The Oil and Gas Journal articles from May 2001

The Oil and Gas Journal archives from May 2001

CGES OUTLOOK FOR CALL ON OPEC CRUDE, OIL PRICES.
May 7, 2001... CGES OUTLOOK FOR CALL ON OPEC CRUDE, OIL PRICES 4Q00 1Q01 2Q01 3Q01 4Q01 (Million b/d) OECD consumption ...

Oil prices on the upswing.
May 7, 2001... Oil prices are surging again, so the market focus again has fallen on how well OPEC will micromanage oil supply to sustain its unofficial $25/bbl target price. That was brought to light with oil prices rising by more than $1.50 shortly...

Crude, gasoline stock data.
May 7, 2001... The newest data from the US EIA show that US gasoline stocks in mid-April were 6% below the same level a year ago, which the London-based Centre for Global Energy Studies suggests sets the stage for a possible repeat of the $35/bbl [dated...

AAA seeks to avert US Gasoline shortages.
May 7, 2001... American Automobile Association says the US government should take immediate action to avert the "the most potentially serious threat to adequate gasoline supplies since the early 1980s." It also said the US should move to a single national...

US INDUSTRY SCOREBOARD -- 5/7.
May 7, 2001... US INDUSTRY SCOREBOARD -- 5/7 4 wk. 4 wk. avg. % Year-to-date Latest week 4/27 average year ago [1] change average [1] Demand (1,000 b/d) Motor gasoline 8,592 ...

THE FLOATER MARKET.
May 7, 2001... THE FLOATER MARKET WILL GROW TO $42.5 BILLION BY 2005, SAYS A TOP OFFSHORE ANALYST. Demand for floating production, storage, and offloading vessels off Africa could drive a new build floater market forecast to grow to more than $42.5...

THE INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANIZATION.
May 7, 2001... THE INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANIZATION HAS ENDORSED A TOTAL PHASEOUT OF SINGLE-HULL TANKERS BY 2015. IMO said it has approved a global timetable that would phase out all singlehull crude tankers within 15 years starting from September...

FRANCE'S GOVERNMENT.
May 7, 2001... FRANCE'S GOVERNMENT HAS OPTED TO DELAY DEREGULATION OF THE COUNTRY'S GAS MARKET. Due to internal politics, the French government has decided that it's not an appropriate time to change the EU directive on deregulating the gas market. ...

CHINA PLANS.
May 7, 2001... CHINA PLANS TO BUILD EMERGENCY OIL STOCKS OVER 5 YEARS. IEA has applauded a Beijing decision last month to build emergency oil stocks over 5 years, saying it would help strengthen global energy supply security. China's declaration was...

THE TEXAS NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION COMMISSION.
May 7, 2001... THE TEXAS NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION COMMISSION CONTINUES TO COME UNDER FIRE BY ACTIVISTS WHO CLAIM INADEQUATE ENVIRONMENTAL POLICING OF OIL COMPANIES IN THE STATE. Activist groups last week alleged ExxonMobil's 508,000 b/d Baytown,...

THE AFTERMATH OF PETROBRAS'S P-36 PLATFORM DISASTER.
May 7, 2001... THE AFTERMATH OF PETROBRAS'S P-36 PLATFORM DISASTER CONTINUES TO UNFOLD. Ibama, Brazil's federal environmental agency, fined Petrobras $10 million for oil spills from two platforms in the Campos basin. The P-36 sank Mar. 20 as a result...

Southern Pacific Petroleum.
May 7, 2001... In other production news, Southern Pacific Petroleum and Central Pacific Minerals said they plan to produce 200,000 b/d of shale oil products from their Queensland deposits by 2012. That would include 85,000 b/d of production from the fully...

Shell E&P.
May 7, 2001... Shell E&P said the Brutus TLP cost 17% less than the Mars TLP and will take a shorter time to complete. The structure, being assembled at Gulf Marine Fabricators' yard in Ingleside, Tex., will have taken 3.25 months to complete from the arrival...

Triton Energy.
May 7, 2001... Triton Energy reported that it is negotiating to replace the floating, production, storage, and offloading vessel producing La Ceiba field off Equatorial Guinea with a similar sister ship with expanded processing facilities. Triton was...

TOPPING DEVELOPMENT NEWS THIS WEEK.
May 7, 2001... TOPPING DEVELOPMENT NEWS THIS WEEK, the Bongkot consortium plans to start the next development stage of Thailand's largest natural gas field by midyear. Initially estimated to cost $40-50 million, Phase 3C will help the Thai-European...

PetroChina.
May 7, 2001... In other development action, PetroChina has started to develop an oil field in the Junggar basin of northwestern China's Xinjiang province. The company plans to drill 261 wells at Luliang field this year to establish a production capacity of...

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PLANT.
May 7, 2001... ATLANTIC LNG HAS AWARDED A DESIGN CONTRACT FOR A FOURTH PROCESS TRAIN AT ITS TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PLANT. Equity holders of Atlantic LNG have awarded a contract to Bechtel Overseas to perform front-end engineering and design work for a...

Shell Gas.
May 7, 2001... Rounding out gas processing news, Shell Gas, involved in negotiations to sell its seven LPG facilities in China, expects to divest the last one by June 30. The final deal involves an LPG terminal and storage tanks in southern China's Shenzhen....

ENERGY COMPANIES.
May 7, 2001... ENERGY COMPANIES CONTINUE TO KEEP PACE WITH RISING NATURAL GAS DEMAND THROUGH PIPELINE EXPANSIONS. Southern Natural Gas has entered into long-term firm transportation agreements with various shippers for 267 MMcfd. It said...

ANR Pipeline.
May 7, 2001... Meanwhile, ANR Pipeline said it is holding a nonbinding open season in May to determine customer interest in contracting for incremental transportation capacity along ANR's gas pipeline system in south-central Wisconsin. The WestLeg expansion...

Georgia Strait Crossing Pipeline (GSCP).
May 7, 2001... In other pipeline happenings, Georgia Strait Crossing Pipeline (GSCP), a limited partnership formed by Williams of Tulsa applied with FERC to build a natural gas pipeline from Sumas, Wash., to Vancouver Island. The $159 million Georgia Strait...

Nigeria.
May 7, 2001... Nigeria aims to revive a long-dormant project to build a natural gas trunkline linking the West African state to Algeria as part of plans to capitalize on gas reserves estimated to be as high as 200 tcf, according to Rilwanu Lukman, the...

VENEZUELA.
May 7, 2001... VENEZUELA HAS BEGUN THE TENDER PROCESS FOR 11 GAS-PRONE BLOCKS. Venezuela's Energy and Mines Ministry on Apr. 23 began a public tender process to grant licenses to private national and foreign companies for the development of 11 areas rich...

Petro-Canada.
May 7, 2001... In other exploration news, operator Petro-Canada says the first wildcat drilled in the Mackenzie Delta in several decades went smoothly. The Kurk M-15 well, 93 miles northwest of Inuvik, encountered a number of sand zones with gas shows. It was...

BP.
May 7, 2001... BP has a deepwater oil discovery on Green Canyon Block 243 in the Gulf of Mexico. It said a well on the Aspen prospect, in 3,150 ft of water 5 km from its Troika field, found 490 net ft of pay.

'One world, one event'.
May 7, 2001... If you are involved in any aspect of the offshore industry, then you needed to be at last week's Offshore Technology Conference hosted at Reliant Park (formerly Astrodomain), here in Houston. It is the oil and gas industry's premier event,...

Two futile agendas.
May 7, 2001... For the International Energy Agency, conflict with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries comes naturally. IEA began life as a response to the targeted export embargo by Arab oil-producing countries in 1974. Old controversies die...

OTC: focus on deepwater costs, lands access, environment and safety norms.
May 7, 2001... Deepwater cost containment, US lands access, global environmental concerns, and the standardization of safety and environmental practices were the dominant themes that emerged at last week's Offshore Technology Conference in Houston. ...

