The Oil and Gas Journal articles from November 2000

The Oil and Gas Journal archives from November 2000

Cool temperatures boost gas prices.
November 27, 2000... Now energy prices are being whipsawed by the weather. Unseasonably warm weather had taken the wind out of the sails of high gas prices earlier this month, but that trend was abruptly reversed in the past week or so. Early in the...

Drilling rates rising.
November 27, 2000... The jitters over heating oil supplies in the US this winter aren't going away, either. As for continuing concerns over gas supplies, particularly the level of wellhead deliverability, it is important to note that this is a time of year...

Heating oil concerns.
November 27, 2000... US heating oil inventories fell much farther than expected the week ended Nov. 10 and stubbornly persist at a level more than 30% below a year ago. Stocks of heating oil in the US plunged by 665,000 bbl to 46.8 million bbl during the...

OPEC cuts ahead despite high crude oil prices?
November 27, 2000... Despite NYMEX crude futures contracts persisting above $35/bbl last week, partly in response to the colder weather, OPEC members continued to talk up the prospect of production cuts early next year because of a saturated world oil market....

THE US RIG COUNT HAS AGAIN SURPASSED ANALYSTS' EXPECTATIONS...
November 27, 2000... For the third time this year, Raymond James is raising its 2000 yearend US rig count forecast to 1,100 from 1,050 and its yearend 2001 forecast to 1,250 from 1,150 (see chart). Raymond James says that even though it anticipated an...

...AND CANADA'S DRILLING CONTRACTORS ARE SCRAMBLING FOR WORKERS.
November 27, 2000... The Canadian drilling industry has launched a national campaign to attract a minimum of 3,000 workers because of labor shortages and escalating demand for rigs this winter. The Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors says...

THE US DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.
November 27, 2000... THE US DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE has appealed a court's order that it reconsider a case alleging four nations "dumped" crude on the US market in 1998-99. The US Court of International Trade, New York City, ruled Commerce must reconsider the...

MMS HAS PROPOSED A SUPPLEMENTAL ROYALTY RELIEF FOR MARGINAL LEASES.
November 27, 2000... MMS published this month a proposal to allow additional discretionary royalty relief on a case-by-case basis for marginal oil and natural gas leases on the US OCS. The supplemental proposal, an amendment to MMS's royalty relief...

PHILLIPS ALASKA HAS BEGUN PRODUCTION AT ALPINE OIL FIELD ON ALASKA'S NORTH SLOPE.
November 27, 2000... Phillips says Alpine will reach peak production of 80,000 b/d by yearend. It estimates the field's reserves at 429 million bbl. The field will cost more than $1 billion to develop. The field is in the Colville River area, 8 miles from the...

DNO Heather.
November 27, 2000... In other production news, DNO Heather said its recent success with an infill well in Heather field demonstrates that mature fields in the North Sea still have much oil to deliver. DNO doubled production from Heather field to 8,500 b/d by...

Royal Dutch/Shell.
November 27, 2000... Royal Dutch/Shell has decided to revive production at Nang Nuan field on Block B6/27 in the Gulf of Thailand. The field was shut in 3 years ago. Earlier this year, the company began reconsidering the project because of a favorable...

Triton Energy.
November 27, 2000... Triton Energy said the Sendje Berge floating production, storage, and offloading vessel arrived in Ceiba field off Equatorial Guinea. The FPSO will produce 52,000 b/d of oil from the field. The Sedco 700 semisubmersible rig is completing...

TOPPING DRILLING NEWS THIS WEEK.
November 27, 2000... TOPPING DRILLING NEWS THIS WEEK, Norsk Hydro awarded Smedvig a 2-year, $110 million contract for use of Smedvig's West Delta semisubmersible drilling rig. It also awarded Smedvig a 19-month continuation of an existing contract for use of...

Noble Drilling.
November 27, 2000... In other drilling news, Noble Drilling acquired the 30% interest in the Ilion semisubmersible rig that it did not already own. It paid $12.8 million for the interest. Noble Drilling recently awarded Friede Goldman Halter a contract to upgrade...

ALASKA SOLD 149 TRACTS FOR $10.6 MILLION AT A NORTH SLOPE AREA-WIDE OIL AND GAS LEASE SALE NOV. 15.
November 27, 2000... The state Department of Natural Resources said bidders filed 158 valid offers, exposing $10.9 million. A consortium of Phillips Alaska, ABC Oil & Gas, and Chevron submitted the sale's high bid, $669,024, for tract 0577. That was $116.15/acre,...

Westech Energy New Zealand.
November 27, 2000... In other exploration news, a Westech Energy New Zealand-led exploration group has been joined by Pancontinental Oil & Gas for the redrilling of the Waitaria gas prospect in the onshore East Coast basin of New Zealand's North Island....

Polish Oil & Gas Co.
November 27, 2000... Polish Oil & Gas Co., Poland's national energy firm, will buy 30% of a EuroGas subsidiary and become operator of an oil and gas concession in southeastern Poland. EuroGas holds exploration and development rights to 1,070,000 acres in 10...

Harken Energy.
November 27, 2000... Harken Energy will spud the second exploratory well on the Cambulos Association Contract block in the Middle Magdalena Valley, Colombia, in December. Manantial No. 1 will be drilled on the Delta prospect in the southeast corner of the...

BP PLANS GAS-FIRED COGENERATION POWER PLANTS AT ITS TEXAS CITY AND CHOCOLATE BAYOU, TEX., PROCESSING COMPLEXES.
November 27, 2000... Negotiations are under way with Cinergy and Power Solutions to undertake the two power plants, which will produce steam as well as electricity for the two complexes. The facilities are part of a plan to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions...

TOTALFINAELF HAS STARTED WORKING ON WHAT MAY BE THE DEEPEST PIPELINE IN THE GULF OF MEXICO.
November 27, 2000... TotalFinaElf has begun work on its Canyon Express natural gas gathering system, the deepest pipeline yet in the Gulf of Mexico. The 55-mile line will enable the development of three gas fields in 7,000 ft of water--Aconcagua, King's Peak,...

Duke Energy and Williams.
November 27, 2000... Elsewhere on the pipeline front, Duke Energy and Williams have agreed to purchase Coastal's 100% interest in the Gulfstream gas pipeline. They will develop the Gulfstream line rather than the two firms' competing Buccaneer pipeline....

Conoco.
November 27, 2000... Conoco and Russian firms OAO Lukoil and OAO Arkhangelskgeoldobycha plan to build a pipeline to supply Russia's Nenetski Autonomous Okrug. The proposed system is expected to move up to 7.5 million tonnes/year of oil from the Northern...

Letters.
November 27, 2000... Ethanol backer bashes oil The OGJ Oct. 23, 2000, editorial, p. 19, "Ethanol backer bashes oil," observes that the government forgoes federal tax amounting to $0.54/gal to make it possible for ethanol producers to compete with producers...

Siegfried's 'aGoreaphobia'.
November 27, 2000... Pity poor Siegfried the Wonder Bug. The suspense over who won the US presidential election--still undecided as of this writing--is just killing him. Faithful readers of this space will recall some of the tales of adventure and...

The climate change stampede.
November 27, 2000... Are you confused about the 2-week conference that concluded last week in The Hague on climate change? You should be. Like everything else about this issue, the conference was premature. It was, like so many activities related to climate...

Flat Asia-Pacific markets to deflect: Middle East products westward.
November 27, 2000... Petroleum products from the Middle East are moving westward more and more frequently. This trend is likely to continue and even increase, because Middle East producers will face the choice of either exporting westward or running at low rates....

OPEC under fire for considering output cuts.
November 27, 2000... A rising chorus of Western politicians has called for further production increases from oil exporting nations, notably the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, as OPEC itself retrenched its option to cut output in anticipation of a...

Gordian energy knot tightens.
November 27, 2000... The coincidental overlap in the staging of the Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP-6) in The Hague and International Energy Forum (IEF) in Riyadh last week could only bring into sharper relief the dilemma that the world has...

US E&P companies bolstering their portfolios.
November 27, 2000... US-based exploration and production companies are scrambling to acquire more assets to bolster their portfolios amid a robust oil and gas price environment. Among the recent major transactions: * The board of Pogo Producing Co.,...

