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 17 1992 Date: Fri, 17 Jul 92 05:16:17 EDT Message-ID: 07-17 0000 DECISIONLINE: Energy USA TODAY Update July 17-19, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network OIL PRICES FINISH MIXED: Oil prices finished mixed Thursday as gasoline futures overtook home heating oil for the first time in a week on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Natural gas prices fell, with contracts for delivery in August settling at $1.703 per 1,000 cubic feet, down 2.4 cents. Home heating oil for delivery in August settled at 60.12 cents a gallon, down .22 cent. CRUDE OIL, GASOLINE UP: Light sweet crude oil for delivery in August settled at $21.79 a barrel, up 8 cents, at the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday. Unleaded gasoline for delivery in August settled at 60.95 cents a gallon, up 1.04 cents. Two senior oil analysts agreed that the fact that Iraq won't be selling oil before year's end moved the market, but was not strong enough to take the market higher. GE, IRS IN TAX FACEOFF: General Electric Co. and its subsidiaries are in a quarter-billion-dollar faceoff with the federal tax collector. GE's petition asks the U.S. Tax Court to find the Internal Revenue Service wrong in its demand that the company pay $23.8 million additional taxes for 1979 and $221.97 million for 1980. GE says it overpaid its taxes for the two years and is due a refund. (For more, see special GE package below.) NU SUES TOWN OVER ASSESSMENT: Northeast Utilities has sued the town of Haddam, Conn., over the latest tax assessment of its Connecticut Yankee Power Co. nuclear plant, Bloomberg Business News reported Thursday. NU spokesman Rich Gallagher said the $840 million assessment was more than three times the plant's book value carried by the company. NU says the plant is worth $248 million. EARLIER ASSESSMENT DISPUTED: Northeast Utilities, which is suing the town of Haddam, Conn., over the assessment of its Connecticut Yankee Power Co. nuclear plant, disputed a $443 million assessment made by the town last October and an outside firm was brought in for a new assessment, according to NU spokesman Rich Gallagher. That $840 million assessment was upheld. REFRIGERATORS TO GET COMPUTERS: New refrigerators will contain microprocessors that will constantly monitor temperatures and make energy-saving adjustments. Refrigerator makers are scrambling to hop on the bandwagon, but are keeping quiet about developments. "It's a terribly sensitive issue," says General Electric's Jim Allen. "I really wouldn't be in a position to discuss it," says Frigidaire's Tony Evans. FIRMS COMPETING FOR $30M: A group of 23 utilities has launched the Super Efficient Refrigerator Program, or SERP. The program will award $30 million to the first company that develops and produces a refrigerator that does not use chlorofluorocarbons and is 25% to 50% more efficient than today's refrigerators. The money goes to only one company. Bids for SERP are due by October. FORD SHIFTS ELECTRIC PROGRAM: Ford Motor Co. said Thursday that it has moved its electric-vehicle program to North American automotive operations. It was in its technical affairs research group. Earlier, Ford had announced its plans to put into service 100 Ecostar electric vans in 1993. The company would have fleets in the USA, England and Germany. The cans are based on the European Ford Escort vans. COMPANY WINS CONTRACTS: Stewart & Stevenson Services Inc. Thursday announced that it has received two contracts for the purchase of six turbined generator sets for a combined value of $70 million. The units, powered by two General Electric LM5000 and four LM2500 gas turbines, will produce a combined 180 megawatts of electrical power. Stewart & Stevenson manufactures diesel and gas turbine powered equipment. SEAGULL SUIT SETTLED: Seagull Energy Corporation said Thursday it has reached an out-of-court settlement in a suit over seismic data it acquired with its purchase of Houston Oil & Minerals Corp. from Tenneco Inc. in November 1988. Seagull had alleged that certain data had been furnished to other purchasers of Tenneco assets instead of Seagull. Seagull will receive pipeline business accommodations and cash. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON GE: TAX CREDITS IN DISPUTE: The Internal Revenue Service and General Electric have squared off over a back-taxes dispute. Some of the deficiencies asserted by the IRS arise from such GE activities as jet engine sales and warranties, nuclear fuel sales, export sales and ocean shipping. But the biggest amounts result from the IRS refusal to allow various credits the GE had claimed against its income taxes. SOME CREDITS CARRIED BACK: Some credits had been carried back from later years. For example, the IRS refused to allow $208 million of such credits, carried back from 1982 and 1983 and applied to the 1980 taxes. This disallowance has the direct effect of increasing the tax, dollar-for-dollar. According to the petition, GE paid $225.57 million in taxes for 1979 and $151.7 million for 1980. GE CALCULATION QUESTIONED: The IRS disagrees with GE's method of calculating its liabilities under warranties. Different levels of engine warranties exist. If a change is related to air safety, or airworthiness, GE is liable for "almost all" repairs. For routine alterations, the company's liability varies. Another $5.95 million issue involves GE's liability for engine upgrade kits. (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