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 Wed, Jul 15 1992 Date: Wed, 15 Jul 92 05:08:08 EDT Message-ID: 07-15 0000 DECISIONLINE: Energy USA TODAY Update July 15, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network REFINED PRODUCTS SHIFT: Oil futures prices finished mixed, with gasoline finally gaining ground on home heating oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday. Unleaded gasoline for delivery in August settled at 59.03 cents a gallon, up .93 cent. Home heating oil for delivery in August settled at 59.90 cents a gallon, down .15 cent. Traders have been surprised for weeks to see heating oil outpace gasoline. CRUDE PRICES FINISH UP: The market for heating oil and gasoline shifted on news that refiners were producing more heating oil to replenish the nation's supply for winter, traders at the New York Mercantile Exchange said Tuesday. That means less gasoline can be produced, pushing prices higher as heating oil fell. Also on the Merc, light sweet crude oil for delivery in August settled at $21.46 a barrel, up 10 cents. PRICE OF GAS RISES: The national average price of self-serve regular unleaded gasoline is up .2 cent this week to $1.168 per gallon, the American Automobile Association said Tuesday. AAA's fuel gauge report shows that the average price increased last week in New England, the Mid-Atlantic and the Southeast. The price was lower in other regions. OIL AND GAS STOCKS CLIMB: Oil and gas company stocks had a field day Tuesday, rising in just about every group imaginable. Analysts say natural gas prices have been rising because of increased use of air conditioners against summer heat. Also helping: Iraq's rejection of a United Nations compromise to begin oil shipments. That should jack up oil prices and boost demand for oil and gas producers. GRACE COMPLETES MERGER: W. R. Grace & Co. Tuesday announced that it had completed the previously announced cash merger to acquire for $19 per share the 88,638 shares of Grace Energy Corporation not already owned by Grace. Grace recently announced the completion of a tender offer that increased its ownership of Grace Energy to 99.6% from 83.4%. UTILITIES REFUNDS TO BEGIN: Commonwealth Edison Tuesday said that on Wednesday it will start making refunds of $247 million to customers in a monthly bill reduction. Bills will be reduced an average of $8.75 for the next five months. The refunds are for overcharges that 3 million customers paid from April 1986 through December 1988 as part of a rate increase reversed by the Illinois Supreme Court. DYNAMIC BUYS TWO PROPERTIES: Dynamic American Corp. Tuesday announced the purchase of two natural gas-related properties. The corporation has finalized the acquisition of what it called significant natural gas leases from Catto Capital Group Inc. of Van Nuys, Calif., and Pacific Rim Energy Partners '91 LP. The gas leases are in Indiana. The properties are being managed for Dynamic by Bexar Management. ARCH ACQUIRES PIPELINE INTEREST: Arch Petroleum Inc. Tuesday announced that it has closed a transaction to acquire an interest in a six-inch pipeline running 100 miles from Wichita Falls, Texas to Saginaw, Texas. The pipeline terminates just north of Fort Worth, Texas. The previous owners reconditioned 38 miles of the pipeline. Arch said it would immediately recondition and test the rest of the line. EDF TO HELP GM CUT POLLUTION: General Motors has agreed to talk turkey with the Environmental Defense Fund, whose specialty is using economics in fighting pollution. Unpaid adviser EDF will look at GM's options for cutting pollution by the vehicles it makes. EDF will sort relative costs in cutting emissions or paying other polluters to do so instead. Such trading could be allowed to meet government guidelines. NICKEL PROJECT NEGOTIATIONS OFF: Nickel producer Inco Ltd. Tuesday said it withdrew from negotiations to acquire a 72% stake in a nickel project in Queensland, Australia, according to Bloomberg Business News. The stake is held by a group of banks that gained control of the Yabulu refinery and the Greenvale mine when Australian financier Alan Bond's empire collapsed, said Inco spokesman Bob Purcell. GAS STATIONS COULD BE AUTOMATED: Self-serve gas stations could be replaced by units with robot arms, turntables or conveyer belts for vehicles of the future, according to designs exhibited in a project sponsored by the American Iron and Steel Institute. Students at the Art Center College of Design created scale models showing their ideas for future refueling stations. PLUG-IN RECHARGES POSSIBLE: In a project of the American Iron and Steel Institute involving students at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., one student created a gas station similar to a parking meter. The station could be installed in parking lots to recharge electric vehicles. Another design uses a turntable to line the vehicle up with a robot arm for refueling or installing batteries. 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. 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