The Petroleum Industry: Mergers, Structural Change, and Antitrust
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Federal Trade Commission TIMOTHY J. MURIS Chairman MOZELLE W. THOMPSON Commissioner ORSON SWINDLE Commissioner THOMAS B. LEARY Commissioner PAMELA JONES HARBOUR Commissioner Bureau of Economics Luke M. Froeb Director Mark W. Frankena Deputy Director for Antitrust Paul A. Pautler Deputy Director for Consumer Protection Timothy A. Deyak Associate Director for Competition Analysis Pauline M. Ippolito Associate Director for Special Projects Robert D. Brogan Assistant Director for Antitrust Louis Silvia Assistant Director for Antitrust Michael G. Vita Assistant Director for Antitrust Denis A. Breen Assistant Director for Economic Policy Analysis Gerard R. Butters Assistant Director for Consumer Protection This is a report of the Bureau of Economics of the Federal Trade Commission. The views expressed in this report are those of the staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the Federal Trade Commission or any individual Commissioner. The Commission has voted to authorize staff to publish this report. Acknowledgments This report was prepared by the Bureau of Economics under the supervision of David T. Scheffman, former Director; Mary T. Coleman, former Deputy Director and Mark Frankena, Deputy Director; and Louis Silvia, Assistant Director. Bureau economists who researched and drafted this report were Jay Creswell, Jeffrey Fischer, Daniel Gaynor, Geary Gessler, Christopher Taylor, and Charlotte Wojcik. Bureau Research Analysts who worked on this project were Madeleine McChesney, Joseph Remy, Michael Madigan, Paul Golaszewski, Matthew Tschetter, Ryan Toone, Karl Kindler, Steve Touhy, and Louise Sayers. Bureau of Economics staff also acknowledge the review of drafts and many helpful comments and suggestions from members of the staff of the Bureau of Competition, in particular Phillip L. Broyles, Dennis F. Johnson, Arthur J. Nolan, and Peter A. Richman. BE staff are also grateful for review and suggestions from members of the General Counsel’s Office, including William E. Kovacic, Marianne Watts, Marc L. Winerman, and Michael S. Wroblewski. Paralegals who worked on this project were Nikki Ellington, Carmen Rottenberg, and Mizuki Tanabe. We also thank George Schink of LECG, consultant to staff on this project, who provided valuable guidance, especially on a number of data and regulatory issues. Joseph Remy (cover designer) and Madeleine McChesney were responsible for the report layout. The authors of the report, of course, remain responsible for any errors or omissions. Finally, clip art on the cover were obtained under license from Microsoft Design Gallery and www.lifestockphoto.com. List of Frequently Used Abbreviations and Acronyms ANS Alaska North Slope Crude Oil AOP Association of Oil Pipelines API American Petroleum Institute BBL Barrel CAFE Corporate Average Fuel Economy CARB California Air Resources Board CR Concentration Ratio DOJ U.S. Department of Justice DTW Dealer Tank Wagon Price EIA U.S. Energy Information Administration EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency FBO Fixed Base Operator FCC Fluid Catalytic Cracking FERC U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission FRS Financial Reporting System of the Department of Energy FTC, Commission U.S. Federal Trade Commission GAO General Accounting Office/Government Accountability Office HHI Herfindahl-Hirschman Index HSR Hart-Scott-Rodino Act LPP Light Petroleum Product MBD Thousand Barrels per Day Merger Guidelines DOJ and FTC Horizontal Merger Guidelines MES Minimum Efficient Scale MMBD Million Barrels per Day MTBE Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether NGL Natural Gas Liquids NYMEX New York Mercentile Exchange OCS Outer Continental Shelf OPEC Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries OPIS Oil Price Information Service PADD Petroleum Administration for Defense District PPM Parts per Million RFG Reformulated Gasoline ROE Return on Equity ROI Return on Investment RVP Reid Vapor Pressure SPR Strategic Petroleum Reserve SSNIP Small but Significant and Non-transitory Increase in Price TAPS Trans-Alaska Pipeline System ULSD Ultra-low Sulfur Diesel Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................1 I. THE GOALS AND MAJOR THEMES OF THE REPORT............................................2 II. ORGANIZATION OF THE REPORT AND THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............3 III. OVERVIEW OF PETROLEUM INDUSTRY...................................................................4 A. CRUDE OIL EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION............................................4 B. BULK TRANSPORT OF CRUDE OIL ..................................................................6 C. REFINING...............................................................................................................7 D. BULK TRANSPORT OF REFINED PETROLEUM PRODUCTS ........................8 E. PRODUCT TERMINALS AND GASOLINE MARKETING ................................9 F. TRENDS IN FLOWS OF CRUDE OIL AND REFINED PRODUCTS ...............10 G. VERTICAL INTEGRATION IN THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY ....................11 H. COMPETITIVE CONSEQUENCES OF GOVERNMENT REGULATION .......12 IV. FTC LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES IN THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY....13 A. MERGER ENFORCEMENT.................................................................................13 B. NON-MERGER ENFORCEMENT.......................................................................16 1. Unocal Litigation .................................................................................17 2. Gasoline Price Monitoring...................................................................17 3. Western States Gasoline Pricing Investigation ....................................18 4. Midwest Gasoline Price Investigation..................................................18 CHAPTER 2 – FEDERAL ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT: MERGERS IN PETROLEUM-RELATED MARKETS.............................................19 I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ......................................................................19 II. MERGER ENFORCEMENT............................................................................................21 A. OVERVIEW OF MERGER ANALYSIS ..............................................................21 B. RELEVANT MARKETS.......................................................................................21 1. “Hypothetical Monopolist” Test ..........................................................22 2. Product Market Definition ...................................................................22 3. Geographic Market Definition .............................................................23 4. Price Discrimination Markets..............................................................24 C. MARKET SHARES AND CONCENTRATION ..................................................24 1. The Competitive Significance of Market Shares and Market Concentration ...................................................................25 2. Measures of Market Share and Concentration.....................................25 a. Market Shares.......................................................................25 b. Market Concentration...........................................................26 3. HHIs in Petroleum Mergers the FTC Has Challenged ........................27 D. COMPETITIVE EFFECTS....................................................................................29 1. Single-Firm Conduct: Theories of Unilateral Anticompetitive Effects.30 2. Coordinated Interaction Theories ........................................................31 3. Other Competitive Effects Alleged by the FTC ....................................32 a. Monopsony ...........................................................................32 b. Potential Competition...........................................................32 c. Raising Rivals’ Costs............................................................32 E. ENTRY ..................................................................................................................33 F. EFFICIENCIES .....................................................................................................34 III. REMEDIES IN PETROLEUM MERGER ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS ..................35 A. CRUDE OIL EXPLORATION, PRODUCTION, AND TRANSPORTATION ...36 B. BULK SUPPLY OF REFINED PRODUCTS .......................................................37 C. TERMINALING....................................................................................................38 D. MARKETING........................................................................................................38 1. Gasoline Distribution Channels...........................................................39 a. Brand deliveries to a brand owner’s retail outlets ...............39 b. Brand deliveries to lessee dealers ........................................39 c. Brand sales to jobbers at the terminal rack..........................39 2. Competitive Effects of Concern and Recent Trends .............................39 E. LUBRICATING OILS...........................................................................................43 TABLES TO CHAPTER 2...........................................................................................................45 CHAPTER 3 – INDUSTRY OVERVIEW..............................................................................................61 I. PRICE AND OUTPUT TRENDS .....................................................................................62 A. CRUDE OIL ..........................................................................................................62