Public Opinion from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania • 10

1MK PlTJLIC 0PII0 Chambersburg, Pennsylvania Friday. July 1.2005 www.pubIicopiniononIine.com 262-4784, Biislnesspubop.com Briefcase dD gamralbO Best time to buy heating oil is anybody's guess i- in-mr-raMM-n mi 1 i in 1 i nr iiiii mm ini "St By ALLAN DRURY The Journal News Carolyn Hunter always had a ready answer for folks who would ask her for advice on when to buy their home heating oil. Hunter, co-owner of Hunter Petroleum in Carmel, N.Y., used to tell customers to place their orders during the summer because that's when prices were at their lowest But that was before this year, a year when oil prices seem to be breaking all the rules. "Normally my response is wait until July and buy, but I don't know any more," Hunter said. "I don't know what's going on." The sky-high price of home heating oil is frustrating and confusing dealers and consumers alike as they try to gauge whether they should make their purchases now or gamble and wait until winter approaches.

An argument can be made for either choice. Historically, it has paid to order in the summer rather than wait until another Northeast winter was about to unleash ice, snow and frigid temperatures. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average retail price for a gallon of home heating oil nationally has been 12.8 cents lower in June than December the past 10 years. That means a homeowner who placed an order for 1,000 gallons each year saved an average of $128 annually.

The savings would have been particularly big last year when prices averaged $1.41 in June and shot to $1.79 by December, on their way to an all-time high of $1.96 in April of this year. For consumers, there's risk in waiting for prices to drop. It's possible, of course, that prices will rise even more. That $1.86 retail price will look good if the EIA's prediction of prices averaging more than $2 a gallon in December is correct. It's not a chance Frank Cinque-mani, who just bought a house in North Salem, N.Y., plans to take.

He said he paid the seller of the house $2.44 a gallon for the 40 to 50 gallons left in the tank when the deal closed in April He said he was then able to find a dealer who filled the 275-gal-lon tank for $1.89 a gallon. The dealer then returned weeks later and pumped another 44 gallons at $1.89. But Cinquemani said he plans to look into signing a contract that will allow him to lock in a price for next winter. "If you have an empty tank now, it's a good time to fill up," he said. "Unless you think the price of oil is going to go down, which I don't foresee." Many dealers also offer price caps.

Under those contracts, a customer is guaranteed that he or she will not pay more than a pre-agreed price for oil. But if the market takes a tumble, the customer will get the benefit of the lower prices. Gannett Nws Servk Home delivery: James Niggl, a driver with Action Fuel in Mahopac, N.Y., delivers heating oil to a customer in Cort-landt, N.Y. The price per gallon for this delivery was $1 .97. "Carnac the Magnificent used to do that," he said, referring to the psychic character created by the late comedian Johnny Carson.

"But not us." A confluence of forces are driving oil prices. Strong demand for crude oil products, particularly in the United States and China, which is moving toward a free-market economy, the war in Iraq and the limited capacity of U.S. refineries are lifting prices. But Rosado and other experts say there's another wild card in the mix now: speculators, particularly the managers of hedge funds who look to take advantage of a volatile market by buying oil futures on a bet that the price will go higher. "It could be the best market out there, but if a big hedge fund comes in and buys 1,000 contracts, that will push the market up no matter what," he said.

Hagerstovvn museum grand opening to be held July 14 HAGEESTOWN, Mi Tte Hagerstown Aviation Museum, 101 W. Washington will host a grand opening ceremony and ribbon cutting at 10 am July 14, according to a press release. The museum will include donated aviation memorabilia from Hagerstovvn and the opening will closely coincide with the premier of the Maryland Public Television broadcast "Hagerstown: Remembering Our Aviation History" which will air at 10 p.m. on July 12. "Our county was home to significant manufacturers, including Bel-lanca, Kreider-Reisner and Fairchild," Hagerstown Aviation Museum President Kurtis Meyers said in a prepared statement.

