The Oil and Gas Journal articles from March 1996

The Oil and Gas Journal archives from March 1996

Royalties and land access.(Editorial)
March 4, 1996... The U.S. oil and gas industry has made Impressive progress in an important ideological battle. But it remains stymied in another. In welcome recognition that hydrocarbon production generates economic benefits other than oil company profits, the...

U.S. independent operators step up exploration, development abroad.
March 4, 1996... More U.S. independent producers are using upstream capabilities developed at home to search for bigger prizes in countries around the world. With chances steadily dwindling of discovering large reserves in the U.S., some independent operators...

Discoveries fuel Gulf of Mexico subsalt play.
March 4, 1996... The 1990s are shaping up as a decade of discovery for subsalt exploration in the Gulf of Mexico as evidence mounts of the play's high potential. Gulf operators early this month were drilling five subsalt wildcats. Phillips Petroleum Co. and...

Decontracting.(Watching Government)
March 4, 1996... One of the aftereffects of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Order 636, which unbundled gas pipeline rates, is a trend by local distribution companies (LDCs) to reduce subscriptions of firm pipeline capacity. This capacity turnback or...

BP, Mobil to merge European refining, sales.(British Petroleum Co.)
March 4, 1996... British Petroleum Co. plc and Mobil Corp. last week disclosed a plan to combine their European refining and marketing operations in a bid to reduce operating costs. The megaventure wi11 have $5 billion in assets--S3.4 billion from BP and $1.6...

U.K. counts cost of oil spill from Sea Empress.
March 4, 1996... The extent of environmental damage was coming into focus last week in the aftermath of the big tanker spill near the U.K.'s Milford Haven harbor. With cleanup under way, U.K. authorities plan to seek the cause of the grounding of the Sea Empress...

Ethnic cleansing by the Sea Empress.(ecosystem damage caused by grounded oil tanker)
March 4, 1996... Ethnic cleansing is a term used in today's news coverage of the civil war in Bosnia to describe wiping out of a minority group of people from an area. The oil industry inadvertently carried out a marine version of this--you could call it...

Study centers on N. Slope heavy oil. (US Department of Energy)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... The U.S. Department of Energy has approved a project aimed at developing methods to economically recover heavy oil in Schrader Bluff-Milne Point field on Alaska's North Slope. Participants in a cooperative research and development agreement...

Cairn tests gas strike off Bangladesh. (Cairn Energy PLC)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... A discovery by Cairn Energy plc, Edinburgh, in the Bay of Bengal has raised hopes for a new gas play off Bangladesh. Exploration in Bangladesh has until recently focused in the northeast onshore region, but Cairn's Sangu-1 wildcat in Block 16...

Amoco scores off Trinidad-Tobago.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Amoco Trinidad Oil Co. has strung together four offshore discoveries in four attempts in an exploration program east of Trinidad and Tobago. Amoco said combined reserves of the strikes could furnish more than half the feed needed to supply an...

Natural gas-diesel process headed for market.
March 4, 1996... Sasol Ltd. of South Africa and Haldor Topsoe AS of Lyngby, Denmark, plan to market a new process designed to convert natural gas to diesel fuel. The companies say the process could enable development of gas reserves currently deemed unviable....

EIA sees decline in U.S. gas surplus. (Energy Information Administration)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... The Energy Information Administration predicts a shrinking surplus of gas productive capacity in the U.S. Lower 48 during 1996. However, capacity will be large enough to meet normal demand throughout the year. EIA said the surplus will...

Phillips Petroleum Co. will report about $565 million of added income in first quarter 1996.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Phillips Petroleum Co. will report about $565 million of added income in first quarter 1996 as a result of a favorable resolution of a U.S. federal tax case involving its Kenai, Alas., liquefied natural gas export complex. Phillips will receive...

