Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.energy,americast.usa-today.energy From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: energy Thu, Aug 20 1992 Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 04:20:23 EDT Message-ID: 08-20 0000 DECISIONLINE: Energy USA TODAY Update Aug. 20, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network PRESSURE SENDS CRUDE OIL DOWN: Crude oil prices settled lower Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange under pressure from falling petroleum products prices. September light sweet crude oil was 10 cents lower at $21.37 a barrel. Heavy profit-taking sent gasoline futures lower. September unleaded gasoline was .94 cent lower at 61.17 cents a gallon. HEATING OIL FALLS ON REPORT: Heating oil futures fell Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange on the weekly American Petroleum Institute report that showed distillate stocks, made up mainly of heating oil, rose 2.7 million barrels last week. September heating oil was .66 cent lower at 58.15 cents a gallon; September natural gas was .9 cent lower at $1.838 per 1,000 cubic feet. BMW TO ELIMINATE CFCS FROM CARS: BMW says it will eliminate ozone-threatening chloroflourocarbons from all of its cars beginning Sept. 1. The German luxury maker says that not only will its air-conditioning systems no longer use CFC refrigerant, but it also will quit using CFCs in the production of plastic and foam interior components. BMW says it will be the first to carmaker sell an entire line CFC-free cars. IRIQUOIS SETTLES WITH PSC: The Iroquois Gas Transmission System will pay up to $2 million under a settlement approved Wednesday by the New York Public Service Commission, resolving more than 100 alleged environmental violations along the pipeline's path. The Public Service Commission agreed to drop a suit seeking $26.3 million in fines from Iroquois and three contractors for the alleged violations. UNOCAL MAY SELL GEO ASSETS: Unocal Corp. said Wednesday it is considering the sale of its Imperial Valley, Calif. geothermal energy assets as part of a company-wide restructuring program. Unocal has geothermal interests throughout California. The company has geothermal operations at the Salton Sea, which include resource production facilities and three electrical generating plants with a capacity of 80 megawatts. FLUOR DANIEL TO PLAN PIPELINE: Fluor Daniel of Tulsa, Okla., announced Wednesday it has been awarded a contract by the Federal Ministry of Economy in Prague, Czechoslovakia and the Slovak Federal Republic to perform an engineering study. The U.S. Trade and Development Program is funding the project. The contract is for a conceptual feasibility study of replacement of a 279-mile natural gas pipeline. E&G TECH WILL BUY HYDEL: Electric & Gas Technology Inc. said Wednesday its Stelpro unit will acquire Hydel Energy Ltd., an Ontario-based maker of specialized products for electric utilities. The Dallas-based company said it will purchase Hydel with a combination of cash and notes, and will complete the acquisition in September. E> said Stelpro and Hydel have combined annual revenue of $15 million. CONVEST MERGES WITH VANTAGE: Convest, a Texas oil and gas operations corporation, announced Wednesday the closing of the merger with Vantage Point Energy, Inc., a Tulsa, Okla.-based independent oil and gas company. Convest acquired all of Vantage Point's outstanding common stock and preferred stock with about $9.7 million in cash. The transaction will leave Vantage Point Energy Inc. as the surviving entity. P-C WILL SELL WESTCOAST SHARES: Petro-Canada said Wednesday it will sell its 21.1 million shares in Westcoast Energy Inc. for about $342 million to a group of Canadian underwriters led by ScotiaMcLeod Inc. P-C officials said the sale will help the oil and gas company reduce its debt and improve its performance. Sale proceeds will be paid in two parts, the first made by Sept. 15 and the second on Sept. 15, 1993. NIAGARA TO OFFER BONDS: Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. announced Wednesday the public offering of $220 million of 7.375% first mortgage bonds due Aug. 1, 2003. The bonds are priced at 99.578%, plus accrued interest from Aug. 1, 1992, to yield 7.431% and are not redeemable prior to maturity. Net proceeds from the sale will be used to retire currently outstanding higher cost debt. STAR GAS RE-DOES CREDIT LINE: The Brooklyn Union Gas Company announced Wednesday that Star Gas Corporation has reached an agreement with its short-term and long-term lenders. The agreement re-establishes a line of credit and makes possible a long-term restructuring of Star Gas' debt. Star Gas is owned by Star Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Brooklyn Union, and by partnerships managed by First Reserve Corporation. HARCOR ANNOUNCES RESULTS: HarCor Energy Inc. announced results Wednesday of operations for the second quarter and first half ended June 30. Second quarter revenues totaled $1,661,000, compared to $1,425,000 in the prior year. First half revenues were down slightly from the same period last year. Harcor is a Los Angeles-based independent oil and gas company with operations throughout North America. CASTLE ENERGY REPORTS RESULTS: Castle Energy Corp. reported results Wednesday for its third fiscal quarter. For the quarter ended June 30, the company earned income of $49,373, or 0.4 cent per share, versus a net loss of $16,164,705, or $1.69 per share, for the corresponding quarter in 1991. The company also achieved approximately $6 million of positive cash flow from operations during the quarter. Energy Editors: Martin Baucom and 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