Gasoline Price Changes - Federal Trade Commission

GASOLINE PRICE CHANGES:
51. Pub. L. No. 91-604, 84 Stat. 1698.
52. Pub. L. No. 101-549, 104 Stat. 2468.
53. Pub. L. No. 102-486, 106 Stat. 2776.
54. See discussion infra Chapter 4(II).
55. Larson 5/8 at 79-80. See also id. at 73 (“The emissions impact of RFG . . . is estimated to be equivalent to
removing about 16 million passenger vehicles from our roads.”).
56. Larson 5/8 at 74.
57. See EIA, 1995 Reformulated Gasoline Market Affected Refiners Differently, in DOE/EIA-0380(1996/01),
PETROLEUM MARKETING MONTHLY (1996), and studies cited therein.
58. Gasoline blendstocks (such as alkylates, reformate, or RBOB) are unfinished gasoline components that will be
blended with other components to produce finished gasoline that can be used by consumers.
59. PETROLEUM MERGER REPORT, supra note 28, at 61.
60. Data are from EIA, Complete History XLS, in THIS WEEK IN PETROLEUM: CRUDE OIL, at
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/twip/twip_crude.html (last modified June 8, 2005).
61. Data are from Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Survey, at http://www.bls.gov/data/home.htm
(last visited June 12, 2005).
62. EIA, DOE/EIA-0206(03), PERFORMANCE PROFILES OF MAJOR ENERGY PRODUCERS 2003, at 68-69 (2005), at
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/perfpro/perfpro2003.pdf. Capital employed is total assets minus current liabilities,
while return on capital employed is operating income divided by capital employed.
63. Id.
64. The six firms are Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Sunoco, Tesoro, and Valero.
65. As noted in Chapter 2(III), supra, private oil companies have relatively small shares of world crude oil
production, which limits their individual influence on crude oil prices.
66. Some of the increase in net income for refining and marketing is due to stronger demand. Nonetheless, other
factors may also be important. For example, some of the increase in refining and marketing net income is due to
investments to increase the ability to process lower-quality crude oil. The price difference between sweet and sour,
as well as between light and heavy, crude oil widened in 2004. For example, according to Valero’s 2004 10-K
filing:
66
Since approximately 50% of Valero’s total throughput represents sour crude oil feedstocks,
Valero’s profitability is also significantly affected by the spread between sweet crude oil and sour
crude oil prices, referred to as the “sour crude oil discount.” For the year 2004, both refined
product margins and sour crude oil discounts were the best ever experienced by Valero. The
strength of those positive industry fundamentals significantly enhanced Valero’s results of
operations for the year ended December 31, 2004 . . . . Valero’s operating results during 2004
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, JUNE 2005