Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.energy From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: energy Fri, Jul 10 1992 Date: Fri, 10 Jul 92 05:13:31 EDT Message-ID: 07-10 0000 DECISIONLINE: Energy USA TODAY Update July 10-12, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network OIL FALLS ON SLOW DAY: Oil prices dipped slightly Thursday as there was little news to affect trades. Light sweet crude for delivery in August settled at $21.40 a barrel, down 1 cent, at the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday. Traders said the absence of marketing-affecting news or technical factors kept prices in a tight range. Trading volume was light. REFINED PRODUCTS SETTLE UP: The August-delivery price of wholesale unleaded regular gasoline rose .23 cent a gallon to 58.76 cent on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday. Wholesale home-heating oil for August delivery rose .19 cent a gallon to settle at 59.25 cents. Natural gas for August delivery settled at $1.639 per 1,000 cubic feet, up .9 cent. FD TO RUN GOVERNMENT PROPERTIES: The Department of Energy said Thursday it has selected FD Services, a subsidiary of Fluor Daniel, to operate the government-owned oil field and oil shale properties in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. The properties include the Teapot Dome Petroleum Reserve near Casper, Wyo. FD will take over management and operation beginning Oct. 1 and will replace John Brown E&C of Houston. MESA MAKES VEHICLE OFFER: Dallas oil executive T. Boone Pickens Thursday offered to convert 100,000 fleet vehicles in Louisiana to run on compressed natural gas. Pickens' independent oil company, Mesa Inc., would convert cars, trucks and other vehicles and install fueling equipment. Fleet operators would agree to buy natural gas at the price they now pay for gasoline. Gasoline costs twice as much. (For more, see special Conversion package below.) OPPOSITION IS DROPPED: A group of environmental activists dropped its opposition to a coal-fired power plant on the Delaware River after accepting a $450,000 settlement with the company building it, the News Journal of Wilmington, Del., said Thursday. The money is earmarked for an environmental trust, but others who refused money offered by U.S. Generating Co. called the company's offer "a bribe." SETTLEMENT NOT `A PAYOFF': A group of environmental activists has accepted $450,000 in a court-approved settlement over a coal-fired power plant in New Jersey. But activist Jerry Shields says the money "wasn't a payoff." The $512 million plant will be located opposite Claymont, Del. Delaware approval was needed because coal will be shipped to a pier in Delaware waters. The project is in a protected wetlands. GASOIL FUTURES DOWN: Gasoil product futures on the International Petroleum Exchange closed down slightly, ahead of the expiration Friday of the July contract. July gasoil futures closed at $182.25 a metric ton, down 25 cents. Trading was in a $2.75 range between $179.75 and $182.50 a ton. Volume traded for the first six months was 27,811 lots compared with a daily average of 16,000. TRANSCO TO SELL SUBSIDIARY: Transco Energy Company said Thursday that it has agreed to sell its oil and gas subsidiary to Forest Oil Corporation for $45 million. The sale of Transco Exploration and Production Company excludes certain assets. The proceeds from the sale will be used to retire debt. President John DesBarres said the company's restructuring "remains on schedule." UTILITIES GROUP PANS PLAN: Electric utilities serving more than 1 million customers said Thursday they didn't think Consumers Power's latest proposal to resolve pending lawsuits would work because they weren't included in talks leading to it. The utilities are part of the Michigan Municipal Cooperative Group. The plan would settle some pending suits over the Midland Cogeneration Venture Generating Plant. COGENERATION PLANT WORK BEGUN: Keystone Energy Service Co. L.P. broke ground in Logan Township, N.J., for a $512 million cogeneration facility. New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio praised the project, saying, "Cogeneration is a prime example of smart, targeted investments in regional development." Keystone Energy is a partnership of U.S. Generating Co., Bethesda, Md., and Keystone Cogeneration Systems Inc., Philadelphia. ARKLA NAMES NEW PRESIDENT: Arkla Inc. Thursday announced the election of Dan Dienstbier as president and chief operating officer. Predecessor Mack McLarty said the company "has finally achieved an increasing measure of stability. We are moving forward in what is still a promising decade" for the industry. Dienstbier retired from Enron in 1989 and is president of Jule Inc. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON CONVERSION: OFFER GOOD FOR PUBLIC, PRIVATE: Oil company Mesa Inc. has extended an offer to convert 100,000 fleet vehicles in Louisiana to natural gas. The offer is open to public agencies and private companies that operate fleets in the New Orleans and Baton Rouge areas. About 86,000 such vehicles are based in New Orleans and another 40,000 are in Baton Rouge, Mesa's T. Boone Pickens said Thursday. SIMILAR OFFER MADE EARLIER: Mesa made a similar offer in February to convert about 19,000 vehicles in Phoenix, Ariz. In April, the company formed Mesa Environmental, a subsidiary based in Fort Worth, Texas, to convert gasoline engines to run on compressed natural gas. Mesa, strapped for cash and burdened with debt, holds about 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the largest reserves in the United States. DEMAND IS LOW: Although Mesa's reserves of natural gas are the largest in the United States, prices for natural gas are at their lowest level in more than ten years. For more than a year, Pickens has touted natural gas vehicles as a means of increasing demand for natural gas. Increased demand would in turn boost prices. (End of package.) Energy Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM