Headlines

Energy Processing Canada, Mar/Apr 2001

After a 24-year hiatus, drilling in Canada's arctic has resumed. Petro-Canada began drilling a natural gas well 125 kilometres north of Inuvik in the Mackenzie Delta region of the Northwest Territories. PetroCan and its 40% partner, Anderson Exploration Ltd., said the well could cost up to $23 million and the principal target is at 2,500 metres...

Already one of the busiest market hubs on the continent, the Dawn Market Hub, operated by Union Gas of Chatham, Ontario, set new records in 2000 for the volume and number of title transfers. The Union Hub, south of Sarnia, recorded over 2.7 Tcf of title transfers last year - more than double the 1999 total of 1.3 Tcf. That means on average about 7.6 Bcf of natural gas changed hands every day in the Union Hub during 2000 (up from 3.7 Bcf in 1999).The number of title transfer transactions also increased in 2000, growing by over 70%... A major rewriting of reserve disclosure rules is pitting senior international producers against smaller domestic producers. The Alberta Securities Commission Task Force has recommended a significant tightening of definitions for reserves and wants oil and gas companies to file an annual reserve report, even if they don't expect to raise money in the capital markets. The domestic producers want task force recommendations implemented as soon as possible, but the multinationals want to retain current disclosure rules until North America-- wide standards can be set. It will likely take about a year before the recommendations could become law... Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp., the secondlargest maker of gas-fired turbines in the world, has issued a warning that it is one year behind schedule on its delivery of the most sought-after generators of electricity in North America. And in many cases the backlog could be longer... TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. is paying $285 million (U.S.) for two hydroelectric plants near Corinth in eastern New York state. The 60megawatt output of the two Hudson River hydro plants was sold to Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. under the fixed-price arrangement which still has more than 25 years to run... OGY Petroleums Ltd., a Calgarybased oil and gas company with a market value of $50 million, said it may put itself up for sale because its share price doesn't reflect the value of its assets.The company, which is 62% weighted in favour of natural gas, will also consider a merger or other restructuring, OGY Petroleums said in a statement.The company has hired Griffiths McBurney & Partners to act as its advisor... For $940 million, Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. has made a bid to acquire Midcoast Resources Inc. of Houston. Midcoast operates a 6,560-kilometre pipeline network that spans 10 states. Enbridge, which operates Canada's main crude oil pipeline network, owns a 21.4% stake in the new Alliance gas pipeline and a 45% interest in the Vector line... Tiny Deer Creek Energy, a Calgary-based company with 7 full-time employees, has big ambitions. Owner of a massive 19,745-hectare (49,000-acre) lease 65 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, Deer Creek plans to build a modest oilsands plant (2,000 b/d) by next year and a $270-million commercial operation by 2004... Suncor Energy's marketing arm has agreed to supply PetroCanada with a diluting agent needed to transport heavy oil. PetroCan has started construction of its $290-million MacKay River plant, 45 kilometres northwest of Fort McMurray. Land has been cleared and the first of an eventual 25 well-pairs has been drilled. The peak construction time is this summer when 200 trades workers will be on-site completing facilities. In late2002, the company expects to have an operations crew of 45 producing 30,000 b/d, using steam injection... Canadian 88 Energy Corp. has made a deal to sell nonproducing oil and gas interests in the Waterton and Caroline areas of southern Alberta to Hunt Oil Co. of Dallas. Much of the Waterton lands and rights are subject to a right-of-first-refusal arrangement. If that right is exercised, Canadian 88 would get the proceeds from the Waterton sale but Hunt Oil might not purchase the Caroline assets for $64 million.The proceeds - $176 million or perhaps $112 million - will be applied to Canadian 88's net debt of $195 million... AltaGas Services Inc. has acquired the Prairie River natural gas processing plant and associated 58-kilometre gas gathering system, near Valleyview, Alberta. The plant, with a gross capacity of 11 mmcf/d, can be expanded to 25 mmcf/d. Current throughput is 6 mmcf/d. The acquisition also includes a 100% interest in eight producing Peace River (Viking) gas wells and the mineral rights for 56,000 acres of land of which 34,000 acres are undrilled. Also, AltaGas and Real Resources Inc. plan to jointly construct, own and operate a pipeline from gas wells owned by Real in the Prairie River area ... For $1.17 billion, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation of Houston, one of the world's largest independent petroleum producers, has acquired Berkley Petroleum Corporation of Calgary. Anadarko bested earlier offers by Hunt Oil Company of Dallas... Toronto-based Energy Power Systems Limited plans to acquire a 25% interest in exploration permits for coalbed methane and natural gas in Prince Edward Island. The company also has an option to attain an additional 10% interest in the 525,857-acre property, which is underlain by Carboniferous and Permian sedimentary strata of the Maritimes Basin... Shell Canada Limited expects expansion of its Scotford upgrader near Edmonton to be completed this summer. Also of note, its Athabasca project is on schedule and the sulphur plan will be completed this year. Meanwhile, Suncor Energy anticipates its Millennium project will be on sustained production by year-end. As well, Suncor's goal is to build its oilsands production to 450,000 b/d by 2008... Husky Energy Inc. is drawing up 10-year plans for three oilsands projects totalling $5.25 billion.The first project is called Tucker Lake, west of Cold Lake and near Imperial Oil's operation, which will cost between $350 million and $450 million and could be operational by 2004. The other two projects are at Kearl Lake, with the southern half, a steam injection project, costing $1.6 billion and expected startup between 2005 and 2007. A pit mine in the northern half will cost $3.2 billion and might be operational between 2008 and 2012... DynaMotive Technologies Corporation of Vancouver has production from its 10 tonne per day BioOil wood waste pilot project. BioOil is produced using patented technology that converts forest and agricultural wastes such as bark, sawdust and sugar cane into a liquid fuel. The company intends to become the world leader in the development of technology to produce competitively priced liquid fuels from biomass. Check out the company's Web site at: .