Shell names new production vice-president for US E&P Unit.
November 27, 2000... Jorn Berget has been named vice-president, production, for Royal Dutch/Shell's US exploration and production unit Shell Exploration & Production Co. Barget replaces Steve McVeigh, who has accepted an assignment as president of Sakhalin Energy...

DOE: Energy savings key to VS Kyoto goals.
November 27, 2000... The US Department of Energy says energy efficiency savings could enable the US to comply with the goals of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change without harming the domestic economy. The protocol proposed that the US reduce its greenhouse...

Alaska's choice.
November 27, 2000... Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles said his state will push for construction of a gas pipeline from the North Slope to Alberta, paralleling the oil pipeline and Alaska Highway. He claimed the 1,800-mile line would be the largest private project in...

Forest-Anschutz work to turn good geology, connections into South African business.
November 27, 2000... Operations off western South Africa took a positive turn at mid-November with good results from an exploratory test in the Orange River basin. Overseas affiliates of Forest Oil Corp. and Anschutz Corp. tested a strong flow of gas and...

Correction.
November 27, 2000... An error appeared in the article, "Gulf of Mexico deepwater future looks bright as new plays result in major discoveries" (OGJ, Nov. 6, 2000, p. 74). The dashed green line on Fig. 1 referred to in the text on p. 74 is actually a solid double...

Tchatamba West field starts up off Gabon.
November 27, 2000... Marathon Petroleum Gabon LDC has begun producing 6,000 b/d of oil from the Tchatarnba West field, in 165 ft of water 15 miles off Gabon. It estimates Tchatamba West contains 7 million bbl of oil. A single well will enable Marathon to...

Algeria sets onshore licensing, Mediterranean seismic.
November 27, 2000... Algeria's Sonatrach has opened its first competitive exploration and production licensing round and commissioned a marine seismic survey along the country's entire Mediterranean coast. The licensing round, to close Feb. 14, 2001, covers 6...

China awards more coalbed methane PSCs.
November 27, 2000... Texaco China BV has signed production sharing contracts with China United Coalbed Methane Corp. in Beijing to explore three blocks in northwestern China for coalbed methane. Texaco will explore the blocks, which cover 6,897 sq km, over a...

Average US well, footage costs peaked in '99, API says.
November 27, 2000... The cost per well and cost per foot of the average completed well in the US set records in 1999. American Petroleum Institute said the costs of all US wells, including dry holes, averaged $856,149/well and $152.02/ft in spite of a 3.3%...

New Zealand to see more drilling in East Coast basin.
November 27, 2000... Exploratory drilling is to start soon in land and offshore portions of New Zealand's East Coast basin, whose first discovery came in 1998. The joint venture led by Westech Energy New Zealand Ltd. and Orion Exploration Ltd. is to drill...

Perupetro to revive offshore bid rounds.
November 27, 2000... Peru's state oil agency Perupetro released a generalized timetable starting in early 2001 of licensing rounds for offshore blocks left pending since 1999. Perupetro Pres. Rafael Samaniego said that following a reassessment of the...

Ukraine to tap gas on Black, Azov Sea shelf.
November 27, 2000... The state joint stock company Chornomornaftohaz has begun to prospect the North Kazantip gas deposit in the southern Azov Sea, according to press reports from Kiev. Production could start as early as 2002, said the company's Mykola...

Jack Ryan drillship to use retractable thrusters, MUX control systems.
November 27, 2000... Global Marine Inc.'s Jack Ryan, one of the last drillships to be delivered from the current construction cycle, will utilize dynamic positioning, retractable thrusters, offline pipe-handling equipment, and a multiplex (MUX) blowout preventer...

Expandable tubulars set new records.
November 27, 2000... Expandable liner and sand-screen technologies are setting new records and being installed in more-difficult environments. Enventure Global Technology, a company formed by Shell Technology Ventures Inc. and Halliburton Energy Services,...

Reliability assessment avoids new FCCU expander purchase.
November 27, 2000... BP Amoco's Whiting, Ind., refinery saved millions of dollars by avoiding the purchase of a new power-recovery turbine expander (PRT) to replace its existing one, which experienced four unplanned outages between 1995 and 1998. A vigorous...

