and gas properties and royalty interests in what officials say is the "largest divestment" by Amoco in the recent past. Proceeds, to be generated...

Royalty ruckus. (Minerals Management Service planned royalty valuation rule fo oil industry)(Watching Government)(Column)
June 9, 1997... The Minerals Management Service's pending royalty valuation rule is the hottest issue confronting oil groups in Washington. MMS, responding to alleged royalty underpayments (OGJ, Oct. 28, 1996, p. 19), wanted to reduce the use of posted...

Shell, Mobil agree to combine California E&P. (exploration and production)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Another industry combination will create California's largest oil producer. Shell Oil Co.'s CalResources LLC unit and Mobil Exploration & Production U.S. Inc. signed definitive agreements to combine both companies' California E&P...

Canada's petroleum output set records in 1996.(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Canadian petroleum production' set records in 1996, according to the National Energy Board (NEB). NEB's annual report said Canadian gas production in 1996 was 5.6 tcf compared to 5.3 tcf in 1995. The board noted that gas production to meet...

Investment incentives driving Canadian oilsands activity.(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Canadian oilsands activity is heating up, with significant production reported at one complex and plans disclosed for new plants and investment. Syncrude Canada Ltd. reports its oilsands plant at Fort McMurray, Alta., shipped 17.4 million...

Conoco buys South Texas Lobo trend assets. (gas reserves, production and assets from First Intercontintental Leasing Trust)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Natural gas development in South Texas stands to advance with disclosure by Conoco Inc. that it will pay $900 million for significant additional gas reserves, production, and assets in the Lobo trend. Conoco acquired the properties from...

Petrobras slates $2 billion cogeneration scheme for refineries. (Petroleo Brasileiro SA)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Pretroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), Brazil's state oil company, plans to build 10 natural gas-fired cogeneration power plants at its refineries in Brazil at an average cost of about $200 million each. Petrobras Pres. Joel Mendes Rermo...

Deepwater record expected off Brazil in June. (1997, oil production scheduled in Atlantic Ocean)
June 9, 1997... Start-up of Brazil's latest world record deepwater development is likely early this month. Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) disclosed at last month's Offshore Technology Conference that production start-up was imminent from the Marlim...

Cloud over Gulf as merger folds. (Elf Oil U.K. Ltd., Gulf Oil Ltd. merger cancelled)(Watching The World)(Column)
June 9, 1997... Elf Oil U.K. Ltd. and Gulf Oil (Great Britain) Ltd. have taken the refining sector by surprise with their decision to cancel a planned merger of British refining and marketing assets. This follows news in March that a third potential merger...

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. (forms joint venture with MCN Investment Corp., Continental States Peaking Services LLC)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., a unit of El Paso Energy Corp., Houston, and Detroit-based MCN Investment Corp. formed a 50-50 joint venture, Continental States Peaking Services LLC, which will build a $40-50 million LNG complex on the Delmarva...

India's. (government plans 4 liquefied natural gas terminals)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... India's government plans to build four more LNG terminals, at Paradip and Visakhapatnam on the east coast and at Kandla and New Mumbai on the west coast. Slated for completion in 2005, the terminals will be built by groups of Indian and...

NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd. (will complete gas processing plant at Zama Lake in Alberta)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd. Calgary, will complete a 65 MMcfd gas processing plant this fall at Zama Lake in northwest Alberta and take over gas gathering and processing in the area for Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. and Pennzoil Canada Inc. The...

Coastal Corp. (won bid to explore in Timor Sea off Australia)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Coastal Corp., Houston, won a bid to explore in the Timor Sea off Australia's northern coast on permit areas AC96-3 and AC96-4, about 450 miles west of Darwin. The areas cover 355,000 and 375,000 acres, respectively, in 300-1,000 ft of water....

France's. (Total SA completes seismic survey in Caspian Sea off Kazakhstan)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... France's Total SA and partners completed a $218 million, 26,180-km seismic survey in the Caspian Sea off Kazakhstan, the largest Caspian marine survey ever conducted, officials said. After results are evaluated, the partners will be able to...

Energy Africa Gabon Ltd. (production-sharing agreement for onshore block in Gabon)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Energy Africa Gabon Ltd., a unit of Energy Africa Ltd., Johannesburg, secured a production-sharing agreement for Gabon's 328-sq km onshore Ofoubou block, 40 km west of Rabi-Kounga field. Occidental Petroleum Corp. drilled a well on Ofoubou in...

