Ankf00
05-22-06, 03:23 PM
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3879678.html
But the Federal Trade Commission found no evidence oil companies tried to manipulate the markets in response to the crisis.
"Evidence gathered during our investigation indicated that the conduct of firms in response to the supply shocks caused by the hurricanes was consistent with competition," the FTC in a report released today.
Refiners whose facilities weren't damaged by the storms or left in the dark by power outages cranked up production and diverted supplies to high-priced areas.
"This is what we would expect in competitive markets," the report said.
The report examined financial data from 30 refiners, 23 wholesalers and 24 single-location retailers.
FTC staffers found that 15 of these companies were selling gasoline at higher prices in September than they had in August at levels that could not be justified by their costs, national or international market trends — the definition regulators were ordered to use for price gouging.
"Local or regional market trends , however, seemed to explain the price increases in all but one case," the report said.
FTC officials examined data for 24 individual gasoline retailers that had been targeted by state regulators for possible price gouging.
"Although one might have expected these retailers generally to satisfy the criteria for price gouging ... this proved not to be the case," the FTC report said. "As a group, these retailers did not have significantly increased operating margins in September 2005, nor were there average price increases much different from the change in the national average retail price from August to September 2005."
But the Federal Trade Commission found no evidence oil companies tried to manipulate the markets in response to the crisis.
"Evidence gathered during our investigation indicated that the conduct of firms in response to the supply shocks caused by the hurricanes was consistent with competition," the FTC in a report released today.
Refiners whose facilities weren't damaged by the storms or left in the dark by power outages cranked up production and diverted supplies to high-priced areas.
"This is what we would expect in competitive markets," the report said.
The report examined financial data from 30 refiners, 23 wholesalers and 24 single-location retailers.
FTC staffers found that 15 of these companies were selling gasoline at higher prices in September than they had in August at levels that could not be justified by their costs, national or international market trends — the definition regulators were ordered to use for price gouging.
"Local or regional market trends , however, seemed to explain the price increases in all but one case," the report said.
FTC officials examined data for 24 individual gasoline retailers that had been targeted by state regulators for possible price gouging.
"Although one might have expected these retailers generally to satisfy the criteria for price gouging ... this proved not to be the case," the FTC report said. "As a group, these retailers did not have significantly increased operating margins in September 2005, nor were there average price increases much different from the change in the national average retail price from August to September 2005."