Elks and elephants.
May 7, 2001... Oil companies can usually rely on a lawmaker from an oil-producing state to endorse their legislative agenda, but that support is far from unconditional. That lesson was driven home recently when the former chairman of the House Committee...

BP to US Senate: No price gauging on West Coast.
May 7, 2001... Oil companies are not gouging motorists on the US West Coast, industry officials told Congress Apr. 25. Instead, too many recipes for reformulated gasoline and a constrained gasoline delivery system are to blame for higher gasoline prices,...

Canadian oil and gas firms continue merger frenzy.
May 7, 2001... Merger and acquisition activity remains heated among Canadian oil and gas companies. In the latest action: * Canadian Superior Energy Inc., Calgary, made an unsolicited $700 million (Can.) bid to merge with Calgary-based Canadian 88...

'Petrophobia' price stability.
May 7, 2001... To judge by several of the presentations made at the recent International Oil Summit in Paris, the claim repeated at various government and industry gatherings over the last year that the world's oil producing and consuming countries were...

Soil gas survey detects microseepage through thick evaporitic sequence in Egypt.
May 7, 2001... A surface geochemical exploration survey in eastern Egypt detected hydrocarbon microseepage from reservoirs overlain by 8,000 ft of evaporitic salt and anhydrite sequences with interbeds of shale. Forum Exploration completed the survey on...

Venezuela.
May 7, 2001... Repsol YPF SA of Madrid and partners will drill four more wells through 2002 to appraise and develop an apparent large find in Tacata field. The TAG-14 well, drilled to TD 16,000 ft, tested a combined 21,000 b/d from four intervals. ...

Coordinated efforts allow drilling through highly depleted sand.
May 7, 2001... With up to a 13,000-psi differential pressure, BP successfully drilled through a depleted sand in a South Louisiana well. Its close attention to operational procedures avoided stuck pipe and unmanageable mud losses. The procedures used...

Spent-caustic treating technology converts waste into saleable byproduct.
May 7, 2001... The first commercial Pretreat unit (Fig. 1), started in July 1999, was built as part of the second ethylene unit project of Companhia Petroquimica do Sul (Copesul), in Triunfo, Brazil. This Pretreat unit was installed upstream of a Stone &...

ILI tool detects cracks, SCC in Canadian liquids line.
May 7, 2001... In September 1997, Enbridge Pipelines Inc. initiated a crack-detection program on the 283 km, Cromer-to-Gretna, Man. section of Enbridge's Line 3. Its purpose was to assess the integrity of this section and identify anomalies that might...

Pemex development tracking fiscal, technological strategies.
May 7, 2001... As presidential candidate, and president-elect, Vicente Fox emphasized the need for greater participation by private industry in the energy sector of Mexico. Since assuming office on Dec. 1, the government has named executives from Dupont...

Mexico's new government launches major projects to boost oil production.
May 7, 2001... The Petroleos Mexicanos 2001-06 upstream investment program that was recently approved by the new administration of Mexican President Vicente Fox covers a variety of projects, many of them intended to elevate oil and natural gas production. [1]...

Gas output to grow further in Mexico's Burgos basin.
May 7, 2001... Aggressive exploration and development of the Burgos basin in northeastern Mexico is expected to result in substantial increases in nonassociated gas production over the next 2 decades, according to a report published by Gas Technology...

Desiccant air dryer aids offshore operation.
May 7, 2001... This firm's line of Pneudri desiccant air dryers was called into use recently by an operating oil company to supply a solution for the cement transfer facility on a North Sea offshore platform. The existing compressed air system on board...

Multiport flow selector.
May 7, 2001... This multiport flow selector is designed for production uses where equipment size, reliability, and control simplicity are factors, It promises a cost effective method of selection and diversion of well fluids from an individual well to a...

Offshore public address, general alarm system.
May 7, 2001... A new microprocessor-based system is designed for public address and general alarm for offshore operations. The Elemec Plus system is designed to meet routine and emergency communications and safety needs of offshore production operations....