Westscoast Energy Inc., Vancouver, B.C., shelved plans for a $400 million (Canadian) Grizzly Valley gas processing plant and pipeline expansion.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Westcoast Energy Inc., Vancouver, B.C., shelved plans for a $400 million (Canadian) Grizzly Valley gas processing plant and pipeline expansion in Northeast British Columbia, citing regulatory disputes and changing market conditions.

CMS Gas Transmission & Storage Co., the international pipeline unit of CMS Energy Corp., Dearborn, Mich., acquired a 50% interest in Nitrotec Corp.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... CMS Gas Transmission & Storage Co., the international pipeline unit of CMS Energy Corp., Dearborn, Mich., acquired a 50% interest in Nitrotec Corp., a privately held New York company that provides gas processing services. Nitrotec specializes in...

European Commission approved a $3.5 billion venture of BP Exploration Operating Co. Ltd. and Algeria's Sonatrach to develop gas fields. (Salah region of Algeria)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... European Commission approved a $3.5 billion venture of BP Exploration Operating Co. Ltd. and Algeria's Sonatrach to develop gas fields and conduct exploration in the In Salah area of Algeria (OGJ, Dec. 25, 1995, p. 26). The program's 2 year first...

Total claims a Western Hemisphere record for extended reach drilling off Tierra del Fuego.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Total claims a Western Hemisphere record for extended reach drilling off Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. The well, drilled from North Hidra platform to tap South Ara field 6,300 m away, attained an extended reach section of 7,000 m after drilling to...

Krym Texas Nafta, a unit of Epic Energy Inc., Vancouver, B.C., expects in March to begin selling oil from Crimea's Aktash field at an after transport net price of $18/bbl to Ukraine's Lviv pilot refinery. (barrels)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Krym Texas Nafta, a unit of Epic Energy Inc., Vancouver, B.C., expects in March to begin selling oil from Crimea's Aktash field at an after transport net price of $18/bbl to Ukraine's Lviv pilot refinery, which specializes in lube oil production....

BP Exploration Operating Co. Ltd. won U.K. Department of Trade & Industry approval to develop South Magnus field in northern North Sea Block 211/12a.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... BP Exploration Operating Co. Ltd. won U.K. Department of Trade & Industry approval to develop South Magnus field in northern North Sea Block 211/12a. Plans call for drilling an extended reach well tied back to BP's Magnus platform on the same...

Elf Exploration U.K. plc let contract to Kvaerner H&G Offshore Ltd.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Elf Exploration U.K. plc let contract to Kvaerner H&G Offshore Ltd., London, for front end engineering and design of its U.K. North Sea Elgin and Franklin field development. The two gas/condensate fields are to be developed with two...

Hunt Petroleum Corp., Dallas, agreed to buy Columbia Gas Development Corp.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Hunt Petroleum Corp., Dallas, agreed to buy Columbia Gas Development Corp. (CGD), Houston, from Columbia Gas System Inc. for $200 million cash plus an override in certain oil and gas leases. CGD has more than 195 bcf equivalent of proved oil and...

Morocco will float a 25% interest in the country's largest refinery on the Casablanca exchange.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Morocco will float a 25% interest in the country's largest refinery on the Casablanca exchange Mar. 4-12. The 129,000 b/d Samir refinery at Mohammedia is valued at $570 million. The government also plans to sell as much as 55% of the refinery...

U.S. Commerce Department's Foreign Trade Zones Board received an application to grant subzone status for Exxon Corp.'s 424,000 b/d Baton Rouge, La., refinery.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... U.S. Commerce Department's Foreign Trade Zones Board received an application to grant subzone status for Exxon Corp.'s 424,000 b/d Baton Rouge, La., refinery. This would exempt the refinery from customs duty payments on foreign products used in...

Interconnector (U.K.) Ltd. yielded to local opposition to its plan to build a gas pipeline terminal on a new site alongside Bacton terminal at Norfolk, U.K.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Interconnector (U.K.) Ltd. yielded to local opposition to its plan to build a gas pipeline terminal on a new site alongside Bacton terminal at Norfolk, U.K., and now plans to build within the existing terminal's perimeter (OGJ, Nov. 6, 1995,...

