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, Oct 19 1992 Date: Mon, 19 Oct 92 04:38:13 EDT Message-ID: 10-19 0000 DECISIONLINE: Energy USA TODAY Update Oct. 19, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network CRUDE SETTLES DOWN AFTER RISE: Prices for oil and refined products settled moderately lower Friday after rising slightly during morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude oil prices have been locked in a narrow range in recent weeks. Light sweet crude oil for delivery in November settled at $22.28 per barrel, down 5 cents, at the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, crude fell 9 cents. REFINED PRODUCTS ARE MIXED: Unleaded gasoline for November settled at 59.52 cents a gallon, down .34 cent Friday and 1.44 cents lower from a week ago on the New York Merc. November home heating oil settled at 65.06 cents a gallon, down 0.43 cent Friday and 0.83 cent lower for the week. November natural gas settled 2.0 cents higher Friday at $2.452 per 1,000 cubic feet. Gas was 15.9 cents higher for the week. SHELL SETTLES SHAREHOLDER CLAIM: Shell Petroleum Inc. Friday agreed to pay former minority shareholders $7.8 million to settle a dividend claim filed after a $5.7 billion merger in June 1985. Royal Dutch-Shell Group acquired all of Houston-based Shell's shares in 1985. In the process, nearly 20,000 shareholders were denied dividend shares. Those shareholders will receive 48 cents per share, which includes a 25-cent dividend. MERGER UNLEASHES BATTLES: A settlement Shell made Friday with former minority shareholders was the latest in a series of like battles since Shell was merged with Royal Dutch-Shell Group in June 1985. In the settlement Friday, Shell will pay 48 cents a share, including three years interest at 12 1:2%. Shell also will pay $939,835 of legal fees and costs. Shell had canceled declared dividends after the merger. UPWARD CRUDE TREND SEEN: Brokers in London said Friday that an end-of-the-day weakness should be viewed as only a brief breather in an upward trend that could continue this week. Traders were liquidating long positions before the weekend. Traders said December sweet crude futures prices could go as high as $23 per barrel as colder weather increased the demand for oil. UTILITY PEAK LOAD DROPS: Industry trade magazine Electric Light & Power reports that utilities experienced fewer record electric peak demands the summer of 1992 than the summer of 1991. Utilities also showed a rare decline in overall peak load. The magazine credited milder weather in many regions along with demand-side management and a slow-growing economy. ELECTRIC CARS READY IN 1994: Detroit automobile manufacturers will unveil in December 1994 new production electric cars, according to a recent report in Automotive News. The unveiling comes three years before California air pollution regulations require carmakers to sell them. The first production electric car could come as early as December 1993. GM and Ford have a $1,000 bet that GM will have an electric car then. STEELMAKER PLANTS TREES: Steelmaker A. Finkl & Sons Co. is helping Illinois plant two million trees by 1999 to offset the 60 millon pounds of carbon dioxide it annually adds to the ozone. The gas is a byproduct of natural gas used to fuel the 113-year-old company's 40 furnaces. N.C. HAS LESS NUCLEAR WASTE: The amount of radioactive wast shipped to North Carolina in 1991 dropped 30% from the waste shipped in 1990, the state's Division of Radiation Protection reports. The state's three nuclear power plants scaled back shipments. SHIPS CRASH, ARE STABILIZED: A 40-foot barge towing an excursion craft near a regatta in Cincinnati was stabilized a half hour after it started to sink on the Ohio River, the Coast Guard said Sunday. There were no injuries and a small oil leak was contained, officials said. CONGRESS APPROVES CLEANUP: Congress has approved the $60 million cleanup of Wyoming's five radioactive uranium mill tailing sites. The state has 11.1 million tons of the residuals of federal and private nuclear material production, officials say. HARCOR AFFILIATE ISSUES SHARES: HarCor Energy Inc. Friday announced that affiliate HCO Energy Ltd. plans to issue 6.3 million common shares through an underwriting of warrants. The proceeds will be used principally to finance HCO explorations. Citibank Canada and its affiliate have agreed to exercise warrants to purchase 4 million common shares of HCO. The transactions are subject to regulatory approval. 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