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 Mon, Jul 20 1992 Date: Mon, 20 Jul 92 04:12:10 EDT Message-ID: 07-20 0000 DECISIONLINE: Energy USA TODAY Update July 20, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network GASOLINE DROP SENDS OIL DOWN: Oil prices fell Friday, helped by a drop in gasoline. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude for August delivery fell 21 cents a barrel to $21.58. That left the benchmark blend up 30 cents a barrel for the week. Unleaded gasoline lost 1.12 cent a gallon on profit-taking in the August-delivery contract to settle at 59.83 cents. For the week, unleaded rose 1.87 cent a gallon. HOME HEATING OIL MIXED: Home heating oil for August delivery fell .23 cent a gallon to 59.89 cents Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, home heating oil was up .48 cent a gallon. Natural gas for August delivery settled at $1.714 per 1,000 cubic feet, up from $1.703 the day before. For the week, natural gas was up 6.1 cents. BETTER REFRIGERATOR IN FUTURE?: Appliance makers are reacting to a $30 million proposal to make a better refrigerator as if it were a Manhattan Project for kitchens. A consortium of 23 utilities recently set up the Super Efficient Refrigeration Program, or SERP. But refrigerator companies and the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers are keeping quiet about the whole thing. (For more, see special Refrigerator package below). RESEARCHER PROBES ETHANOL: The controversy surrounding ethanol's role in a clean-gasoline program has settled on a researcher funded by the Agriculture Department, according to Bloomberg News Service. Ethanol producers have been battling rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency that would severely limit ethanol's use in the reformulated gasoline program during summer months. FUEL NOT AS GOOD IN SUMMER: Ethanol boosts oxygen levels in gasoline, which improves combustion and cuts carbon monoxide emissions. That's good in winter, when some city dwellers have respiratory problems caused by CO concentrations. Ethanol is not as handy in the summer, when smog is more of a problem. The EPA says ethanol blending increases emissions of smog-forming hydrocarbons. OLOG ACQUIRES PPI-SEAHAWK: Offshore Logistics Inc. has acquired PPI-Seahawk Services Inc., it was announced Friday. OLOG and Noble Drilling Corporation each will own a 50% interest in Seahawk. Seahawk provides platform and production management, offshore medical support and temporary personnel to the oil and gas industry. Seahawk recently signed a contract to provide medical services to a consortium in the CIS. BG&E NAMES NEW CEO, NEW COO: The board of directors of the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company Friday elected Christian H. Poindexter, currently vice chairman of the board, as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the company, ffective Jan. 1, 1993. He will succeed George V. McGowan, who is retiring. The board also elected Edward A. Crooke as president and chief operating officer of the company. BG&E INCOME DOWN: Baltimore Gas & Electric Friday reported second-quarter net income was down 36%. The company cited a cooler spring than last year. The company's net fell to $38 million, or 20 cents a share, from $59.1 million, or 38 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier. Results reflect a 3-for-2 stock split in April. COMMONWEALTH ED EARNINGS DOWN: Commonwealth Edison Friday reported second-quarter net earnings of $105.8 million, or 41 cents a share, down from $157.5 million, or 65 cents, in the second quarter a year earlier. The per share results were after payment of preferred dividends. Electric operating revenue fell to $1.43 billion from $1.52 billion. Total kilowatt hour sales dropped from 18.4 billion to 18 billion. SPECIAL ON REFRIGERATOR: FRIDGE DEAL `SENSITIVE ISSUE': The $30 million proposal for an Earth-friendly fridge is "a terribly sensitive issue," says Jim Allen of General Electric. A utilities consortium will award $30 million to the first company that develops and produces an energy-efficient refrigerator that doesn't use ozone-damaging chlorofluorocarbons. The new technology won't be time-tested and may drive up refrigerator's price. COMPETITION WOULD BE ALTERED: The new technologies for Earth-friendly refrigerators, and the possibility of bigger price tags, is spooking manufacturers. For years, the industry has competed on reliability and price, says Clark Bullard of the University of Illinois. The fact that the new technologies wouldn't be time-tested would make reliability less, well, reliable. GREEN PITCH WOULD BE A GAMBLE: A maker of such an appliance would have to bet that consumers would buy a refrigerator based on environmental and energy-saving concerns. Federal rules will mean that most all refrigerators made after 1994 will have to use a non-CFC coolant. A non-CFC fridge can be made using today's technology. It would probably cost less than a SERP-type fridge and it would have proven reliability. MONEY MEANT TO OVERCOME RISK: Though a non-CFC fridge can be made with today's technology, it likely would use more energy than today's typical refrigerator. So the SERP money is meant to spur risk-adverse refrigerator makers to bring new technology to market. Yet the $30 million will be awarded to only one company. Bids must include a promise to make production models by the late '90s, an "ambitious" timetable, says Bullard. (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