"Hagerstown was known for making world-famous airplanes, and this new museum is a collection that will help sustain interest in the part that Hagerstown played in this industry." Distribution facility construction under way CARLISLE DP Partners, Reno, announced that construction has begun on the 550,184 square-foot distribution facility LogistiCenter at Carlisle at 1400 Distribution Drive. The facility is scheduled for completion in September and will include 60 docks with levelers, expandable to 85 docks, 137 trailer-parking spaces and 24-5 car-parking spaces. DP Partners has assets in California, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Indiana and Illinois, and serves more than 300 national clients, according to a press release. Backlog orders for heat exchangers increases HARRISBURG The Camp Hill-based Harsco corporation, an international services and products company, announced a 200 increase in backlog orders for Air-X-Changers air-cooled heat exchangers, compared to this time last year. In a press release, company representatives attributed the increase in sales to the increase in drilling for natural gas.

"As the global community continues to address the impacts of greenhouse gases, natural gas is recognized as a cleaner-burning energy source," said Scott W. Jacoby, Air-X-Changers vice president and general manager. Harsco employs an estimated 18,500 people at more than 400 locations in more than 40 countries, according to a press release, with annual sales in excess of $2.5 billion. Your news MAIL lax or drop of! your business and agriculture news to Put Opinion, 77 N. Third St.

Crambersburg 17201 fax: 264-0377, e-mai: Busriesspubop.com. PHOTOGRAPHS, color or black-and-white, are encouraged. Most items could run with a dose-up head-and-shoulders photo. FREE: News is printed free of charge. REAL ESTATE items are pmted Fridays.

OTHER BUSINESS and agricultural briefcase items are published Mondays through Saturdays. HELP: Please indurJe the telephone num-ber and name of someone we can contact if we have questions about your information. INFORMATION: call 2624764, Mondays tfirough Fridays. mm JBSTHBS 1 jfj-T-- it in of its Selected stocks Bank of America to purchase MBNA; 6,000 jobs to be eliminated in process Yesterday's Allegheny ..22.06 AllgEnrgy .....25.22 Allied Irish ....42 95 AmExp .53.23 AppleComp ...3681 ArchDanMd .21.38 19.04 Bakr Hughes ...51.16 BFGoodrkh ...40.96 Big lots Inc. ...13.24 BonTon 1935 Campbell 30.77 Chevron Texaco 55.92 Cinergy .44.79 Citigroup .....46.23 ColgPalm .....49.91 Coming 16.62 DaimlChrysler .40.51 Deere 65 49 DelhaizeGroup 39.50 J9 73 DuPont 4301 Energy East 28.98 Exelon .51 33 ExonMob ....37.47 Fastenal .6125 First Com Fin ..13.70 FirstEnergy ...48.11 FMCCorp ....36.14 FordMtr 10.24 Futtonhnanciil 18 Gannett 71.13 009 -028 0.44 048 0.40 -057 -007 0.79 0.09 0.IS 096 -096 0.15 0.71 -097 092 0.13 -0J7 GenH GenlMtr Ga.

Pacific Hanson HarDav Hershey HJHeim IBM foamed fcigerR JLG JPMorgan Lowe's Lucent MAT McDonalds McGraw Hid Merck Navistar NewlRbrMd OrrstownBk PaPL PenNadGm Penney Pepco Holdings Pepsi Philip Morris PHGIatf Public SerEnt Retail Ventures Reyn A Reyn .3465 34 3180 .47.72 .49 60 62.10 35.42 74.20 67 71 35 2748 38.22 2.91 1 05. 1 6 ....27.75 ...44.25 30.80 32 ..0384 ..41.75 59.38 .36.50 3258 .23 94 S3 93 .64.66 12.40 .52.75 ..60.82 .13.64 .27.03 "For years, I have been impressed with the sales capabilities of MBNA," Ken Lewis, Bank of America's chairman and chief executive, told a group of industry analysts after the deal was announced. "I see them as a selling machine. "We think the strategies complement each other. We have the franchises and they have marketing savvy." After the deal is completed, Bank of America will have 40 million active credit card accounts, making it one of the leading worldwide payments-services companies and issuers of credit, debit and prepaid cards based on total purchase volume, Lewis said.

