ENERGY SECRETARY SEES HIGHER OIL PRICES Energy Secretary Donald Hodel said he expects oil prices to rise significantly by the year 2000, probably to around 33 dlrs a barrel in current dollars. "I do anticipate a significant increase (by 2000). Thirty-three dlrs a barrel is not unreasonable," Hodel told the Senate Energy Committee. Hodel said the loss of some domestic oil production through the shutdown of stripper (10 barrels a day or less) wells because of low prices was probably permanent. He said he was also concerned by the decline in domestic oil exploration. Hodel urged Congress to approve oil exploration in section 1002 of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. He said geologic condtions in the area were favorable for the discovery of oil fields equal to those in nearby Prudhoe Bay. "The area could contain potentially recoverable oil resources of more than 9.2 billion barrels, an amount nearly equal to the Prudhoe Bay oil field, which currently provides almost one-fifth of U.S. domestic production," Hodel said. He said production from the new section could begin about the time Prudhoe Bay production begins to decline in 2000 without endangering caribou or other wildlife in the area.