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 Mon, Sep 14 1992 Date: Mon, 14 Sep 92 04:32:03 EDT Message-ID: 09-14 0000 DECISIONLINE: Energy USA TODAY Update Sept. 14, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network OIL, REFINED PRODUCTS HIGHER: Energy futures were higher Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Light sweet crude oil for October delivery was 8 cents higher at $22.01 a barrel; October heating oil was .59 cent higher at 62.81 cents a gallon; October unleaded gasoline was .11 cent higher at 59.78 cents a gallon; and October natural gas was 2 cents higher at $2.148 per 1,000 cubic feet. OIL SWAP REGULATION GOOD ENOUGH: U.S. authorities likely will not regulate the growing oil swaps market beyond the existing guidelines - which aren't very strict, according to Wendy Lee Gramm, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Gramm said Saturday after the Second Pacific Rim Futures Conference that current regulations are "appropriate for the present." (For more, see special Swaps package below.) LESS GAS IS LOST DAILY: The Minerals Management Service of the Department of the Interior Friday lowered its estimate of the amount of natural gas output lost daily because of Hurricane Andrew in the Gulf of Mexico. New estimates of gas output lost are between 2 billion and 2.25 billion cubic feet per day. Daily gas output from that area usually is between 12.5 bcf and 13 bcf per day. TEXACO'S PIPELINE IS OPERATING: Texaco Pipeline Inc. said Friday that its Eugene Island pipeline was operating after being shut down for 12 days to repair damage caused by Hurricane Andrew. Repairs including replacement of a 45-foot section of pipeline were expected to have been finished Wednesday, but divers encountered difficulties, said Texaco spokesman Pierre DeGruy. The pipe leaked more than 300 barrels. OFFICIAL URGES HIKE REJECTION: Boston Edison may not get its requested 7.1%, $89.6 million rate increase. Attorney General Scott Harshbarger has asked the Department of Public Utilities to reject the hike, saying that the request is based on a proposal to cut operations of three generating units by 2001. Those units will continue to operate at least until 2014, Harshbarger says. YUCCA NEGOTIATIONS ARE POSSIBLE: Members of the Nevada Nuclear Waste Study Committee want the state to negotiate on a potential nuclear waste dump on Yucca Mountain. The Department of Energy wants to build a repository there to store the nation's nuclear waste for 10,000 years. Members of the study committee argue that it could take up economic slack caused by a decline in nuclear testing at Nevada Test Site. SUPPLY IS THOUGHT PLENTIFUL: Gulf coast natural gas prices are behind October natural gas futures because many cash market traders think the supply is plentiful, Bloomberg Business News said Friday. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the October contract increased 2.2 cents per million British thermal units to $2.148 per million Btu. Merc floor traders contend that supply remains interrupted. SMALL HOLE CAUSES A BIG LEAK: A state official says a pencil-sized hole is apparently responsible for one of the largest oil leaks ever in northern Michigan. The leak at the Medusa Cement Co. in Charlevoix began sometime between October 1989 and June 1991, when oil bubbled to the surface. More than 10,000 gallons seeped into the ground. But cleanup is nearly complete. WASTE SITE GROUP TO BE NAMED: Ohio Gov. Rudy Voinovich plans to name a commission to settle on a site in the state for storing low-level radioactive waste from Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri and Iowa. There are 52 producers of low-level radioactive waste in the state. Costs for the site will be paid for by the producers. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON SWAPS: OIL SWAPS ARE TAILORED: Oil swaps don't need the same strict regulations as the futures market, according to Chairman Wendy Gramm of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Gramm said that oil swaps normally are tailored to specific buyer needs. Also: Participants tend to have such financial muscle that strict reporting to federal authorities is not needed. CFTC HAS STUDIED SWAPS: The CFTC has been studying off-exchange swaps and forward trading in oil and other commodities for several years. "We basically determined that there's a thin dividing line between futures and these derivative markets; if you cross that line then you may need to come talk to us," Gramm said. "We decided fraud was less likely because of the size of the companies involved." COMPANIES CAN PROTECT SELVES: A swap between giants such as Dow Chemical and Cargill Investor Services needs less regulation because the companies have the resources to protect their interests, she said. Even so, the CFTC continues to monitor such transactions should there be cases of impropriety, she said. Gramm attributes the growth of swaps in other commodities to the success of oil market swaps. (End of package.) Energy Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution purposes 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. 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