ENERGY

Texaco, Other Oil Companies Sign Tarim Basin Pact: In the second such contract, a consortium led by Agip, Italy’s state-owned oil company, signed the agreement in Beijing to bring outside oil companies’ investment and technology to explore the remote basin on China’s western border with Russia and Kazakhstan. Other companies include Elf Hydrocarbures Chine of France, Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Japan Energy Co. and Texaco China, part of Texaco Inc. William Doyle, president of Texaco Middle East/Far East, described as good the chances of making a commercially viable discovery in the area, which by some estimates could rival in size the North Sea oil discoveries. In December, Exxon Corp. and Japan-Indonesia Petroleum Corp. signed a contract to explore one of the other potential fields in the Tarim Basin.