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 Tue, Oct 13 1992 Date: Tue, 13 Oct 92 05:19:04 EDT Message-ID: 10-13 0000 DECISIONLINE: Energy USA TODAY Update Oct. 13, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network CRUDE SLIPS AFTER FRANTIC WEEK: Energy futures prices finished lower at the New York Mercantile Exchange on perceptions prices rose too far too fast last week, analysts said Monday. In addition, Iraq's weekend release of a U.S. citizen taken at the border with Kuwait extinguished concerns the USA would retaliate, analysts said. Light sweet crude oil for November delivery slipped 7 cents to $22.30 a barrel. REFINED PRODUCTS FALL: Refined petroleum products took a tumble on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday. Home heating oil for delivery in November fell .41 cent to 65.48 cents a gallon. Unleaded gasoline for November delivery was off .53 cent to settle at 60.43 cents per gallon. And natural gas for delivery in November fell 6.3 cents to $2.23 per 1,000 cubic feet. MAXUS SAYS SUIT IS SETTLED: Maxus Energy Corp. Monday announced a settlement of its lawsuit against Kidder, Peabody & Co. Inc. for $165 million. Maxus said a significant portion of the money will be used to improve the balance sheet. Maxus is an independent exploration and production company. The suit involved a 1983 takeover of Natomas Co. by Maxus predecessor Diamond Shamrock Corp. SEAGULL DISCOVERS NATURAL GAS: Seagull Energy Corporation Monday said it has discovered natural gas and condensate in the Seagull Trend of the Texas coast in the Gulf of Mexico. The discovery is on Galveston Block 330 southeast of Freeport. The well encountered 28 feet of net productive pay that was tested at a flow rate of 10 million cubic feet of gas and 53 barrels of condensate per day. UNOCAL PARTNERSHIP IS ANNOUNCED: Unocal Corp. Monday said Unocal Netherlands BV, in partnership with DSM Energy Netherlands BV, will develop an oil field in the Dutch sector of the North Sea, some 38 miles offshore The Netherlands. Unocal Netherlands, a wholly owned subsidiary of Unocal Corp., will operate the field, which is slated to begin production in about a year. PACIFIC TO SELL OIL, GAS ASSETS: Pacific Enterprises Monday announced a definitive agreement to sell substantially all of its domestic oil and gas assets to Hunt Oil Co. for $371 million. Included in the sale are proved oil and gas reserves of about 63 million barrels of oil equivalent and nearly 1.4 million gross leasehold acres in major producing areas of the Rocky Mountains, Mid-Continent region and Gulf Coast states. REFINERY FIRE FINALLY BURNS OUT: A fire that ignited an explosion at a Texaco refinery in California finally has burned itself out. A search for its cause has begun. Officials said the refinery may be shut down for as much as a week. Sixteen people were injured in the explosion Thursday at the Wilmington, Calif., refinery that normally could produce 45,000 barrels of gasoline per day. PENN TO CUT WESTMORELAND STAKE: Westmoreland Coal Co. said Monday that Penn Virginia Corp. will reduce its stake in the company to 23.2% from 30.1%. Westmoreland said Penn will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell 220,000 shares, which Westmoreland expected to be sold by year's end. After the transaction is completed, Penn will hold 1.92 million shares of Westmoreland. TEXACO SUBSIDIARY GETS SHIP: Texaco Inc. said Monday that its wholly-owned subsidiary Texaco Panama Inc. has taken delivery of a 900-foot double-hulled motor tanker that can carry up to one million barrels of oil. The ship is named the Star Ohio and was built in Korea to the standards of American Bureau of Shipping. Texaco said it will operate the ship in worldwide trading, carrying crude oil for the company. DELAWARE MAY OFFER CLUNKER AID: Legislation pending in Delaware would offer grants or loans to drivers whose cars fail new emissions standards, which go into effect in the summer of 1994. The money would help pay for car repairs. The proposed "clunker program" would cost about $1 million a year. OIL COMPANY EARNINGS COULD JUMP: Integrated oil companies, buoyed by higher natural gas prices and refinery margins on the U.S. West Coast, will report third-quarter earnings about 10% greater than a year ago, analysts estimate. Bloomberg Business News reported Monday that Atlantic Richfield Co., Chevron Corp. and Unocal Corp. are among those poised to report the greatest gains, according to analysts. HIGHER PRICES BOOST EARNINGS: Analysts say higher natural gas prices and refinery margins on the West Coast could mean third-quarter earnings about 10% higher than a year ago for integrated oil companies. Analyst Paul Ting says that "the West Coast guys with strong gas production are going to see big improvements." Chevron and Unocal benefitted from higher gas prices, Ting said. DEMAND SHOULD BE SHORT-LIVED: Traders in London said Monday they expect the improvement in demand for physical gasoil to be short-lived, part of the reason that gas futures fell Monday. Also, the International Petroleum Exchange's October gasoil contract expired at noon at $194.25, $4 per ton lower than the November contract. Trading on the exchange was active, traders said. MINE WORKERS OK CONCESSIONS: Mine workers in the Taylorsville, Ill., have agreed to work concessions to keep the Peabody Coal Co. open for at least 18 months, according to union officials. The closing would have put 400 people out of work. Concessions given up included earned vacation time. 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. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM