Big Oil blames Iraq, Venezuela

www.tcpalm.com By David Royse The Associated Press February 26, 2003

A colder than usual winter was also why gasoline prices have risen, Attorney General Charlie Crist was told.

TALLAHASSEE — The threat of war with Iraq, a two-month strike in Venezuela and a cold winter are driving up world gas prices up, representatives of the nation's largest oil companies told Attorney General Charlie Crist on Tuesday.

Crist questioned officials from six companies, asking for an explanation of how pricing works in the petroleum industry as part of a general, but so far informal, inquiry into why gas prices in Florida have risen to their highest February level ever.

Crist said his office has gotten 176 complaints from Florida residents in the past week about the rising cost of gas at the pumps.

"We felt an obligation to try to find out why that was happening," said Crist after finishing meetings with officials from ExxonMobil, BP, ConocoPhillips, Amerada Hess, Marathon Ashland Petroleum, and Chevron Texaco Corp.

He said the oil companies cited international pressures on the price of crude oil that are beyond their control.

None of the oil company officials would comment for the public before the meetings, and left without talking to reporters. Nor would any of the companies involved in the talks say earlier in the week what they would say in the meetings, citing the proprietary nature of their pricing.

Crist said he wasn't suggesting government interfere with the setting of prices on the gasoline market, and only wanted to know whether there were any violations of antitrust laws.

"We understand that business wants to make profit, we don't have any problem with that," he said. "But we want it to be reasonable."

Crist said he still has questions about whether oil companies are manipulating the supply coming to market, "holding back" oil from the market, he termed it.

"We're not making any allegations today, I want to be clear on that," Crist said. "We're just asking questions."

Crist also was on a conference call Tuesday with 10 other attorneys general from around the country and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Timothy Muris, discussing the rising cost of gasoline.

Crist has asked the FTC to look into whether Florida gas stations are artificially increasing prices to take advantage of possible war with Iraq.

According to the American Automobile Association, Florida's average cost per gallon for regular gasoline on Monday was $1.69, up 19 cents from a month earlier and 56 cents higher than the same time last year.