Mustang Engineering Inc.
May 7, 2001... Houston, has named Dennis Pisula international business development manager. He will be primarily focused on international sales of the process plants, pipeline, and automation segments of Mustang's business. Pisula has more than 25 years...

INOVx Solutions.
May 7, 2001... Irvine, Calif., has announced the appointment of Edward Anderson as vice president of business development. Anderson holds a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Tennessee and has over 30 years of experience in the...

Halliburton Energy Services.
May 7, 2001... Houston, has formed a strategic alliance with Vertex Petroleum Systems (VPS) to offer remote, ongoing reservoir modeling and analytical services to the petroleum industry. The alliance combines the communication capabilities of the internet...

Chet Morrison Contractors Inc.
May 7, 2001... Houma, La., has announced that Phil Thibodeaux has joined the company and will manage its newly formed offshore pipeline business unit. The new business unit will extend existing pipeline capabilities from coastal waters to depths up to 300 ft....

Bovygues Offshore.
May 7, 2001... Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France, and Kazakhoil's Kazakhoilkurylys have formed a joint venture company to be named Kazakhoil - Bouygues Offshore (KOBOS). The new company will undertake turnkey oil and gas construction and service projects in...

Rebis Inc.
May 7, 2001... Walnut Creek, Calif., has launched Rebis GMBH which, through a partnership with Kiel Engineering Group, will provide a solution-based model for the sale of Rebis applications and services inside Germany Rebis Inc. is a supplier of PC plant...

OGJ CRACK SPREAD.
May 7, 2001... OGJ CRACK SPREAD 4-27-01 [*] 4-28-00 [*] Change % $/bbl change SPOT PRICES Product value 37.08 32.35 ...

API IMPORTS OF CRUDE AND PRODUCTS.
May 7, 2001... API IMPORTS OF CRUDE AND PRODUCTS Districts 1-4 District 5 4-27 4-20 [1] 4-27 4-20 [1] 2001 2001 ...

API CRUDE AND PRODUCT STOCKS.
May 7, 2001... API CRUDE AND PRODUCT STOCKS Motor gasoline Blending Crude oil Total Comp. [2] ...

API REFINERY REPORT--APRIL 27, 2001.
May 7, 2001... API REFINERY REPORT--APRIL 27, 2001 REFINERY OPERATIONS Total Input refinery Crude to crude Operable District ...

OGJ GASOLINE PRICES.
May 7, 2001... OGJ GASOLINE PRICES Price Pump Pump ex tax price [*] price 4-25-01 4-25-01 4-26-00 ...

REFINED PRODUCT PRICES.
May 7, 2001... REFINED PRODUCT PRICES 4-20-01 ([cts.]/gal) Spot market product price Motor gasoline (Conventional-regular) New York Harbor 96.20 ...

BAKER HUGHES RIG COUNT.
May 7, 2001... BAKER HUGHES RIG COUNT 4-27-01 4-28-00 Alabama 5 0 Alaska 13 4 Arkansas 0 2 California ...

SMITH RIG COUNT.
May 7, 2001... SMITH RIG COUNT 4-27-01 4-28-00 Proposed depth Rig % Rig % (ft) count footage [*] count footage [*] 0-2,500 49 4.0 ...

OGJ PRODUCTION REPORT.
May 7, 2001... OGJ PRODUCTION REPORT 4-27-01 [1] 4-28-00 [2] (1,000 b/d) (Crude oil and lease condensate) Alabama 27 30 Alaska 991...

US CRUDE PRICES.
May 7, 2001... US CRUDE PRICES ($/bbl) [*] 4-27-01 Alaska-North Slope 27[degrees] 21.12 Southern Louisiana Light 28.00 California-Kern River 13[degrees] 22.00 Last Hills...

