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 Wed, Feb 26 1992 Date: Wed, 26 Feb 92 06:30:01 EST Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: Energy USA TODAY Update Feb. 26, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network CRUDE STOCKS UP: The USA's supply of home heating oil and gasoline fell last week, while crude stocks rose, the American Petroleum Institute reported Tuesday. The supply of distillates, which include home heating oil, fell 3.4 million barrels, to 113.2 million, for the week ending Friday. Gas supplies fell 0.4 million barrels, to 230.8 million. Crude stocks rose 1.4 million barrels, to 334.2 million. ENERGY PRICES LITTLE CHANGED: Oil prices finished mixed, recovering from lows early in the day. Light sweet crude for delivery in April settled at $18.48 a barrel, up 5 cents, at the New York Merc. March home heating oil settled at 51.35 cents a gallon, down .23 cent; unleaded gasoline fell .01 cent to 53.69 cents a gallon. Natural gas April delivery settled at $1.180 per 1,000 cubic feet, up 0.5 cent. NEW SUPERCONDUCTOR FOUND: British researchers have discovered a new "high-temperature superconductor" which may be suitable for large-scale applications such as cables that could carry electricity for hundreds of miles without losing energy. The discovery at the General Electric Co.'s Hirst Research Centre in London followed a two-year search testing materials with 15,000 different chemical compositions. (For more, see special Conductor package below.) ELF BUYS BUSINESSES IN AFRICA: French oil company Elf Aquitaine has bought British Petroleum's refining and marketing businesses in West Africa and Tunisia. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The businesses include more than 650 service stations in 12 West African countries and three refineries in Gabon, the Ivory Coast and Senegal. Over the past year, Elf has acquired businesses in Britain, Spain and Germany. NUCLEAR PLANT HAS FLAW: The Washington Public Power Supply System shut down the state's only commercial nuclear reactor - at Richland - because a piping problem could have caused a destructive buildup of hydrogen. Officials said repairs will be quick, simple and cheap. TAX SHARE HIKE AMENDMENT OK'D: Proposed constitutional amendment that would increase counties' share of Missouri's 6 cents fuels tax hike got first-round approval from state House Tuesday. Under the proposal, voters will decide whether counties will get 15% of the 6 cents-per-gallon tax hike on gasoline and diesel fuel or keep receiving their current 10% share. Senate must also approve measure. HAND OFFERS OTHER IDEAS: Wyoming Transportation Commission Chairman Pat Hand asked the Legislature Tuesday not to divert highway funds for other purposes. Hand cited the lawmakers' study showing $86 million more is needed to meet highway needs, yet they continue to raid road funds. He suggests other funding sources like raising fuel taxes and lowering the exemption on gasohol. OKLA. NAT. GAS GETS RATE HIKE: The Oklahoma Corporation Commission Tuesday granted Oklahoma Natural Gas Co. an interim utility rate increase of $18.2 million on an annualized basis, subject to refund with interest. The commission voted 2-to-1 for the temporary increase, which will raise monthly bill $1.58. Effective date of the increase is expected to be sometime in March. WAINOCO NAMES NEW CEO: Wainoco Oil Corp. president James R. Gibbs was named chief executive officer Monday, succeeding John B. Ashmun, the company's chairman and chief executive, who plans to retire April 1. Ashmun has agreed to remain on the board of directors, serve as its chairman and be a consultant to the company. Ashmun has been the company's only CEO since 1968. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON CONDUCTOR: EXCITEMENT WAS WANING: Excitement about high-temperature superconductors - ceramic materials which lose all electrical resistance at the temperature of liquid nitrogen, - 196 degrees Celsius - had been waning as more was learned about their drawbacks. Most serious is the fact that they can't carry the large currents necessary for power engineering or to make magnets powerful enough to levitate heavy objects. GEC SAYS ITS MATERIAL SUPERIOR: General Electric Co. says its new material promises to be "superior to the known high-temperature superconductors in important respects, especially for high current applications." Details of the compound, which includes seven chemical elements including cadmium, lead and copper, will be published later this week in the journal Superconductor Science and Technology. ENERGY STORAGE AN APPLICATION: The next step will be for GEC to transfer the material to the other participants in the EC project: BICC, ABB, Alcatel Cable, Pirelli Cavi and Siemens. They will work to develop superconducting cables from it. Another large-scale application is energy storage: Electricity can flow indefinitely around a superconducting coil until it is needed. USA IS TOP RESEACHER: The United States has the world's largest research program into superconductivity, with funding of $200 million a year from the federal government and an additional $100 million a year from U.S. industry. Next comes Japan, where government and industry each spend an $120 million a year. Europe's total superconductivity research program is slightly smaller than Japan's. (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. 08:0002260000D0226 HEAL- R P Cholesterol-confuses-doctors.......... A D0226 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