The White House is threatening to veto a House bill that would include the Environmental Protection Agency in the cabinet.
The House passed the bill 371-55 last week. President Bush wants EPA in the cabinet but threatened to veto the bill because it would create an independent bureau of environmental statistics within EPA. Bush said that would infringe on the president's constitutional right to manage the executive branch.
The Senate is likely to take up the bill in a few weeks.
Charles DiBona, API president, says emotions are overriding rational discussion of environmental problems in the U.S.
DiBona said there appear to be general public beliefs that the environment is near collapse and "dangerous health risks threaten us from virtually every quarter."
He said the nation's air and water are generally getting cleaner, not dirtier, and lifespans are getting longer.
He said the oil industry is committed to improving its environmental performance but needs to improve its communication with the public on environmental issues.
Amoco Oil Co. and EPA plan 18 months of research into refinery pollution prevention alternatives.
They will acquire data through yearend, then identify, simulate, and rank pollution reduction alternatives.
The project, the first such industry-government study, will focus on Amoco's 53,000 b/cd Yorktown, Va., refinery due to size, product diversity, and nearness to Washington, D.C.
ARCO hopes to have the formula for a second generation reformulated gasoline, EC-X ready by yearend. George Babikian, ARCO Products Co. president, told Octane Week's Conference on Octane Quality and Reformulated Gasoline the new fuel will compete on an emissions basis with M85.
Compared with EC-1, which ARCO introduced last year to replace leaded regular, EC-X will have lower aromatics and sulfur contents, xylenes will be removed, and more oxygenate will likely be added. The product will be designed for ARCO's entire marketing area.
ARCO will spend $2 billion at its two U.S. west coast refineries during the next 5 years to install reformulated gasoline capacity. Babikian estimates it costs 2-30/gal more to make EC-1 than to make leaded regular, but it has been priced the same.
M.W. Kellogg Co. hopes to regain its former dominance in ammonia technology with a major new catalyst it has developed for the reforming step in ammonia synthesis.
Engelhard Minerals & Chemical Corp. will make the catalyst, which will permit operations at lower temperature and pressure and with a smaller reactor. Kellogg believes it will cut energy consumption about 20%.
Construction will begin next month on a full scale unit at Ocelot Chemicals Co.'s Kitimat, B.C., plant.
Ocelot won't pay for the unit, which will have a new reactor, until the enhanced performance is proven. The new system will have its maximum appeal in areas with relatively high feedstock and fuel costs, such as North America and Europe.
Argent Marine Services Inc., San Francisco, has appealed to District of Columbia circuit court the U.S. Maritime Administration's decision not to sell Argent subsidiaries three mothballed LNG carriers.
The suit says Marad Administrator Warren G. Leback's Mar. 5 decision to back out of the earlier deal to sell the ships was based on the incorrect conclusion the companies were not U.S. citizens when they executed the options.
Argent said it has never been under foreign control and that all officers, directors, and shareholders have always been U.S. citizens.
Argent has an agreement to charter the vessels to Royal Dutch/Shell Group. Argent is not affiliated with Shell International Petroleum Co. OGJ incorrectly reported it is a Shell International subsidiary (OGJ, Mar. 26, p. 28).
U.K. Offshore Operators Association says British government proposals designed to improve the tax treatment of North Sea platform abandonment costs do not go far enough.
Ukooa also was disappointed that no action was taken to encourage new investment on major fields operating under the pre-1982 tax regime where the marginal tax rate is 85%.
The government's budget contains a 100% corporation tax allowance for abandonment spending that allows losses attributable to the allowance to be carried back for as long as 3 years.
Tax relief will be allowed on abandonment costs incurred within 3 years of a company ending ring fence oil trading. The government will also alter corporation tax claw-back rules and limit the interest on Petroleum Revenue Tax repayments when PRT losses are carried back.
Opening undeveloped Iraqi fields to development by non-Iraqi companies is aimed at expanding the country's productive capacity 1.5-2 million b/d, Iraqi Oil Minister Issam al Chalabi told Middle East Economic Survey (OGJ, Feb. 12, Newsletter).
Al Chalabi said outside companies would provide their own financing and be repaid in oil produced from the fields they develop. U.S., Japanese, and European companies have formed task forces and are seeking more information from Iraq.
Esso U.K. plc Chairman Archie Forster sees crude prices staying volatile during 1990 but climbing overall.
Exxon's U.K. affiliate is backing its fairly optimistic view of the future with a 3.5 billion ($5.64 billion) upstream and downstream investment program during the next 5 years.
European crude prices are slowly recovering from the hiccup that followed the OPEC monitoring committee meeting. North Sea Brent blend, which slipped below $18/bbl, is now trading at $18.35/bbl for April delivery.
U.S. WTI futures for April delivery traded above $20/bbl most of last week, up about 100/bbl on the week.
Two deepwater Gulf of Mexico wildcats drilled by Chevron and Union Exploration Partners have encountered more than 600 net ft of gas pay in three Pleistocene sands.
Logs, cores, and formation tests confirmed the main gas reservoirs found at 3,500, 5,000, and 8,500 ft in 670 ft of water on Garden Banks Block 191. The area is 5 miles northwest of Chevron's Garden Banks 236 field, producing 130 MMcfd of gas.
Husky Oil Ltd. wants to sell its oil and gas leases in western Canada as part of a rationalization program. The company is offering a 17 property package with an estimated value of $110-140 million (Canadian).
Southern Africa's newly independent Namibia plans an offshore licensing round in 1991.
Swakor, the national oil company, expects to receive results this summer from Exploration Consultants Ltd., London, of a 10,000 line km seismic survey of the full continental shelf.
Namibia also needs to enact a petroleum law.
The U.S. and Mexico will decide in June whether to negotiate a free trade agreement similar to the U.S.-Canada pact that went into effect Jan. 11 1989.
If a trade pact is sought, the Bush administration is expected to ask congressional approval for a fast track legislative approval of the treaty.
A 13 company French group led by Gaz de France has formed Chinergaz to expand a gas business developed in China the past 10 years. Chinergaz plans to provide its Chinese partners access to the experience of the entire French gas industry, including studies, training, and assistance in equipment production and operation of distribution networks.
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