Phillips Petroleum Co. and partners agreed to use Poseidon offshore pipeline, under construction in the Gulf of Mexico.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Phillips Petroleum Co. and partners agreed to use Poseidon offshore pipeline, under construction in the Gulf of Mexico, to transport oil to shore from Mahogany subsalt field on Ship Shoal South Addition Blocks 349 and 359. Poseidon's first phase...

U.S. Transportation Department's Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) will continue 50% random drug testing for the pipeline industry in 1996.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... U.S. Transportation Department's Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) will continue 50% random drug testing for the pipeline industry in 1996. RSPA said data collected in 1994, the first year random tests were made, showed positive...

Canada's National Energy Board (NEB) approved an incentive tariff plan by TransCanada Pipelines Ltd.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Canada's National Energy Board (NED) approved an incentive tariff plan by TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., Calgary, to share cost benefits with customers. An incentive agreement with producers will share cost recovery and revenue gains. The plan is...

NEB scheduled a June 3 hearing in Calgary on a requested 120,000 b/d system expansion by Interprovincial Pipeline Inc. (Canada's National Energy Board, barrel per day)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... NEB scheduled a June 3 hearing in Calgary on a requested 120,000 b/d system expansion by Interprovincial Pipeline Inc., Edmonton. The project is intended to boost deliveries to export markets in the Chicago area. The $140 million (Canadian)...

Colombia's second largest oil export pipeline was damaged by a bomb blast attributed to National Liberation Army rebels.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Colombia's second largest oil export pipeline was damaged by a bomb blast attributed to National Liberation Army rebels, according to local press reports, causing a large spill in the northwestern province of Antioquia. The rebels allegedly blew...

Mojave Pipeline Co., Bakersfield, Calif., canceled its proposed 475 MMcfd northwest expansion project. (million cubic feet per day)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Mojave Pipeline Co., Bakersfield, Calif., canceled its proposed 475 MMcfd northwest expansion project after an open season ended Feb. 23 found insufficient support among potential shippers (OGJ, Jan. 15, p. 26). The Federal Energy Regulatory...

Norway's Den norske stats oljeselskap AS ordered a 125,000 dwt shuttle tanker from the Bilbao yard of Astilleros Espanoles SA, Madrid.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Norway's Den norske stats oljeselskap AS ordered a 125,000 dwt shuttle tanker from the Bilbao yard of Astilleros Espanoles SA, Madrid. The ship, scheduled for delivery in January 1998, will join Statoil's fleet of 16 tankers used to offload crude...

Rayong Olefins Co. chose ABB Lummus Global Inc. olefins technology for a naphtha based ethylene unit to be built at Mab Ta Phud, Thailand.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Rayong Olefins Co. chose ABB Lummus Global Inc. olefins technology for a naphtha based ethylene unit to be built at Mab Ta Phud, Thailand. Toyo Engineering Corp. and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. will construct the plant, which will produce 600,000 metric...

Phillips Petroleum Co. granted a polypropylene import license to Solvay SA, Brussels.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Phillips Petroleum Co. granted a polypropylene import license to Solvay SA, Brussels, giving it the right to export to the U.S. polypropylene homopolymer and random and block copolymers, as well as finished products.

Union Carbide Corp. started up a 300 million lb/year butanol plant at its Taft, La., petrochemical complex.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Union Carbide Corp. started up a 300 million lb/year butanol plant at its Taft, La., petrochemical complex. it also confirmed Taft as the site of a second 300 million lb/year butanol unit, which is slated for start up in 1998 and will boost...

U.S. Department of Energy approved the sale of 1.45 million bbl of crude oil from the Weeks Island, La., Strategic Petroleum Reserve.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... U.S. Department of Energy approved the sale of 1.45 million bbl of crude oil from the Weeks Island, La.,Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Phibro Energy U.S.A. Inc., Houston, for $26.05 million. The sale involves six batches of 29.1 degrees gravity...

