December 29, 1973

Venezuela, a major United States supplier, raised its tax‐reference price for crude oil by 81.9 per cent to $19.08 a barrel. That will not be the market price, but a basis for calculating tax and royalty payments. Page 31.

USCG and petroleum indus officials rept scores of oil tankers lining up along East Coast for dwindling dock space and scarce storage facilities to unload cargo; capts of some ships owned by freelance 'speculators' reptdly looking for best price they can get; tankers off Staten Island illus; officials say that tanks are stored to capacity because of mild weather and consciousness of need to conserve energy, creating shortage of storage facilities; heavy tanker scheduling, in anticipation of record-high demand by oil cos, has kept sometimes-inadequate unloading bays filled to capacity; oil indus officials say that long lines at quays are not causing any major bottlenecks and that price regulations will not allow them to profit by holding up oil deliveries waiting for high prices; tanker arrivals in NY Port for Nov numbered 262, nearly 10% over Nov '72; most of ships belonged to US cos; Exxon Corp official says that he has recd scattered calls from 'speculators' but says that they are rare; other co officials concede that cos, in event of major shortages, have purchased from speculators but call it risky business; NYS Atty Gen Lefkowitz says on Dec 28 that tanks are filled to hilt in NYS and that some 18 tankers are unloading in NY Harbor area; Conn Gov Meskill orders probe of repts of tankers awaiting entry into New Haven port; NJ Gov-elect Byrne suspects that slow unloading is effort to await higher price; Mass Gov Sargent and Penna Gov Shapp also express concern

1st in series of excerpts from A I Solzhenitsyn book The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956; illus

US Defense Dept on Dec 28 announces plans to test-fire Minuteman ICBMs without nuclear warheads from Malstrom Air Force Base in Mont to target area in Phoenix Islands in Pacific; map; plans, which are subject to Cong approval, seen drawing criticism from congressmen and other officials of Mont, Idaho, Washington, Ore and Calif, states over which missiles would fly; Defense and Air Force Dept officials, at Defense Dept news conf, stress that flights would be over sparsely populated areas and be conducted under rigid safety controls, with provisions for blowing up any missile that might veer off course; program, nicknamed Giant Patriot, would launch 4 missiles during winter of '74-75 and 4 more the following winter; Defense Dept stresses need to 'demonstrate effectiveness and reliability of Minuteman strategic deterrent force'

AEC issues Dec 28 stirrer safety rules for emegency, or back-up, cooling systems for nuclear power reactors, meant to prevent reactors from overheating, melting their shields and emitting radiation that could injure and kill people in nearby communities; rejects proposals from elec indus for less stringent criteria, yet its decision is assailed by Union of Concerned Scientists, and by R Nader, as 'cosmetic'; AEC official says utility cos have been asked to submit data on econ impact of ruling; acknowledges some cos will have to cut power output; D F Ford and H W Kendall, of Union of Concerned Scientists, say decision represents continuation of AEC's 'cover-up' of critical safety problems; AEC, in its ruling, does not estimate probability of a loss-of-coolant accident that would activate emergency core system, but Comr W A Anders cites estimate that such event would occur in 10-million 'reactor-yrs,' or 1-million yrs of power output by 10 reactors