Business news in brief

— QUOTE OF THE DAY “The tax credit put a Band-Aid over the housing problem and in October and November we ripped it off.” Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, N.C.

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Chevron settles gas-royalty lawsuit

WASHINGTON - Chevron Corp. will pay $45.5 million to resolve claims that it underpaid natural-gas royalties to the government and American Indians, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

Most of the settlement will be distributed to federal, state and American Indian accounts affected by the underpayments. More than $12.3 million will go to the heirs of the whistle-blower who filed the lawsuit in Beaumont, Texas.

Each month, companies are required to report to the Interior Department the value of the natural gas produced from their federal and Indian leases. A percentage of the reported value is paid as royalties.

The settlement includes Chevron companies Texaco Inc., Unocal Corp. and other affiliates.

The government contended that the companies made improper deductions from royalty values and violated the False Claims Act by underpaying the royalties.

“This settlement successfully ends long-standing litigation and ensures that taxpayers receive their fair share of royalty revenues from energy production on federal and American Indian lands,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said.

In a statement, Chevron said, “The agreement states that Chevron makes no admission of any kind concerning improper or fraudulent actions or omissions on its part, and Chevron reasserts that it did not engage in such activities. Chevron has settled this case simply to bring an end to a long and expensive legal proceeding.”

Samsung pays in Kodak settlement

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Eastman Kodak says electronics maker Samsung Electronics has agreed to pay the photography company an undisclosed sum to settle a patent dispute over digital-camera technology.

The announcement comes five days after the International Trade Commission ruled that Samsung, based in Seoul, South Korea, infringed two Kodak patents.

Kodak alleged in a lawsuit in Rochester in November 2008 that camera phones made by Samsung violated various patents it obtained between 1993 and 2001.

Under the settlement, Kodak says Samsung agreed to pay an unspecified nonrefundable payment this year. The companies also agreed to negotiate a technology crosslicensing deal.

Argentine corn-crop forecast raised

Corn output in Argentina, the world’s second-biggest exporter of the grain, will increase more than expected next year as rain boosts crop yields, a farm association said.

Output may rise to as much as 16 million metric tons, a three-year high, from 13.2 million tons in the previous harvest, said Santiago del Solar, president of corn producers group Maizar. Martin Fraguio, executive director of the association, said on Dec. 15 that the crop would reach 14 million tons.

The increase may leave producers with more corn to export after selling 8 million tons in the domestic market to meet a government quota. The worst drought in a century earlier this year, along with government restrictions, may lead Argentina to fall behind Brazil as the largest exporter after the U.S.

Brazil will export 9.5 million tons in the year that started Oct. 1, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Argentina’s corn sales abroad will drop to 7 million tons, less than half the 15.7 million tons shipped two years earlier, the USDA said Dec. 10.

Nestle shuts operation in Zimbabwe

VEVEY, Switzerland - Nestle SA, the world’s biggest food and drink company, said Wednesday that it has temporarily closed its production site in the Zimbabwe capital because employee security is no longer guaranteed.

Nestle’s factory in Harare on Saturday received an unannounced visit from Zimbabwean government officials and authorities who forced it to unload a truck of milk, the company said.

Police questioned two local managers and released them without charges the same day, Nestle said in a statement.

Nestle announced in October that it stopped buying milk from eight farms, including one that appears to belong to President Robert Mugabe. The company had temporarily bought milk from the farms because the government was unable to buy it and the country’s dairy industry risked collapse. When the government in October resumed purchasing milk from the eight farms, Nestle said it would end the temporary purchases.

But since then Nestle has faced pressure to continue buying milk from the farms, a demand it has refused.

U.K. backs Ticketmaster merger

In a turnabout, British regulators have approved the proposed merger of Ticketmaster and the concert promoter Live Nation, a victory for the entertainment giants as they seek to clear antitrust hurdles.

The British Competition Commission, an independent public agency, said Tuesday that “the merger will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in the market for live-music ticket retailing or in any other market.”

Together, Ticketmaster and Live Nation would have estimated annual revenue of about $6 billion. Ticketmaster distributes tickets online and through retail outlets all over the world. Live Nation, the world’s largest concert producer, says it sells 45 million tickets a year.

The deal, which was announced in February, is still being reviewed in the United States and in Canada.

Madoff moved to prison hospital

Bernard Madoff, the con man who operated the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, has been moved to the Federal Medical Center at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, N.C., according to the Bureau of Prisons Web site.

Madoff, 71, has been serving his 150-year sentence at the Butner prison since July 14. Madoff, who was originally placed in the medium-security section of Butner and has been assigned prisoner number 61727-054, is projected to be released on Nov. 14, 2139, 20 years earlier than scheduled, according to the bureau’s Web site.

Traci Billingsley, a spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons in Washington, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. Ira Sorkin, Madoff’s lawyer, declined to comment.

Business, Pages 22 on 12/24/2009

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