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 Thu, Mar 12 1992 Date: Thu, 12 Mar 92 05:46:03 EST Message-ID: 03-12 0000 DECISIONLINE: Energy USA TODAY Update March 12, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network OIL LOWER IN SLUGGISH MARKET: Oil prices fell Wednesday, continuing what has been a lackluster week in the energy futures market. Light sweet crude oil for delivery in April settled at $18.50 per barrel, down 19 cents, at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Traders seem to be waiting for signs of which direction light sweet crude oil will move. Prices have remained between $18 and $19 a barrel for some time. REFINED PRODUCT PRICES FALL: Refined petroleum products lost ground on the New York Merc Wednesday. Unleaded gasoline for delivery in April settled at 57.97 cents a gallon, down .02 cent. Home heating oil for delivery in April settled at 51.30 cents a gallon, down .53 cent. Natural gas prices were mostly lower, with contracts for delivery in April settling at $1.184 per 1,000 cubic feet, down 0.4 cent. U.S. FIRMS IN RUSSIAN VENTURE: U.S. oil companies Anglo-Suisse and Phibro Energy Production have joined a Russian firm to form White Nights Joint Enterprise to explore for oil in Siberia. While the mission of the first working Russian-U.S. oil venture is simple, the details aren't. "This is the first arrangement of its kind in all of the oil industry," says Gerald Walston, White Nights' director. (For more, see special Venture package below.) NAT. GAS STATION TO OPEN: Fleet Star Inc. and AutoFuel Co. will open Arizona's first natural gas fueling station in Phoenix by mid-year. Natural gas fueling will be added to the Mobil-branded Cardlock Fuels station. The natural gas will retail for 85 cents per equivalent gallon. Arizona and the U.S. General Services Administration plan to begin operating natural gas vehicles and to fuel them at the station. JAPANESE FIRMS ANNOUNCE MERGER: Two Japnese firms, Kyodo Oil, an oil products retailer and wholesaler, and Nippon Mining, an oil refining and mining company, Wednesday agreed to merge in response to government deregulation of the oil industry. The deal will create Japan's second largest integrated oil company. The two companies had combined oil sales of $17.3 billion in the fiscal year ending last March. ENMARK CAN'T COPY NEWSLETTER: A U.S. district judge in Dallas this week issued an order barring Enmark Gas from photocopying Gas Daily, a newsletter owned by Pasha Publications. The order was part of a settlement of a copyright-infringement case Pasha brought against Enmark. Pasha claimed Enmark was making copies of its paid issue of Gas Daily for employees in Dallas and faxing copies to other Enmark offices. BG&E CUSTOMERS MAY BEAR COSTS: Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. says its customers will be paying up to $2.40 more per month if it has to remodel its 10 coal-burning power plants to meet emission standards required by a consortium of 10 states which Maryland has joined. The consortium's goal is to reduce nitrogen oxide output. BOND PROPOSAL REJECTED: The Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Wednesday rejected a proposal to increase the reclamation bonds posted by oil firms to protect groundwater from abandoned oil wells. The commission said it was concerned about how the cost of higher reclamation bonds would affect smaller operators who can't afford it. MEETING ON PLANT TO BE HELD: The Rhode Island Energy Facility Siting Board will hold a hearing Thursday on a planned $40 million oil-fired power plant that would produce 85 megawatts. Opponents of the plant say it would be noisy, add to pollution and raise rates. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON VENTURE: WHITE NIGHTS ENTITLED TO OIL: Under an incremental sharing arrangement, White Nights Joint Enterprise is entitled to all the oil recovered from three Siberian fields, above what the Russians had expected to get out, for 25 years. Varyegan Oil and Gas, the state-owned company that controls the oil in Siberia, is the Russian partner in White Nights. U.S. PARTNERS GET 40% OF EXTRAS: In exchange for turning its oil fields over to White Nights, Varyegan gets all the oil up to its production estimates, plus half the oil that comes in in addition to that. It also gets 10% in royalties. Anglo-Suisse and Phibro Energy, split what's left - 40% of the extra production. The U.S. partners can make their money by shipping their oil out of the country to sell for hard currency. PRODUCTION AHEAD OF ESTIMATES: The year-old venture already is pumping ahead of the Russians' estimated production. "Production in all of Russia was down 9.5% in 1991. Our fields were up about 40%," says Walston. Anatoly Sivak, director general of Varyegan, says the reason he turned to the West for help was simple: To stop the production decline "we needed money and equipment and technology not available here." (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. 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