FTC says future mergers may be more difficult.(Federal Trade Commission)(Brief Article)

Fuel Oil News, January, 2000

The chairman of the Federal Trade Commission said that federal approval of big oil mergers might become more difficult in light of the Exxon-Mobil deal and other recent consolidations in the industry. Although he wouldn't discuss specifics, Robert Pitofsky told the press that in general the trend toward consolidations would require that the FTC give any future merger a much closer look.

"We would take into account the level of concentration produced by the past merger," he said. "We're beginning to get to the levels of concentration that certainly would lead us to give very close scrutiny to the next several mergers that come along." He acknowledged that the proposed BP Amoco merger with Atlantic Richfield, which is currently pending before the agency,...

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