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, Apr 9 1992 Date: Thu, 9 Apr 92 05:44:24 EDT Message-ID: 04-09 0000 DECISIONLINE: Energy USA TODAY Update April 9, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network OIL REACHES NEW HIGHS: Oil prices advanced Wednesday to new highs for the year as traders responded to shrinking U.S. supplies and more Middle East tensions. Light sweet crude oil for delivery in May settled at $20.62 per barrel, up 39 cents, at the New York Mercantile Exchange. The previous high 1992 settlement price for spot-month crude, $20.45 a barrel, came Monday. REFINED PRODUCTS ADVANCE: Refined petroleum products posted gains Wednesday at the Mercantile Exchange. Home heating oil for delivery in May settled at 56.26 cents a gallon, up .81 cent. Unleaded gasoline for delivery in May settled at 62.71 cents a gallon, up .39 cent. Natural gas prices were mostly higher, with contracts for delivery in May settling at $1.305 per 1,000 cubic feet, up 2.0 cents. VALVE MAY HAVE SPARKED BLAST: Federal investigators Wednesday said they were focusing on a remote control valve as a possible reason for the liquefied propane blast in Brenham, Texas, which killed one and injured eighteen others Tuesday. James Kolstad of the National Transportation Safety Board hoped to get a closer look at the valve as soon as the flames subside. Workers were attempting to plug a leak in the line. DRILLING FOES GAIN VICTORY: Florida lawmakers won the right Wednesday to introduce legislation that would bar the government from opening any new areas off the state's coast to offshore oil and natural gas drilling through 2000. The anti-drilling language was accepted by the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee as part of an amendment package the panel will try to link to the House energy bill. OTHER PANEL TO OFFER AMENDMENT: Amendments to the energy bill similar to an offshore drilling ban proposal approved Wednesday will also be offered by the Interior Committee. As proposed, the anti-drilling amendments to the House energy bill would bar the government from leasing any new offshore tracts for oil and gas exploration along virtually all U.S. coastline outside the central and western Gulf of Mexico. `TERRITORIAL SEA' BILL OK'D: The USA would claim sovereignty over its 12-mile "territorial sea" under a bill approved Wednesday by the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. The measure doesn't affect the states' jurisdiction out to three miles. Energy officials originally were concerned that states might try to push their control farther out, possibly threatening existing off-shore energy exploration. CHEVRON ENVISIONS HIGHER PRICES: A cutback in the U.S. supply of gasoline caused by new environmental laws and higher prices at the pump are expected to boost Chevron Corp.'s profits, Chairman Kenneth T. Derr said Wednesday. Laws such as the Clean Air Act, which will require expensive changes in the way gasoline is made, could add up to 20 cents a gallon to the cost of producing the fuel, he said. POSSIBLE SPILL SOLUTION FOUND: A Valdez-size oil spill can be mopped up in just three days with a new technique developed by University of Texas researchers. It uses hollow glass beads, each the diameter of a human hair, that react with sunlight to make oil water-soluble. The beads dissolve into biodegradable sand-like particles. More testing is planned. It costs only 5% of what it cost to clean up the Valdez spill. NRC PLANS CLEANUPS: Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials unveiled a plan Wednesday to clean up radioactive contamination at 46 closed sites within three years. The sites targeted by the NRC for accelerated cleanup are considered serious long-term environmental threats. The NRC said that owners, or those responsible for decontamination efforts, will be notified of the new plan and its schedule. DOE WANTS UNIFORM TERMS: The Department of Energy Wednesday said it has sent pipeline shippers proposed contractual language that DOE wants to have in place should it decide to ship crude oil from California's Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve to Strategic Petroleum Reserve sites in Texas. The firms have until April 15 to tell DOE whether they can accept the standard terms in the "basic ordering agreements." SHELL OIL TO OPEN CNG STATION: Shell Oil Company announced plans Wednesday to open its first service station facility for natural gas-powered vehicles in the Houston area. The CNG refueling facility will be constructed at at a current Shell service station. This is Shell's first solo venture into CNG marketing. Its other public refueling projects have been in partnership with the local utility companies. ASHLAND COAL INKS SALES DEAL: Ashland Coal, Inc. said Wednesday that it has been awarded a long-term coal supply contract by Wisconsin Public Service Corp. Beginning in June, Ashland will supply the WPS Pulliam Station Units 5-8 and Weston Station Units 1-2 located in Green Bay and Rothschild, Wis., respectively. The contract provides for up to 500,000 tons of compliance coal annually to December 1997. 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