WORLD CRUDE PRICES.
May 7, 2001... WORLD CRUDE PRICES ($/bbl) [1] 4-20-01 United Kingdom-Brent 38[degrees] 25.54 Russia-Urals 32[degrees] 25.44 Saudi light 34[degrees] 25.13...

AGA NATURAL GAS STORAGE [*].
May 7, 2001... AGA NATURAL GAS STORAGE [*] 4-20-01 4-13-01 Change (bcf) Producing region 252 238 14 Consuming region east 315 295 20 Consuming...

PACE REFINING MARGINS.
May 7, 2001... PACE REFINING MARGINS Feb. Mar. Apr. Apr. 2001 2001 2001 2000 Change $/bbl U.S. Gulf Coast West Texas Sour 7.43...

U.S. NATURAL GAS BALANCE DEMAND/SUPPLY SCOREBOARD.
May 7, 2001... U.S. NATURAL GAS BALANCE DEMAND/SUPPLY SCOREBOARD Jan. Total Jan. Dec. Jan. change YTD 2001 2000 2000 2001-2000 2001 2000 ...

WORLDWIDE NGL PRODUCTION.
May 7, 2001... WORLDWIDE NGL PRODUCTION 1 month Chg. vs. average previous Jan. Dec. Production ...

OXYGENATES.
May 7, 2001... OXYGENATES Feb. Jan. YTD YTD 2001 2001 Change 2001 2000 Change 1,000 bbl Fuel ethanol Production 3,249 3,574 -325...

U.S. HEATING DEGREE DAYS [1].
May 7, 2001... U.S. HEATING DEGREE DAYS [1] 2000 % change Feb. Feb. from 2001 2000 Normal...

Refining sector: secular recovery?
May 14, 2001... The evidence continues to mount that a secular recovery is under way in the world refining industry. As always is the case in refining, any recovery--or downturn--varies widely by geographical region. But the case is clear for a rebound in...

US INDUSTRY SCOREBOARD -- 5/14.
May 14, 2001... US INDUSTRY SCOREBOARD -- 5/14 4 wk. 4 wk. avg. % YTD Latest week 5/4 average year ago [1] change average [1] Demand, 1,000 b/d Motor gasoline 8,736 ...

THE NUMBER OF WELLS BEING DRILLED IN THE DEEP AND ULTRADEEP WATER OF THE GULF OF MEXICO CONTINUES TO RISE SIGNIFICANTLY.
May 14, 2001... THE NUMBER OF WELLS BEING DRILLED IN THE DEEP AND ULTRADEEP WATER OF THE GULF OF MEXICO CONTINUES TO RISE SIGNIFICANTLY, says MMS As of mid-April, the number of rigs drilling in the deepwater gulf--in 1,000 ft of water or greater--rose to a...

US GULF OF MEXICO OIL PRODUCTION SET A RECORD IN 2000, BUT GAS PRODUCTION DECLINED FOR THE THIRD STRAIGHT YEAR.
May 14, 2001... US GULF OF MEXICO OIL PRODUCTION SET A RECORD IN 2000, BUT GAS PRODUCTION DECLINED FOR THE THIRD STRAIGHT YEAR, said MMS. MMS said, "The phenomenal rise in oil production from the Gulf of Mexico has continued although the rise has slowed a...

CANADA'S PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS ARE CASHING IN ON RESOURCE ROYALTIES FROM HIGH COMMODITY PRICES, WHICH HAVE ALSO BOOSTED OIL SECTOR EARNINGS.
May 14, 2001... CANADA'S PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS ARE CASHING IN ON RESOURCE ROYALTIES FROM HIGH COMMODITY PRICES, WHICH HAVE ALSO BOOSTED OIL SECTOR EARNINGS, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers reported. A study commissioned for CAPP said tax and...

MMS HAS DISBURSED FINAL PAYMENT TO SIX COASTAL STATES FOR CERTAIN DISPUTED OCS LEASES.
May 14, 2001... MMS said earlier this month that it recently paid $65 million to the six coastal states under terms of a 1986 law designed to give states an annual share of proceeds from certain federal Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas leases. Fifteen...