Coating, CP failures behind corrosion problems on African fuel oil line.
November 27, 2000... Laboratory analyses of a section of 8-in, pipe in heavy-fuel-oil service revealed failure from damaged coating and thermal insulation and from inefficient cathodic protection (CP). The carbon steel pipeline carries heavy fuel oil from an...

Statoil tests, adopts deepwater pipe tool.
November 27, 2000... Statoil, after tests on its Guilfaks Satellites Phase II project, has adopted a new subsea tool that allows flanged piping to be assembled in deep water without diver assistance. Developed in cooperation with Stolt Offshore, the new...

Refinery feed, complexity determine investment for US fuel specs.
November 27, 2000... The types of crudes processed and the complexity of a refinery will significantly impact the level of investment required to make new US fuels. US refiners face fuel-specification challenges associated with the potential phase out of...

Study says 2005 EU product specs may cost refiners up to $9 billion.
November 27, 2000... Depending upon the final 2005 fuel specifications, the necessary European Union (EU) refining investment could be huge--as much as $9 billion, says a study by Nexant Ltd., London, formerly Bechtel Consulting. The European Commission...

European refiners should not expect return on fuel-quality investments.
November 27, 2000... European refiners should not expect to reap a return on investments they make in preparation for 2005 Auto Oil II specifications. Poorer yields and higher operating costs will negate the positive effect of any gasoline or diesel price...

Submersible aerator increases its efficiency.
November 27, 2000... With the addition of a new impeller, the self-aspirating Hurricane aerator now provides 22% more oxygenation than previously. Available in sizes up to 100 hp (75 kw), the impeller is machined from a single piece of 17-4 stainless steel and...

Ultralight cement system enhanced.
November 27, 2000... Enhancements to LiteCRETE technology enable delivery of cement slurries with densities lower than that of water. This new ultralight cement system for low-fracture-gradient oil and gas wells is designed for applications in formations...

Fluid-handling web site upgraded.
November 27, 2000... An upgraded web site offers seals and composite plastics designed for refinery, pipeline, and chemical processing and transportation operations. The new site from this firm's fluid-handling group features a new pull-down menu that takes...

[H.sub.2]S pipeline analyzer.
November 27, 2000... Model series 1000 process analyzers are designed to provide continuous, real-time measurement of [H.sub.2]S concentrations in natural gas pipelines, tail gas lines, and SRU overhead gas lines. Available ranges are 0-20 ppm up to 0-10,000...

Advanced Resources International.
November 27, 2000... Houston, has named Eugene Williams manager -- reservoir characterization and Raymond Flumerfelt senior consultant. Williams has over 20 year's of petroleum consulting experience. Flumerfelt was formerly with Schlumberger and Shell. He has...

Wood Group ESP.
November 27, 2000... Oklahoma City, has acquired a controlling interest in Control Telecom Inc. (CTI). The new company is trading as Wood Group Control Telecom. Wood Group ESP is the worldwide distributor for CTI's motor control system. This system will...

Denny O'Brien, Ed Blott, PhD, and John Arestad, PhD.
November 27, 2000... Denver, have formed ExplorTech LLC. It specializes in the integration of seismic data with geological and engineering information for resource evaluations and development. ExplorTech LLC provides the application of 3C and enhanced AVO seismic...

Orcom Solutions Inc.
November 27, 2000... Denver, has named Marisol Konczal director of marketing. She will be responsible for leading Orcom's branding, advertising, marketing, and communications initiatives in North America Previously, Konczal was with U S West. She oversaw...

PRIZM Advanced Communication Electronics Inc.
November 27, 2000... Baltimore, has named George Kotula project manager/design engineer. Kotula will be responsible for new product design, project management, and technical support. Previously, Kotula worked at Oceaneering Technologies as project manager...

Yokogawa Corp. of America.
November 27, 2000... Newnan, Ga., has named Sue Lynch general manager of the field instruments business unit. Lynch will oversee Yokogawa's flow, pressure, and temperature products. Prior to joining Yokogawa in 1998, Lynch was the US business unit...