Agip SpA and 50-50 partner Amoco Corp. found more gas and condensate in the Mediterranean Sea off Egypt.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Agip SpA and 50-50 partner Amoco Corp. found more gas and condensate in the Mediterranean Sea off Egypt. Their 1 Temsah Northwest, 70 km northwest of Port Said, flowed 42 MMcfd of gas and 1,950 b/d of condensate. Total depth of the wildcat is...

Enterprise Oil plc found gas with its 53/5b-5 well in the U.K.'s southern North Sea.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Enterprise Oil plc found gas with its 53/5b-5 well in the U.K.'s southern North Sea. The Britannia jack up drilled the well to 9,500 ft, encountering gas in the target Rotliegendes sandstone. The well flowed at a stabilized rate of 12.6 MMcfd of...

Polish Oil & Gas Co., reopened talks with U.K. and Norwegian North Sea gas producers over supplies for 15 years.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Polish Oil & Gas Co., reopened talks with U.K. and Norwegian North Sea gas producers over supplies for 15 years. The state company estimates Polish gas demand at about 945 bcf in 2010, up from 364 bcf in 1995, broken out as 129.5 bcf from...

Belgium's Distrigaz SA agreed to buy an additional 35 bcf of gas from Norway's giant Troll field.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Belgium's Distrigaz SA agreed to buy an additional 35 bcf of gas from Norway's giant Troll field, due on stream in April, to provide fuel for start-up of two gas fired power plants under construction in Belgium. Troll operator Staroil said the...

Ecuador advances key petroleum projects.
March 4, 1996... Ecuador is pushing upstream and downstream petroleum projects expected to play key roles in the country's medium range energy plans. Perhaps most important, state owned Petroleos del Ecuador (Petroecuador) has agreed to fund an expansion of...

Synthetic-based muds can improve drilling efficiency without polluting.
March 4, 1996... The drilling industry has developed several types of synthetic-based muds (SBMs) that combine the desirable operating qualities of oil-based muds with the lower toxicity and environmental impact qualities of water-based muds. Historically,...

Corrected logs indicate lithofacies around horizontal wells.
March 4, 1996... A Gulf of Suez well illustrates how to correct logs to model and identify the lithofacies characteristics and petrophysical properties of reservoir rocks crossed by a horizontal lateral. Based on data collected from modeling the formation and...

Enrichment can decrease NOx, SOx formation. (emissions decreased in petroleum processing)(Technical)
March 4, 1996... One of the key issues associated with fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit operations and debottlenecking options is the effects of process variables and operational modes on regenerator-related [NO.sub.x] and [SO.sub.x] emissions. This second...

European pipelines have costly spills.
March 4, 1996... Oil pipelines operating on land in Europe in 1994 reported 11 incidents of spills totaling more than 15,000 bbl. Cleanup recovered less than 2,500 bbl. By late 1995, final costs for cleanup had reached more than $9.7 million, one of the most...

Syntron Inc. (selects Bruce H. Nelson as president)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Syntron, Inc., Houston, Tex., has named Bruce H. Nelson president and chief operating officer. Nelson was formerly Syntron's vice-president responsible for new business development. Prior to joining Syntron, Nelson served as vice-president of...

Scott-European Oilfield Sales and Services Group. (Scott-European division's contract with Halliburton Energy Services)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Scott-European Oilfield Sales and Services Group, a division of Scott-European Corp., has recently signed a Representation Agreement with Halliburton Energy Services covering Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. Scott-European has...

DNV Technical. (consolidation)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... DNV Technical, Columbus, Ohio, has merged with DNV's home office in Houston. The entire Columbus technical staff has been transferred to the DNV Technica Houston consultancy office, with the exception of one person moving to the DNV software...

Triton Technology Inc. (sales and support to Caspian Sea area, Finland and Canada)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Triton Technology, Inc., Watsonville, Calif., has expanded its sales and support network to include Finland, Canada and the Caspian Sea region, while appointing new representatives in the U.K. and the Netherlands. In Finland, Triton has signed...

