U.S. ENERGY CHIEF SEES PROMISE IN OIL-TAX CHANGE

  Energy Secretary John Herrington
  said his proposed option to raise the oil depletion allowance
  to 27.5 pct was probably the most economically promising way to
  spur domestic production.
      The White House has said it would consider the option
  although it was generally opposed to any revisions in the new
  tax code.
      Herrington told a meeting of the Mid-Continent Oil and Gas
  Association that the higher depletion allowance on new oil and
  enhanced oil recovery would cost taxpayers about 200 mln dlrs a
  year.
      The option was one of many contained in a report on oil and
  the national security the Energy Department sent to the White
  House on Tuesday.
      Herrington said of the increased depletion allowance
  option: "that is one that could significantly increase
  production at a very low cost to the American taxpayer."
      He again rejected an oil import fee as far too costly to
  the overall U.S. economy.
  

