December 14, 1982

A chart published yesterday listing metropolitan areas with the highest percentage of black residents incorrectly identified the sixth-ranked area. It is Petersburg, Va.

Two years after the imposition of a tough national energy policy sent half the nation's oil rigs across the border into the United States, Canada's federal and provincial governments are providing new incentives for the troubled industry and signs of recovery are beginning to emerge. ''We've bottomed out and we're on the mend,'' said Harold Carlyle, chairman of the Canadian Petroleum Association and senior vice president of Gulf Canada Resources. And G.J. Johnson, head of the Royal Bank's Global Energy and Minerals Group, said, ''The oil and gas industry is solidly on the road to recovery.'' Evidence of improvement includes an increase in the number of working rigs in western Canada to 385 at the end of November from 283 a year earlier; a sharp jump in seismic studies, the first phase of oil exploration, and several significant oil discoveries over recent months. Moreover, analysts foresee a 10 percent acceleration in drilling next year.

The Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation clashed today over whether the Dreyfus Corporation, a major mutual fund company, should be allowed to purchase a bank. The Dreyfus application to acquire a New Jersey bank is a test case that might determine whether mutual fund companies in general will be allowed to own banks. The mutual funds, which operate the popular money market funds, are seeking new ways of competing with banks and savings institutions. The competition between the banks and the money market funds has become especially acute now that banks and savings institutions are being allowed to offer money market accounts without interest rate ceilings.

When officials at the Dravo Corporation decided three years ago to move into a new office building in downtown Pittsburgh, they had no idea that a prolonged economic downturn was on the way. The engineering and construction company budgeted some $21 million in 1982 to cover the cost of moving and buying new equipment for what was to be called Dravo Tower, a 54-story edifice. But the $21 million has never been spent. ''We had planned to start moving in this month,'' said William P. Stewart, a Dravo spokesman. ''But those plans have been scrapped.''

The Federal Reserve Board, in a move intended to stimulate the long-awaited economic recovery, today cut its key lending rate to 8 1/2 percent from 9 percent, effective Tuesday. The reduction in the discount rate, which is the interest the Federal Reserve charges on loans it makes to banks and other financial institutions, was the seventh since July, when the discount rate was 12 percent. Other interest rates have also fallen several points since then, in response, and analysts said that the latest cut meant that short-term rates, including the prime rate, could soon drop by half a percentage point. Usual Practice Not Followed Some analysts said that the Federal Reserve's action today shows that it is trying to force down interest rates to deal with the persisting recession, rather than follow its usual practice of cutting the discount rate only after short-term interest rates decline in the financial markets.