American EnviroSpect, Inc. (starts Compliance Express affiliate)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... American EnviroSpect, Inc., Noblesville, Ind., has announced the formation of an affiliate company, Compliance Express, to provide cathodic protection and spill & overfill upgrades for 1998, UST, leak prevention, compliance. AESI provides...

Quantum Solutions, Inc. (merger with Tensor Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Quantum Solutions, Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., has announced a merger between itself and Tensor, Inc., Austin, Tex., a manufacturer of downhole electronic directional sensors and steering tools. QSI will do business as Quantum Solutions, Inc., a...

Ingersoll-Dresser Pump Co. (selects Y.N Sharif as president)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Ingersoll-Dresser Pump C.L iberty Corner, N.J., has named Y.N. (Yaz) Sharif president, Engineered Pump Group. Sharif is responsible for the Engineered Pump Group's worldwide operations. Previously Sharif served as president and chief operating...

The Parsons Corp. (restructuring)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... The Parsons Corp., Pasadena, Calif., has announced an organizational restructuring including the formation of four new global business units: Parsons Process Group Inc., Parsons Infrastructure & Technology Group Inc., Parsons Power Group Inc. and...

Fluor Daniel. (selects John L. Hopkins as president of the Fluor Daniels Chemicals, Plastics & Fibers operating company)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Fluor Daniel, Greenville, S.C., has named John L. Hopkins president of Fluor Daniel's Chemicals, Plastics & Fibers operating company. Hopkins will be responsible for managing the global operations and business development of the operating...

Managing overseas E&P in the age of the Internet. (oil and gas exploration and production)
March 4, 1996... Four trends are working to change the way independents conduct E&P operations. First is the growing tendency to operate overseas. Second is the constant pressure to increase margins through cost cutting measures. These measures include among...

Technologies buoy Amoco flow in S. Florence field, La.(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Amoco plans more development and exploratory drilling this year in a 100 sq mile area of Southwest Louisiana on which it acquired 3D seismic data. Latest focus of the program is complexly faulted South Florence field in Vermilion Parish. The...

Congo. (CMS Nomeco's development oil wells, Yombo field)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... CMS Nomeco, Jackson, Mich., and partners placed on production the first two develpoment wells in off-shore Yombo field. The wells are among as many as 12 to be drilled, including in second quarter 1996 an exploratory well to evaluate an untested...

Romania. (National Agency for Mineral Resources' licensing round)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... The country's National Agency for Mineral Resources plans to open a licensing round Apr. 23 at a technical conference in Bucharest. The round will close Nov. 1, 1996 (see map, OGJ, Jan. 15, p. 19). The offering will include: Nine eastern...

Russian products export capacity to grow. (refined petroleum products, study by ESA and Incotec)
March 4, 1996... Russia will continue to be a major exporter of refined products well into the next century. However, modernization efforts scheduled or under way will lighten that export products slate, with significant increases on tap for Russian exports of...

Busy year predicted for West African E&P. (petroleum exploration and processing)
March 4, 1996... The pace of activity in all of West Africa's offshore exploration and production sectors will be brisk this year. Exploration and appraisal drilling will increase from last year's level, and field development projects will get under way....

Amoco settles FTC complaint. (Amoco Oil Co.)(Brief Article)
March 4, 1996... Amoco Oil Co. has agreed to settle U.S. Federal Trade Commission charges that its advertising campaign for Crystal Clear Amoco Ultimate gasoline carried unsubstantiated claims regarding engine performance and environmental benefits. Without...

Major new investment will be needed by 2000 in Latin America's refining/marketing sector to meet surging refined products demand in the region.(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... Major new investment will be needed by 2000 in Latin America's refining/marketing sector to meet surging refined products demand in the region. So says East-West Center's Fereidun Fesharaki, who predicted at the InterAmerican Petroleum and Gas...