The deal is a pricey one for Charlotte-based Bank of America, but "not a shocker," said Andrew Collins, an analyst at Piper Jaffray in New York. Lewis has been talking about buying a company offering credit cards based on the prime rate for a while, Collins said, and "there's only one of them left" "They are going to make this as seamless as possible for MBNA cus The so-called lock-in prices are almost always higher than straight purchases because they carry risk for the dealer. Cap prices are even higher than lock-in prices. Tony Rosado, senior vice president for supply and marketing for Castle Oil Corp. in Sleepy Hollow and Harrison, said he implores his company's salespeople not to try to predict for customers which way prices are going to go.

tomers," Collins said. "And they will get more banking services as this goes forward because Bank of America has more products." The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2005. Under terms of the agreement, MBNA shareholders will receive 0.5009 common shares of Bank of America plus $4,125 in cash for each of their shares. Based on Bank of America's Wednesday closing stock price, the deal values MBNA at $27.50 per share, a 31 premium to their Wednesday closing price of $21.07. Bank of America expects the job cuts to help it achieve overall cost savings of $850 million, which would be fully realized in 2007, and anticipates a restructuring charge of $1.25 billion.

Savings also will be achieved through the elimination of overlapping technology, vendor leverage and marketing expenses. Bank of America said the agreement has been approved by both boards of directors and is subject to approval by regulators and MBNA shareholders. Fleetwood Folding Pop-Ups Awning, Refrigerator, Furnace Fleetwood Resort Ext Travel Trailers Models 23BH, 25QB. 25BHS Skyline By Nomad Travel Trailers UoiL-Thun. 8:30 on pm UZ0Z FrL Sat 8:30 pm 9:00 pm Penny 3 Ways To Save S0095 mrm closing prices -017 -048 007 023 0.96 -035 039 013 -0 13 001 0.10 -Oil 023 -044 1.19 0.05 0.02 RiteAid .4.18 Royal Dutch .64.90 SBC 23.75 Sears Hid ....149.87 Southern 34.67 SprintFON ....25.09 Starwd 58.57 SusqBanc 24.59 TBWoods 3.75 Telmex .18.89 Tenneco 16.64 Unilever 64.83 UPS 69.16 Unitrin .49.10 Vernon 34.55 ViacomA 3222 ViacomB 32.02 Wal-Mart 48.20 Waste Mgt ....28.34 Xerox 13.79 Bid FrankFinCorp ....26 NY gold 438.20 NY Silver 7.04 0.22 NC 0.09 -002 -006 Ask 2630 438.90 7.08 Winners and Losers Public Service Enterprises Up .9 Inamed Up 0.96 duPont Down 1.62 Ingersoll Rand Down 1.45 by Merrill Lynch ratal of VA Ave.

1 582 4646 mrn Dow Jones Industrials High 10.412.8 Low 10.2672 Close I0J75 Down 993 Listings supplied Cumberland Valley Camping Center Summer Special On In-Stock Models To Move Out 2005 Models Handcrafted Fine Furniture (Corner By PAUL NOWELL AP business writer CHARLOTTE, N.C. Bank of America Corp. Thursday said it will acquire MBNA Corp. in a $35 billion cash and stock deal that will result 6,000 job cuts but transform the nation's third-largest bank into one the world's largest credit card issuers. MBNA President and CEO Bruce Hammonds, 57, will become CEO and president of Bank of America Card Services and report to Liam E.

McGee, 50, president of Bank of America global consumer and small business banking. Hammonds will remain in Wilmington, where MBNA is headquartered, and be part of Bank of America's risk and capital committee. Frank P. Bramble, a vice chairman of MBNA, will be appointed to the Bank of America's board of directors. Bank of America said the acquisition is an opportunity to grow a business that has proven to be one of fastest growing segments.

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