FRANCE WILL BE BROUGHT BEFORE THE EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE FOR FAILING TO MEET DEADLINES FOR PARTIAL DEREGULATION OF ITS GAS MARKET.
May 14, 2001... FRANCE WILL BE BROUGHT BEFORE THE EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE FOR FAILING TO MEET DEADLINES FOR PARTIAL DEREGULATION OF ITS GAS MARKET, following the European Commission decision last week to initiate legal action. France's parliament failed...

AN APPRAISAL WELL DRILLED IN THE YORK FIELD AREA OF THE SOUTHERN NORTH SEA CONFIRMED AS MUCH AS 200 BCF OF PROBABLE NATURAL GAS RESERVES.
May 14, 2001... AN APPRAISAL WELL DRILLED IN THE YORK FIELD AREA OF THE SOUTHERN NORTH SEA CONFIRMED AS MUCH AS 200 BCF OF PROBABLE NATURAL GAS RESERVES, says Amerada Hess. The well, confirming a 1991 discovery, flowed 24.7 MMcfd of gas from a...

Esso Exploration Angola.
May 14, 2001... In other exploration news, Esso Exploration Angola has made yet another oil find--the company's 11th--on Block 15 off Angola. Discovery well Vicango-l is in 3,199 ft of water 193 miles northwest of Luanda. It was drilled to 6,890 ft TD. Esso...

Sudan.
May 14, 2001... Sudan has awarded an exploration and production-sharing agreement for Block 5B in the Muglad basin to four companies. Petronas Carigali and Sudapet were designated joint operators, having 41% and 10% respective interests in the block, while...

Latvia.
May 14, 2001... Latvia plans to launch its first oil and gas licensing round for exploration acreage in the Baltic Sea. The Ministry of Economy will offer 7 permits for exploration and drilling and 66 blocks for "preinvestigation." Preinvestigation licenses...

Santos.
May 14, 2001... Santos, operator of Australian Exploration Permit 154 in Victoria's Otway basin, made its fourth discovery in that area this year. The Layers-1 wildcat intersected an 11-m gross gas column in Cretaceous Waarre sand at 1,542-1,553 m. The well...

WILLIAMS COS. COMPLETED REPAIRS ON A RUPTURED SECTION OF A PIPELINE SPUR NORTH OF KANSAS CITY, MO.
May 14, 2001... A fire occurred after the line break, although the cause of the accident has not been determined. The incident occurred between Platte City, Mo., and Weston, Mo., on a 10-in. section of the Mid-America Pipeline, which carries ethane and...

Southern Natural Gas.
May 14, 2001... In other pipeline happenings, El Paso Corp. unit Southern Natural Gas applied to US FERC to build a $240 million natural gas pipeline system in Georgia and Florida. Using the proposed 166-mile, 310 MMcfd pipeline, SNG subsidiary Cypress Natural...

Tennessee Gas Pipeline.
May 14, 2001... El Paso Corp. unit Tennessee Gas Pipeline plans to expand its New England pipeline capacity by 200 MMcfd to more than 600 MMcfd at a cost of $35 million. The company plans to replace 12 miles of 16-in. natural gas line from Dracut, Mass., to...

TOPPING GAS PROCESSING NEWS.
May 14, 2001... TOPPING GAS PROCESSING NEWS, multinational joint venture Malaysia LNG Tiga said it has secured two loans worth $816 million to finance the construction of a third LNG plant and related facilities at Bintulu, Sarawak.

LNG.
May 14, 2001... The plant, 45% complete, will consist of two 3.4 million tonne/year trains. Related facilities to be built include an LNG storage facility and an LNG loading jetty. Scheduled to begin operation in 2003, the plant will make the Bintulu...

Abraxas Petroleum.
May 14, 2001... In other gas processing news, Abraxas Petroleum has successfully completed the expansion of its gas processing facilities in the Pouce Coupe-Valhalla area in the Peace River arch area of northwestern Alberta. A 10-mile sour gas pipeline...