Pennzoil Co

Texaco's $3-billion agreement to settle its dispute with Pennzoil Co. and emerge from bankruptcy may have to be renegotiated to overcome opposition by Texaco's major stockholder Carl C. Icahn, lawyers in the case said Monday. The strength of the accord, which is contained in Texaco's bankruptcy reorganization plan, was questioned when Icahn said last week that he would oppose it with his 12.3% Texaco stake.

A federal judge on Thursday granted Chevron Corp.'s request for broader access to Pennzoil Co. internal documents to bolster Chevron's lawsuit charging that Pennzoil lied about its intentions when it bought an 8.8% stake in Chevron last December. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson will allow Chevron access to Pennzoil documents detailing the Houston-based company's deliberations about whether to invest in 30 or 40 other oil companies with $2.

A federal judge Wednesday dismissed Chevron Corp.'s lawsuit charging that Pennzoil Co. illegally purchased nearly 9% of Chevron's stock, a Pennzoil lawyer said Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti ruled that the suit was without merit after most of the charges had already been dismissed, Pennzoil attorney Stephen Bomse said. Conti cited sworn declarations by Pennzoil Chairman J.

Pennzoil Co., which already owns 8.8% of Chevron Corp., said Monday that it intends to boost its stake to just under 10%, the level at which Chevron's new "poison pill" takeover defense would be triggered. But Houston-based Pennzoil reiterated that its interest in Chevron is as a passive investment intended to defer taxes on the $2.6-billion net proceeds that it received from Texaco Inc. in 1988 to settle the fight for Getty Oil Co.

Kenneth T. Derr, chairman and chief executive of Chevron Corp., broke his silence Friday amid persistent rumors that the company might be a takeover or restructuring target and blasted news reports that management had done too little to protect shareholder interests. "I do not intend to change our policy of not commenting about speculation or recent stock market activity," Derr said in a lengthy statement.

Franklin Mutual Advisors Inc., the mutual fund run by activist investor Michael Price, said Monday that it has taken a 5.6% stake in Pennzoil Co. and blasted the oil producer for opposing Union Pacific Resources Group Inc.'s hostile bid of $84 a share. Houston-based Pennzoil has fought UPR's $6.4-billion tender offer--announced in June and extended until Oct. 29--on the grounds that it fails to fully value the maker of motor oil and the owner of Jiffy Lube auto service shops.

Atlantic Richfield Co., a Los Angeles-based energy concern, on Monday reported record profit for 1990, in part because of sharply higher earnings late in the year as Iraq's invasion of Kuwait drove up the price of oil. Unocal Corp., also based in Los Angeles, reported earnings that were substantially up in the fourth quarter of 1990, mostly because of the Persian Gulf crisis, which pumped oil prices as high as $41 a barrel. So did Phillips Petroleum Co., Pennzoil Co. and Amerada Hess Corp.

Texaco Inc.'s long night under bankruptcy court protection drew nearer a close as the last shareholder votes on a proposed financial reorganization plan were counted Monday. At a hearing beginning today in White Plains, N.Y., U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Howard Schwartzberg is expected to announce the result of that balloting and listen to final comments by parties to the case.

After testimony that progress has been made in settling the $10.3-billion dispute between Texaco Inc. and Pennzoil Co., a federal bankruptcy judge on Wednesday gave Texaco 40 more days to offer its own plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Howard Schwartzberg gave the go-ahead for a creditors committee to continue to float a plan offering a base and a cap for a possible settlement.

Financier Carl C. Icahn has threatened to disrupt Texaco Inc.'s settlement of its multibillion-dollar feud with Pennzoil Co. by suggesting that he may propose his own bankruptcy reorganization for the nation's third-largest oil company. Icahn, Texaco's largest shareholder, disclosed the suggestion in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday and said unidentified parties had approached him to express interest in buying part or all of Texaco.