Business news in brief

— QUOTE OF THE DAY “Some customers think that the American

made label may just be window dressing

and companies can be reluctant to use it.” Dave Schiff, co-founder of Made Movement, a Boulder, Colo., advertising firm, about the hesitation by some companies to use the “Made in the USA” label.

Article, 1D

Oil prices slip ahead of Christmas

NEW YORK - The price of oil fell slightly Monday during a shortened pre-Christmas trading day.

Concerns over the political stalemate in Washington continue to be the focus of traders, with the price of U.S.

benchmark oil closing down 5 cents to $88.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Energy traders have been watching Democrats and Republicans clash over tax increases and social-service cuts.

Normally, recent good economic data would signal more energy consumption and higher prices. But fears about the “fiscal cliff” have so far tempered prices, according to Phil Flynn of The Price Future Group.

The average U.S. price for gasoline rose 1.5 cents over the weekend to $3.247 a gallon. Regular unleaded costs nearly 2 cents more than a year ago.

Brent crude, used to price international varieties of oil, fell 17 cents to $108.80 a barrel.

Natural gas fell 10.5 cents to $3.346 per 1,000 cubic feet, while heating oil eased 2 cents to $3.00 a gallon.

Wholesale gasoline rose 1.6 cents to $2.75 a gallon. Auto club AAA said Monday that regular gasoline in Arkansas was selling at an average of $3.07 per gallon.

  • The Associated Press

Chevron to buy gas-terminal stake

Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company, has agreed to buy a 50 percent stake in the proposed Kitimat liquefied natural gas terminal from Encana Corp. and EOG Resources Inc., joining the competition to ship the fuel from North America to Asian markets.

San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron will also acquire 50 percent of a pipeline serving the Canadian project and drilling rights on 644,000 acres in British Columbia’s Horn River and Liard basins, it said in a statement Monday. It will operate the LNG terminal and pipeline, and project partner Apache Corp. will handle the acreage.

Chevron joins Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd in pursuing gas exports from western Canada to Asian markets, where the heating and power plant fuel sells at a premium to North American prices. The Kitimat project has a license from Canadian regulators to export 10 million metric tons a year of the liquefied fuel.

The companies declined to comment on the terms of the deal. Apache Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Steven Farris estimated in March the Kitimat project would cost $15 billion, including the terminal, pipeline and investment in related drilling wells.

  • Bloomberg News Russia, India sign weapons deals

NEW DELHI - Russia and India signed weapons deals worth billions of dollars Monday as President Vladimir Putin sought to further boost ties with an old ally.

Putin and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh praised cooperation between their countries as officials signed a $1.6 billion deal for 42 Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets that will be license-built in India from Russian components and a $1.3 billion contract for the delivery of 71 Mil Mi-17 military helicopters.

Singh said the talks included discussions on the security situation in the region, including Afghanistan.

While the volume of Russian-Indian trade has risen sixfold since 2000 and is expected to reach $10 billion this year, the growth has slowed in recent years.

Still, India remains the No. 1 customer for Russia’s arms industries. Russia signed $30 billion worth of arms contracts with India in 2000-2010. The countries have cooperated on building an advanced fighter plane and a new transport aircraft, and have jointly developed a supersonic cruise missile for the Indian navy.

  • The Associated Press

Vietnam’s growth slowest since ’99

Vietnam’s economy expanded at the slowest pace in 13 years in 2012 as bank lending and domestic demand slowed.

Gross domestic product rose 5.03 percent this year, the General Statistics Office said Sunday in Hanoi, down from 5.89 percent in 2011 and the slowest since 4.77 percent in 1999. GDP increased 5.44 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, up from a revised 5.05 percent in Julyto-September.

Vietnam’s economy has been hampered by slower lending as banks grappled with rising bad debt and undercapitalization. The central bank this month cut benchmark interest rates for a sixth time this year, saying the adjustments are to help companies “cope with difficulties in production and business.”

“It was only explosive credit growth that allowed for the level of economic growth that Vietnam had previously been achieving,” said Edwin Gutierrez, a portfolio manager at Aberdeen Asset Management in London, which manages about $11 billion in emerging-market debt. The slower pace of expansion this year was the result of a slump in bank lending, he said.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Dec. 10 that expansion may reach 5.2 percent this year, down from earlier targets of as much as 6.5 percent.

  • Bloomberg News

U.S. lab plans solar-testing centers

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - One of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s three national laboratories is building regional testing centers around the country to field-test hardware for solar companies before their multimillion-dollar solar systems are installed in buildings.

The Sandia National Laboratory is building test centers in Albuquerque, Denver, Las Vegas, Orlando, Fla., and Burlington, Vt., the Albuquerque Journal reported.

“The centers are designed to not only provide independent assessments of commercial systems, but to do that in multiple locations and climates,” Sandia solar group member Jennifer Granata said.

The test facilities will provide enhanced monitoring and improved performance prediction capabilities for new technologies being introduced to the market and will have detailed weather stations and measuring and monitoring equipment such as simulators, performance curve tracers and infrared and digital cameras.

They will help develop standard procedures to assess performance of large-scale systems that other labs, utilities and investors can use.

The companies doing field testing at the centers will be responsible for the costs of their systems, while the government will provide labor and expertise.

  • The Associated Press

Business, Pages 26 on 12/25/2012

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