Oil production from the offshore Jabiru joint venture in the Timor Sea will remain shut down until late this month, Cultus Petroleum NL said last Friday. "The operator is proceeding with accelerated work to complete a previously planned programme of refurbishment for all of the production risers on the Jabiru Venture," Cultus said. "This programme will take several weeks and is expected to be completed by late May with production resuming at that time," the company said. Production was shut down on April 19 after the discovery of a leak in the riser piping.

Missing tanker believed hijacked

The agent of a Malaysian petroleum tanker that went missing two weeks ago said he believes the ship was hijacked by professional pirates, the National Bernama news agency reported last Friday. The agent for the 12,357 dwt Petro Ranger, Singapore-based Petroships Pte Ltd, was quoted as saying the job appeared to have been well-planned and carried out professionally. ThePetro Ranger set off from Singapore on April 16 for Ho Chi Minh City carrying 11,165 tonnes of diesel and kerosene. Its cargo was valued at $1.5 million. It was last heard from on April 17 near the resort island of Tioman, off southeastern peninsular Malaysia. No trace of the ship has been found despite two reports of unconfirmed sightings.

China pumps record crude in Q1

China produced a record 4.2 million tonnes of offshore crude oil in the first three months of this year, the Xinhua news agency said last week Monday. China also pumped 900 million cubic metres of natural gas in the period, Xinhua said, but did not specify if that was only from offshore fields. The crude oil production figure was "up sharply on the figure of the same 1997 period", Xinhua said. It did not give comparative figures. Output of crude oil in the period had hit a record, with average daily production topping 49,100 tonnes, it quoted an official with the China National Offshore Oil Corp as saying. Offshore crude oil outputfor the year was expected to exceed the 16 million tonnes of 1997, Xinhua said but gave no further details.

Oil output off Timor to start in July

Production at two oil fields off Timor will start in July once remodelling of a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit for the project is finished in May, the FPSO operator said last Monday. Operator Modec Inc last year won a contract from Australia's BHP Petroleum Pty Ltd to refurbish an old floating platform for use at the Elang and Kakatua oil fields, a Modec spokesman said. Modec is a wholly owned marine engineering subsidiary of Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co Ltd. BHP Petroleum, a subsidiary of Broken Hill Pty Co Ltd, will operate the offshore project. Output from the two oil fields is expected to total 325,000 barrels per day, the Modec spokesman said.

Gas supplies resume from Norway

Gas deliveries from the Norwegian North Sea through the Zeepipe line to Zeebrugge in Belgium returned to normal last Tuesday,operator Den norske stats oljeselskap AS (Statoil) said. The Zeepipe gasline from the Sleipner field, which supplies customers in Belgium, France and Spain, was closed late on Monday due to leak at a 40-inch (102 CM) valve. Statoil spokesman Trygve Skanding said the valve at the Sleipner T riser platform had been isolated and gas to the pipeline had been diverted through a loop. The valve will be repaired at a later time, he said.

India offers May naphtha by tender

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has issued a tender to sell 25,000 tonnes of high aromatics naphtha (HAN) lifting May 8-10 from Bombay on the West coast, traders said last Tuesday. The tender closes April 30 and is valid for one day. IOC last awarded a 22,000-tonne HAN cargo lifting March 28-30 from Bombay to Dutch trader Vitol at a discount of $32 per tonne to Japanese spot quotes, traders said.

Argentina protests oil drilling

Argentina last Monday repeated its opposition to the start of oil drilling off the disputed Falklands by thefirst rig to arrive in the islands over which Britain and Argentina went to war in 1982. The foreign ministry said Britain had announced that US oil company Amerada Hess Corp would drill the first exploration hole North of the islands on Monday. It reiterated Argentina's position expressed in a 1995 oil agreement. The short statement said Argentina "declares once more that it does not accept nor recognise the right claimed by Britain to authorise oil activities in sea areas that, by law, belong to the Argentine republic."

Lithuanian Gas sees delay in choice

State-run Lithuanian Gas said last Tuesday a decision on which foreign firm may be allowed to invest into a 66 million litas ($16.5 million) issue may be delayed to the end of May or later instead of the end of April as planned. The 90-per cent state-owned company, which has share capital of 372 million litas, is negotiating with several investors on the share issue that would give the buyer 15 per cent of the utility. Lithuanian Gas earlierheld a tender for the issue that flopped because bidders failed to provide gas supply guarantees. The government then authorised the firm to continue talks with the potential investors. So far, Lithuanian Gas has met with Gaz de France, a Lithuanian-Russian venture Stella Vitae and a consortium of Germany's Ruhrgas and Preussen Elektra.

Japan bank loan to Myanmar project

Japan's Export-Import Bank said last Tuesday that it had extended a loan for an offshore gas project in Myanmar. A bank spokesman declined to disclose the specific amount of money advanced to a Japanese joint venture, Nippon Oil Exploration (Myanmar) Ltd, which is developing the Myanmar gas field, but said it was between five billion and 10 billion yen ($75.7 million). A foreign ministry official said Japan was aiming to promote democracy in the country by helping Myanmar's integration into the international community.

Santos in gas supply deal

Oil and gas group Santos Ltd said last Tuesday the East Spar Joint Venture(ESJV) had agreed to supply gas to Wesfarmers Ltd's Kwinana ammonia project in Western Australia. Santos said the parties had signed a gas sales agreement under which the ESJV would supply natural gas to the project at a rate of 22 terajoules per day, with supply to commence in mid-1999. The gas is to be used as a feedstock and fuel source at the A$150 million, 650 tonnes per day plant.

Yemen offers June Masila

Yemen's ministry of minerals and resources (MOMR) has offered Masila crude term buyers a discount of $1.00 per barrel to dated Brent for June liftings, traders said last Tuesday. But most buyers have sent counter bids ranging between $1.30to $1.70 under dated Brent, traders said. MOMR is expected to consider the bids and set the June official price for Masila by the end of this week. Traders said there is no more room for buyers to negotiate, as they would have to either accept the June price or withdraw from lifting June volumes. Since January, Yemen has decided to set the Masila officialterm price on a monthly basis, rather than on quarterly basis. But Yemen is continuing to get buyer's ideas before setting the monthly crude price. Masila was set at dated Brent less $1.75 for May, up from dated Brent minus $1.85 for April/early May liftings.

Egypt, foreign firms in oil pacts

Egypt has signed four concession agreements worth about $65 million with foreign companies to explore for and produce crude oil and natural gas, Oil industry sources last Wednesday. They gave a breakdown of the agreements signed on Tuesday, the companies and the financial commitments as follows: Shell Egypt NV and Edison International SpA of Italy are partners in a concession area off Damietta in the Mediterranean. The agreement calls for a commitment of $19 million to drill three wells. The Egyptian company Forum Exploration and Croatia's state oil and gas utility Ina Industrija Nafte will drill eight wells in the northeastern desert with an agreement commitment of $22.2 million.

(Reuters andagencies)