据今日油价8月31日报道，美国联邦贸易委员会正在调查如何削减石油和天然气公司的合并，以及加油站特许经营是否人为地推高了汽油零售价。
在此次调查之前，美国政府曾请求欧佩克在许多美国人面临微妙经济形势之际，打开石油供应，努力摆脱高油价的影响。
联邦贸易委员会主席Lina Khan已指示工作人员提出新的法律理论，使联邦贸易委员会有理由针对其认为不利的加油站交易，甚至调查专门针对收购家族企业的全国连锁加油站之间价格串通的案例。
Khan表示，“在过去几十年里，零售加油站一再提出非合规合并，这表明该机构的做法并没有从一开始就阻止公司提出反竞争交易”。
调查将试图确定大型加油站是否强迫其特许经销商以过高的价格出售汽油。要知道，特许经营商对加油站的价格大多没有控制权。
此举背后的原因很清楚，即油价高企，这对任何新上任的政府都来说都是不利的。近年来，该行业的一系列整合也促使人们寻求收紧对合并的要求。
汽油价格一直在飙升。从那时起，汽油零售价格上涨了近50%。确定串通抬高汽油价格的情况机制之一，将是审查原油价格和汽油零售价格之间的差异。
王佳晶 摘译自 今日油价
原文如下：
Oil And Gas align="justify"> The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating how it can crack down align="justify"> The investigation follows the U.S. Administration’s plea to OPEC to turn align="justify"> The FTC Chair Lina Khan has directed staff to come up with new legal theories that would give the FTC cause to target gas station deals that it feels are disadvantageous and even to investigate instances of price collusion among gas station chains—specifically targeting national chains that buy up family-owned businesses.
“Over the last few decades, retail fuel station chains have repeatedly proposed illegal mergers, suggesting that the agency’s approach has not deterred firms from proposing anticompetitive transactions in the first place,” Khan said in the letter.
The investigation in part will attempt to determine if major gas station chains force their franchisees to sell gas at inflated prices. Franchisees mostly have no control over prices at the pump.
The reason behind the push is clear: high prices at the pump, which is an unfavorable situation for any new administration. But a series of consolidations in the industry in recent years has also led to a quest to tighten up requirements for mergers.
Gasoline prices have soared since the start of the year and the start of term in office. Since then, retail gasoline prices have risen nearly 50 percent.
One of the mechanisms for determining instances of collusion in setting higher gas prices will be to review the divergence between crude oil prices and retail gasoline prices.
