PENNZOIL <PZL> SAYS IT HAS MADE SETTLEMENT OFFERS
Pennzoil Co chairman J. Hugh Liedtke
said the company has made several proposals to Texaco Inc <TX> 
to settle a 9.13 billion dlr judgment awarded to Pennzoil and
that a settlement was "in the best interests of both
companies."
    Liedtke, in a letter mailed today to Pennzoil shareholders,
said Texaco's management has incorrectly implied in recent
public statements that Pennzoil was not interested in settling
the case.
    "Pennzoil has made Texaco several proposals, both before
and after trial, to settle this dispute," Liedtke said in the
letter. "We do not know why Texaco's officials would now make
such clearly untrue statements."
    Last month, a Texas state appeals court upheld a jury
judgment that Texaco illegally interfered with Pennzoil's plan
to acquire Getty Oil in 1983. The appeals court reduced by two
billion dlrs the original 10.53 billion dlrs in damages awarded
to Pennzoil, but interest accruing on the award has pushed the
total amount back above 10 billion dlrs.
    Pennzoil said that Texaco had made four unsatisfactory
proposals to settle the billion-dollar lawsuit.
    "Other than to put on the record that it has made offers,
Texaco's proposals make no sense," Liedtke said in the letter.
"In fact, two of Texaco's offers were identical and were
proposals that Texaco knew in advance Pennzoil would not
accept."
    The letter did not disclose terms of settlement offers made
by either Pennzoil or Texaco.
    "If and when Texaco's management changes its position and
demonstrates a willingness to make a good faith attempt to
settle this matter, Pennzoil will make every effort to
cooperate," Liedtke said. "Such a solution, I believe, is
clearly in the interests of both companies, even if it not
attractive, as a personal matter, to Texaco's management and
directors."
    Liedtke said that cash flow from the Getty Oil assets and
profits from those assets that have since been sold
"approximately equaled" Texaco's purchase price of 10 billion
dlrs for Getty.             
 Reuter
