Gasoline Price Changes - Federal Trade Commission

THE DYNAMIC OF SUPPLY, DEMAND, AND COMPETITION
34. Id. at 183 n.16 (citing engineering studies relied upon by BUREAU OF ECON. & COMPETITION, supra note 30).
35. Id. at 183 n.17 (citing NAT’L PETROLEUM COUNCIL, U.S. PETROLEUM REFINING: ASSURING THE ADEQUACY
AND AFFORDABILITY OF CLEANER FUELS 28-29 fig.I-5 (2000)).
36. See Murphy, 8/2 at 108; Verleger 8/2 at 109 (“[N]obody builds a refinery today around the world of less than
150,000 to 200,000 barrels a day because of the economies of scale.”).
37. Exxon’s Baytown, Texas refinery is currently the largest U.S. refinery. PETROLEUM MERGER REPORT, supra
note 28, at 179.
38. Id. at 183.
39. Id. at 184.
40. Id.
41. Rothschild 8/2 at 121.
42. EIA, DOE/EIA-0545(99), PETROLEUM: AN ENERGY PROFILE 1999, at 29 (1999) (stating that new technology
that increased refiners’ flexibility “reduced dependence on the more expensive high gravity, low-sulfur oils imported
from the Middle East.”), at http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/FTPROOT/petroleum/054599.pdf.
43. EIA, Table 4. U.S. Refineries and Refining Capacities, 1987-2004, at http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/finance/
usi&to/downstream/update/table4.html (last modified Feb. 24, 2005). Total downstream charge capacity includes
capacities for vacuum distillation, thermal cracking, catalytic cracking, catalytic reforming, catalytic hydrocracking,
and catalytic hydrotreating.
44. EIA, DOE/EIA-0340(03)/1, 1 PETROLEUM SUPPLY ANNUAL 2003, at 120 tbl.41 (2004), at
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/FTPROOT/petroleum/0340301.pdf
45. EIA, Refining, in OIL MARKET BASICS, at http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/analysis_publications/
oil_market_basics/default.htm (last visited June 28, 2005); see also National Petrochemical & Refiners Association
(NPRA), Comments on the Federal Trade Commission’s Second Public Conference on Refined Petroleum Products
8, 31 (Public Comment, Apr. 18, 2002), at http://www.ftc.gov/bc/gasconf/comments2/npra.pdf.
46. EIA, DOE/EIA-0384(2002), ANNUAL ENERGY REVIEW 2002, at 143 tbl.5.9 (2003), at http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/
FTPROOT/multifuel/038402.pdf.
47. D.J. PETERSON & SERGI MAHNOVSKI, NEW FORCES AT WORK IN REFINING 42 (Rand, Science and Technology
Doc. No. MR-1707-NETL, 2003).
48. Id. at 43.
49. EIA, supra note 46, at 143 tbl.5.9. According to these data, a preliminary estimate put refinery capacity
utilization for 2002 at 90.3 percent; utilization rates for 1997 and 1998 were 95.2 and 95.6 percent, respectively.
50. The mobile source sector, i.e., transportation, is a significant contributor to air pollution, accounting for over 50
percent of the oxides of nitrogen (NOx) inventory, 42 percent of the volatile organic carbon inventory, and 80
percent of carbon monoxide. Gasoline and diesel are the primary fuel sources for this sector. Larson 5/8 at 72-73.
CHAPTER 3: THE NATIONAL LEVEL 65