Reservoir simulation software that will help operators better determine how many wells are needed for gas/condensate field development. (AEA Technology plans to have software finished by August 1998)(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... Eight operators and Britain's Department of Trade & Industry have funded research by AEA Technology, Didcot, U.K., designed to improve gas/condensate "reservoir management. AEA aims to complete by August 1998 development of reservoir simulation...

Norway's Department of Industry and Energy was expected at OGJ presstime to announce details of Barents Sea acreage to be offered in a new license round. (no commercial oil discoveries found in area, Oil & Gas Journal)(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... Norway's Department of Industry and Energy was expected at OGJ presstime to announce details of Barents Sea acreage to be offered in a new license round. So far several large gas discoveries have been made in the central part of the sea, but no...

Russia and Iran continue to press for cooperative, multinational development of Caspian Sea oil and gas. (Azerbaijan independently pursuing production sharing agreements)(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... Russia and Iran continue to press for cooperative, multinational development of Caspian Sea oil and gas. But Azerbaijan isn't waiting on a regional solution, as seen with the Azeri parliament's Mar. 1 ratification of a November 1995 production...

U.S. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) continues his bluster aimed at non-U.S. companies studying oil and gas projects with Iran - and it may be working.(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... D'Amato, leading the push to expand U.S. sanctions against Iran, last month warned Australia's BHP, seeking to lay a pipeline from Iran to Pakistan, and Japan's JGC Corp., negotiating a service contract to develop three onshore gas fields in...

North American petroleum companies are getting more fiscal relief from government.(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... Canada's oilsands industry is getting another boost, as Ottawa has extended federal mining tax regulation to include in situ operations and expanded accelerated capital cost allowance to cover a broader range of investment. Industry leader...

FERC has decided to take water depth into consideration when it determines whether an offshore pipeline is primarily a natural gas gatherer of a transporter. (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... FERC has decided to take water depth into consideration when it determines whether an offshore pipeline is primarily a natural gas gatherer or a transporter. FERC will establish a presumption that the system is a gatherer if it operates in 200...

DOE is accepting offers until Apr. 30 from companies interested in buying or leasing Strategic Petroleum Reserve facilities in South Louisiana. (1996)(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... DOE is accepting offers until Apr. 30 from companies interested in buying or leasing Strategic Petroleum Reserve facilities in South Louisiana. DOE wants to sell a 67 mile, 36 in. pipeline connecting the Weeks Island SPR storage site near New...

Oil, silence, and terrorism. (oil producers of the Middle East should denounce terrorist acts)(Editorial)
March 11, 1996... Oil suffers from an unfortunate association with terrorism. When terrorists kill 58 people in Israel within 9 days, therefore, suspicions run high that cash from oil production is somehow involved. This does oil no good. Valid or not, the...

U.S. independent operators seek international opportunities, part 2.
March 11, 1996... Many U.S. independents are taking advantage of opportunities abroad to expand their operations. Most are building oil and gas production and reserves outside the U.S. by blending steady development in relatively safe areas with exploration...

Anadarko acquires tract in Jordan. (Anadarko Jordan Co.)(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... Anadarko Jordan Co. has signed a production sharing agreement (PSA) covering the 4.2 million acre Safawi block in Northeast Jordan. The company, a wholly owned unit of Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Houston, agreed to spend at least $5 million...

Rules ready for use of U.K. gas grid.(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... The U.K. government has finished writing operating rules and license terms for independent gas suppliers' use of the British Gas plc gas distribution system. The government also delayed startup of a pilot program for the liberalized...

Millenium problems. (many petroleum companies may have information technology problems once December 31, 1999, is reached)(Watching the World)(Column)
March 11, 1996... As you raise your glass to welcome the new century in less than 4 years, the computer at your office may be having the electronic equivalent of a nervous breakdown. Information technology (IT) specialists warn that when docks strike midnight...

Noble's offshore rig fleet headed for expansion. (Noble Drilling Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... Noble Drilling Corp., Houston, last week disclosed it has purchased a jack up drilling rig and has been notified of the acceptance of its offer to buy a second jack up, both located in the Persian Gulf. Noble bought the Odin Explorer, a...

