Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.energy From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: energy Tue, Feb 25 1992 Date: Tue, 25 Feb 92 06:35:01 EST Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: Energy USA TODAY Update Feb. 25, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network OIL PRICES FALL: Oil prices fell in light, aimless trading. Light sweet crude oil for delivery in April settled at $18.43 a barrel, down 23 cents, at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Traders blame the drop on technical influences. Oil has been moving mostly lower for a little more than a week, since OPEC announced spring production cuts that many traders believe are too small to prop up prices. NATURAL GAS MOSTLY LOWER: Home heating oil for delivery in March fell 1.13 cents on the Mercantile Exchange Monday to settle at 51.58 cents a gallon. Unleaded gasoline for delivery in March settled at 53.70 cents a gallon, down .94 cent. Natural gas prices were mostly lower, with contracts for delivery in April settling at $1.175 per 1,000 cubic feet, down 1.1 cents. PRODUCERS EXPECT WASTES BATTLE: Oklahoma oil producers are gearing up for another battle over regulation of drilling wastes as Congress rewrites federal laws governing the disposal of industrial wastes. Oil producers from several states successfully fought off regulations proposed several years ago by the Environmental Protection Agency, which eventually decided drilling wastes did not need any further regulation. (For more, see special Waste package below.) COMPANIES TO MERGE: Unocal Exploration shares rose 1 1:2 to $11 3:8 on news that the oil- and gas-exploration company will merge into Unocal Corp., which fell 5:8 to $21. Unocal, which already owns 96% of the exploration company, will swap 0.54 of its shares for every remaining share of the exploration company. STATE TO PAY FOR ETHANOL PLANTS: The South Dakota Senate Monday gave final approval to a plan to subsidize ethanol production plants, replacing direct subsidies from state treasury with ongoing tax credits. Ethanol is grain alcohol that can be mixed with gasoline for fuel. URANIUM MINES PLANNED: Power Resources, Inc. and Rio Algom Mining Corp. plan to open uranium mines in central Wyoming. Power Resources plans production in Gas Hills by 1997; Rio Algom has plans for the South Power River Basin in 1995. The two companies anticipate a stronger market for uranium by the end of the century as a result of a decrease in supply. RUSSIA TO FREE OIL PRICES: Russian government Monday announced plans to stimulate areas of industrial production that decline by more than 50%, including its oil and gas sector. Russian Minister of Economics Andrei Nechayev said Russia plans to free the domestic price of oil and gas at the end of April as part of the effort to stabilize prices. The price of coal is also to be freed on April 15. RADIATION LIMITS REDEFINED: Since 1920 the federal government's permissible limit for people working near radiation has fallen from 52 rems a year to 5. The permissible limit for the public is even less: 0.1 to 0.5 rems a year. If every American absorbed 5 rem a year, an estimated 1.9 million eventually would get cancer, and half would die from the disease, experts say. NUCLEAR WORKERS MOST VULNERABLE: Most people are exposed to anywhere from 0.1 to 0.3 rems a year from radiation in the environment. By far the most vulnerable are the hundreds of thousands of people who work near radiation, especially those working at nuclear power plants. Of 203,946 such workers tested in 1989, 109,267 absorbed measurable amounts of radioactivity, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON WASTE: SOME FEAR CONGRESSIONAL INVOLVEMENT: Some members of Congress are concerned that federal regulators don't know how states are enforcing environmental laws and rules over drilling wastes and are pushing for a new layer of federal oversight regulation. While no specific legislation has been introduced, independent oil producers fear Congress will be extend regulation into an area exclusively left to the states. NEW REGS WOULD HURT PRODUCERS: Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association President Pete Brown says that even slight increases in federal regulation could drive many Oklahoma oil producers out of business. Approximately 70% of Oklahoma's oil wells produce an average of only 2.4 barrels of oil a day, but more than 65,000 Oklahomans are employed in the oil and gas industry. INDUSTRY OPPOSES RCRA REWRITE: Oklahoma oil producers are concerned that new regulations may be imposed by a rewrite of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which governs industrial wastes. Some members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that are working on the bill tried to strike a compromise on oil-field wastes, but those efforts have failed and the draft proposal they have circulated is opposed by the industry. SENATOR NOT OPTIMISTIC: "If that (increased regulation) happens, that would be a total disaster," said Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla. Nickles said he hopes Congress will continue to exempt the oil and gas industry from RCRA's toughest requirements and let states continue to enforce environmental standards. He said he's not optimistic. The Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to approve a bill this year. (End of package.) Energy Editor: William Snoddy. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. 08:0002250000D0225 HEAL- R P Female-condom-due-out-by-fall......... A D0225 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