Oil

THE PROTESTS shutting off gasoline supplies in Europe are popular with consumers, oil companies and OPEC governments. All parties resent the high taxes that European governments slap on oil products. This strike action was undertaken by small business proprietors such as farmers, truckers and commercial fishermen -- not against high prices in the oil field, but high taxes at the pump. That is not equivalent to American anguish over current gasoline prices. The European protesters are demanding prices and fuel taxes more nearly resembling ours.

Texaco's plans to drill for oil near the Chesapeake Bay in Charles County are on hold after the company came up dry in its third test drilling in Virginia, a spokeswoman said yesterday.An official from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which has warned oil drilling in Maryland could have a devastating effect on the environment, said yesterday the company's lack of success "does not sadden us."Texaco Inc. suspended exploratory drilling Tuesday on a farm in King George County, Va., after failing to find oil or natural gas in any commercial quantities, company spokeswoman Deborah Alford said.

Dryden Oil Co., a family-owned business in Baltimore since 1893, has reached agreement to be purchased by the British-owned Castrol Inc.If the sale is completed, Dryden will be operated as an independent unit of Castrol, said Don Bunn, vice president of marketing for Dryden.He said no significant changes in personnel or operations are expected. Dryden employs 450 people at 18 locations along the East Coast, including 260 in Baltimore."There have been a number of suitors over the years," Bunn said.

Allegations that the Bush administration was driven to invade Iraq by a lust for the country's oil have been part of the anti-war movement's narrative since even before the war's first shots were fired. The image of a White House hijacked by a cabal of former oil executives who steer foreign policy to advance Big Oil's interests gained credence as disillusionment from the war grew. This idea is now being reinforced by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, whose memoir hit bookstore shelves this month.

Recently, most everyone I communicated with around the country had the same thing to say: "Wow, am I cold!" That shiver in their voices contrasted to earlier this winter when temperatures were above normal in many places. Crude oil prices have revived a bit on this recent chilly turn of events, especially because of its effect on the Northeast, which represents the biggest chunk of the nation's heating oil market. Yet it doesn't significantly alter the overriding event that few thought could happen just a few months ago: Oil prices recently declining to about $50 a barrel.

Western oil companies are betting that the race for Russian oil can be won with chicken legs.Mobil Oil Corp. is trying to win oil export rights from Russia by offering to trade millions of American chicken legs for Russian oil, according to poultry industry officials.The proposed crude-for-food deal is so massive it could drive up domestic prices of chicken legs by a nickel a pound, industry officials said yesterday.Mobil declined to confirm the negotiations. But Robert Anthony, president of American Poultry USA, said his chicken exporting company is discussing a three-way deal with Mobil.

TC WHY DO we worry so much about oil in the Chesapeake Bay?It's really pretty simple. Oil is toxic -- obviously to waterfowl, less obviously to fish and shellfish. The bay doesn't flush very well, making a real cleanup nearly hopeless. Just imagine trying to wash a marsh!Finally, the plight of the bay is already extremely grave -- without its having to absorb more insults.In 1988, a barge traveling on the bay split in half, releasing over 200,000 gallons of light fuel oil and gasoline. William Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, in a letter to the Coast Guard commandant, reminded him of CBF's decade-old recommendations regarding oil transportation and handling.

Despite a long-held notion that this country should cut it dependence on foreign oil, the reality is that America's dependence is growing steadily -- and within the next few years could hit an all-time high.Government, petroleum and utility officials from California to Washington, D.C., say the situation is an increasing threat to the nation's future and security.Hoping for solutions that eluded his predecessors, President Bill Clinton said he is committed to energy conservation and wants reduced consumption of imported oil."

ATLANTA - After weeks of wearying hours, tedious research, fist-pounding debates and nerve-racking compromise, Congress passed historic legislation last week that promises to put the nation on the track to energy independence by the year 2050. OK, just kidding. Our Congress? Of course, it did no such thing. But in an energy bill that does little but give away money to energy businesses, Congress did manage to extend daylight-saving time by four weeks, starting in 2007. The extension is projected by some to save the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of oil a day over that additional month.

A tanker truck carrying home-heating oil overturned yesterday morning, shutting down a stretch of Route 543 near St. Anne Drive in Harford County until well after the evening rush hour. A tanker driven by Frank Latini Jr. of the 3000 block of Deepwater Way in Edgewood was heading north on Route 543 near Street at 5:48 a.m. when it failed to slow at a curve, skidded into the right guardrail and overturned, said 1st Sgt. Scott Saunders of the Maryland State Police. Latini was treated at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center and released, a hospital spokeswoman said.