Oil Company Mergers Reviewed Currently pending are antitrust reviews of the announced mergers of CHEVRON-TEXACO and VALERO-ULTRAMAR DIAMOND SHAMROCK

In the case of MOBIL-EXXON, the Office of the Attorney General obtained special California concessions as a condition of global merger in November 1999. Exxon agreed to relinquish its Benicia refinery and hand over its network of nearly 370 gasoline stations to a new owner reviewed and approved by the Attorney General and Federal Trade Commission. The divestiture allowed a new entrant, Valero, into the California refinery and retail market to foster competition for consumer business. California was the only state to secure divestment of a refinery in the $81 billion Exxon-Mobil global merger, which had been under review since early this year by the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission.

In the case of ARCO-BP, the oil companies were required as a condition of merger that they sell all of ARCO in Alaska. The divestiture agreement was designed to neutralize the impact of the merger where BP and ARCO interests would overlap for Alaska North Slope crude oil exploration, development, production and sales. This divestment plan was another effort by the Attorney General to restore competition to the California gasoline market in the short-term and future. Without the divestment, BP-ARCO would have controlled nearly 75 percent of the crude oil produced on the Alaskan North Slope. The divestment plan allowed Phillips to newly enter crude oil production on the Alaska North Slope.

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