PC & E.
November 27, 2000... St. Louis, has named John Solodar senior engineer. His responsibilities will include mechanical system design, energy conservation studies, and commissioning of industrial facilities. Prior to joining PC & E, Solodar was with Monsanto...

Yokogawa Electric Corp.
November 27, 2000... Tokyo, announced that it has acquired 3A International Inc. Yokogawa and 3A have worked together since 1997. The acquisition combines 3A's research and development successes with Yokogawa's distribution channels. The 3A office in...

GASOLINE DEFINITIONS.
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OGJ PRODUCTION REPORT.
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US CRUDE PRICES.
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WORLD CRUDE PRICES.
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BAKER HUGHES RIG COUNT.
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SMITH RIG COUNT.
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OGJ GASOLINE PRICES.
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REFINED PRODUCT PRICES.
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AGA NATURAL GAS STORAGE [*].
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WORLD OIL BALANCE.
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US PETROLEUM IMPORTS FROM SOURCE COUNTRY.
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OECD [*] NET OIL IMPORTS.
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OECD [*] IMPORTS FROM OPEC.
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OIL STOCKS IN OECD [*] COUNTRIES.
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Global oil supply-demand balance tightening.
November 20, 2000... How has the global supply-demand balance changed over the past few years? This is the focus of IEA's Nov. 9 Oil Market Report (OMR). Despite raising quotas four times this year, OPEC's current production target is 600,000 b/d below its...

NL Bulletin.
November 20, 2000... NYMEX has agreed to license Platts price assessments and benchmarks for forward contracts traded and cleared on an internet exchange scheduled for launch in first quarter 2001. The contracts cover crude oil, oil products, natural gas,...

US SERVICE COMPANIES' EARNINGS HAVE CONTINUED THEIR UPWARD TREND IN THE THIRD QUARTER.
November 20, 2000... According to financial service firm UBS Warburg, drilling and service companies' earnings for the third quarter have been "better than expected." UBS said that 15 of the 18 service firms in its universe of coverage reported...

US TOTAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS ROSE.
November 20, 2000... US TOTAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS ROSE 0.8% in 1999 to 1.833 billion tonnes of carbon equivalent (tce) vs. 1998 levels, according to government estimates. EIA said the increase was slightly lower than the 1.1% average annual increase...

US OIL COMPANIES SHOULD RESIST GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION AND PROMOTE ENERGY CONSERVATION.
November 20, 2000... US OIL COMPANIES SHOULD RESIST GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION AND PROMOTE ENERGY CONSERVATION, said Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates at API's annual meeting Nov. 13. Yergin pointed to the residential sector of the...

A UK WINDFALL TAX WILL NOT POSE A THREAT TO OIL COMPANIES.
November 20, 2000... Oil companies operating in the UK North Sea breathed a sigh of relief following UK Chancellor Gordon Brown's assurance that overheated crude prices would not spur him to impose a windfall tax on the industry. The last 2 months have seen...

INDONESIA'S HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
November 20, 2000... INDONESIA'S HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES again has proposed a draft law to end the monopoly of Pertamina. Lawmakers designed the bill to both liberalize the energy industry and peg local fuel prices to international benchmarks, removing...

BHP PETROLEUM CLAIMS A NEW DEEPWATER DRILLING RECORD IN THE GULF OF MEXICO.
November 20, 2000... MMS announced that a unit of Australia's BHP Petroleum broke a Gulf of Mexico deepwater drilling record Oct. 22 when it spudded an exploratory well in 8,835 ft of water -- with Global Marine's C.R. Luigs drill-ship--on Walker Ridge Block 425...

AMG OIL SPUDDED THE ARCADIA-1 WELL NOV. 12 TO TEST A LARGE STRUCTURE IN NEW ZEALAND.
November 20, 2000... AMG OIL SPUDDED THE ARCADIA-1 WELL NOV. 12 TO TEST A LARGE STRUCTURE IN NEW ZEALAND that it claims could contain an oil and gas trap encompassing more than 15,000 acres. The well is expected to reach TD of 6,000 ft in 2 weeks. The...