Italy's. (Agip SpA, Sonatrach agree to explore in southern Algeria)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Italy's Agip SpA and Algeria's state-owned Sonatrach agreed to explore jointly a new 2,300-sq km area in southern Algeria. Area 213 is in the middle of the Sahara desert, 900 km south of Algiers and 400 km south of Hassi Messaoud. Processing...

MMS. (Minerals Management Service schedules federal sale for acreage in Cook Inlet, Alaska)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... MMS will hold federal lease Sale 149 June 11 covering acreage in Alaska's Cook Inlet. The sale will be held in the Wilda Marston Theatre in Anchorage. MMS is offering 101 whole and partial blocks, encompassing about 430,000 acres. The northern...

Saudi Methanol Co. (contracts with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. to build methanol plant)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Saudi Methanol Co., a unit of Saudi Basic Industries Corp., let contract to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Tokyo, to build a new chemical-grade methanol plant at its Al-Jubail complex. The 850,000-metric ton/year capacity plant is due to...

Formosa Plastics. (and other petrochemical producers in Taiwan face losses in excess of $11 million from a 2-min. power outage May 29, 1997)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Formosa Plastics and other petrochemical producers in Kaoshiung's Tashe and Jenwu industrial zones in Taiwan face combined losses of more than $11 million from a 2-min power outage on May 29. A malfunctioning power transmission system forced 10...

BP Chemicals Ltd. (to expand polystyrene production capacity at plant in Wingles, France)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... BP Chemicals Ltd. will expand polystyrene production capacity at its Wingles plant in northern France. When the program is completed in 1999, expandable polystyrene plant capacity will rise to 90,000 metric tons/year from 70,000 tons/year;...

Borealis AS. (raising polyethylene capacity at plant in Finland)(Petrochemicals)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Borealis AS, Copenhagen, will boost production capacity at its polyethylene plant at Porvoo, Finland, to 140,000 metric tons/year from 120,000 metric tons. The $6.8 million expansion will be done during a 2-week shutdown late in summer 1998....

South Africa's. (Sasol Ltd. to build plant for octene-1 separation, purification)(Petrochemicals)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... South Africa's Sasol Ltd. will build a $50 million, 50,000-metric ton/year plant to separate and purify Octene-1. The complex is slated to begin production in first quarter 1999 at Sasol's coal-to-chemical complex at Secunda, South Africa. Dow...

An explosion. (at China Petroleum Corp. refinery)(Refining)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... An explosion triggered by gas leaking from an oil filtering system hit China Petroleum Corp.'s Taoyuan refinery May 29, injuring one worker. No major damage to the refinery resulted, but windows and doors of several nearby plants were blown...

Coral Energy LP. (contract with Shell Canada Ltd. to market natural gas)(Gas marketing)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Coral Energy LR Houston, and Shell Canada Ltd., Calgary, closed their agreement to form a natural gas marketing alliance (OGJ, May 20, 1996, p. 34). Coral now markets Shell's gas production of about 800 MMcfd, boosting total marketed volumes to...

Shell U.K. Ltd. (gas marketing joint venture investment)(Gas marketing)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Shell U.K. Ltd. bought a 50% share in U.K. gas marketing joint venture Quadrant Gas Ltd. from partner Esso U.K. plc. Quadrant, the first independent marketer to deliver natural gas to industrial and commercial users in U.K.'s liberalized gas...

Norsk Hydro AS. (contract with AMM Offshore Technology A/S for offshore gas equipment)(Drilling-production)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Norsk Hydro AS, Oslo, Troll project operator in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, signed a letter of intent with AMM Offshore Technology NS for delivery of a first-of-its-kind subsea unit for separating and injecting water into wells in...

Houston Exploration Co. (accident at Gulf of Mexico offshore gas well)(Drilling-production)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Houston Exploration Co. evacuated all personnel when its C-1 well blew out May 31 on East Cameron Blocks 82/83 in the Gulf of Mexico, about 40 miles southeast of Cameron, La. There were no injuries, and no fire or pollution resulted from the...

Sasol Petroleum International Pty. Ltd. (contract with Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos de Mozambique)(Drilling-production)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Sasol Petroleum International Pty. Ltd., Johannesburg, signed a memorandum of understanding with Mozambique's state oil firm, Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos de Mocambique (ENH). The accord gives Sasol rights to negotiate a...

Norway's. (Den norske stats oljeselkap AS to develop Norwegian Sea discovery as satellite)(Drilling-production)(Brief Article)
June 9, 1997... Norway's Den norske stats oljeselskap AS (Statoil) intends to develop Heldrun North discovery in the Norwegian Sea as a subsea satellite of its Heldrun tension-leg platform. The company expects to produce 20,000-40,000 b/d of oil from the...