Powerine Oil Co. (planning reactivation of refinery in Santa Fe Springs, CA)(Refining)(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... Powerine Oil Co., under new owners, plans to reopen its 49,500 b/d Santa Fe Springs, Calif., refinery in mid-1996. Powerine had invested more than $40 million in the plant to produce reformulated gasoline and diesel fuel to comply with new...

U.S. Commerce Department's. (Foreign Trade Zones Board gets application from Clark Refining & Marketing Inc.)(Refining)(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... U.S. Commerce Department's Foreign Trade Zones Board received an application for FTZ status for Clark Refining & Marketing Inc.'s 185,000 b/d refinery at Port Arthur, Tex. FTZ status would exempt Clark from paying import duties on products it...

Saudi Aramco Oil Co. (acquiring 50% interest in AvinOil service stations and MotorOil refinery from Vardinoyannis Group)(Refining)(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... Saudi Aramco Oil Co. is about to complete purchase of a 50% interest in a refinery and retail products chain in Greece from the Vardinoyannis Group. Aramco is expected to pay $350 million for a 50% interest in the 90,000 b/d MotorOil refinery and...

Petropower Energia Ltd. (plans to start building integrated refining/cogeneration plant in first quarter 1996)(Refining)(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... Petropower Energia Ltd., a venture of Foster Wheeler Power Systems Inc., Clinton, N.J., Chile's state owned Empresa Nacional del Petroleo (ENAP), and ENAP unit Petrox SA Refineria de Petroleo, in first quarter 1996 is to begin construction of an...

Aramco Services Co. (contract with Parsons Corp. for sulfur recovery unit)(Gas processing)(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... Aramco Services Co. hired Parsons Corp., Pasadena, Calif., to design a third sulfur recovery unit for the Berri gas processing plant 10 miles southwest of Jubail, Saudi Arabia. The unit will increase sulfur recovery capacity to 690 metric...

Borealis AS. (commissions polyethylene plant, based on Borstar technology, in Porvoo, Finland)(Petrochemicals)(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... Borealis AS commissioned a 120,000 metric ton/year polyethylene plant at Porvoo, Finland. This is the first unit to be based on Borealis' Borstar technology, which uses a slurry loop reactor with supercritical propane and a specially designed gas...

M.W. Kellogg Co. (contract with UOP for hydrogen purification unit to be installed at an Exxon Chemical Co. olefins plant)(Petrochemicals)(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... M.W. Kellogg Co., Houston, let contract to UOP for a hydrogen purification system to be installed at Exxon Chemical Co.'s Baytown, Tex., olefins complex. Exxon will use the UOP unit to purify hydrogen from ethylene offgas.

NOVA Corp. (and Union Carbide Co. are planning expansions of their ethylene and polyethylene capacities)(Petrochemicals)(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... NOVA Corp. and Union Carbide Corp. will spend $825 million (Canadian) to build a 2 billion lb/year ethylene plant at Joffre, Alta. Carbide also will build a third polyethylene unit next to its two plants at Prentiss, near Joffre. Spending on the...

Statoil AS. (submits application to Denmark's Ministry of Energy and Environment for commercializing Amalie gas field off Denmark)(Drilling-production)(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... Statoil AS, the Danish unit of Norway's state oil firm, submitted to Denmark's Ministry of Energy & Environment a declaration of commerciality for its Amalie gas discovery off Denmark. Statoil found Amalie in 1991 and puts reserves at 105 bcf of...

Chevron U.K. Ltd. (contract with Safe Rigs Ltd. for an accommodation rig to be used for developing North Sea oil field)(Drilling-production)(Brief Article)
March 11, 1996... Chevron U.K. Ltd. let contract to Safe Rigs Ltd., Aberdeen, to provide an accommodation rig to support further development work in the North Sea's Alba field. The Safe Caledonia quarters semisubmersible will be mobilized to Block 16/26 Alba field...