Amoco and BP both operate terminals that supply each of these nine metropolitan areas with gasoline and other light petroleum products. The complaint charges that the terminaling of gasoline and other light petroleum products in each of these nine metropolitan areas is either moderately concentrated or highly concentrated, and would become significantly more concentrated as a result of the merger. As a result of the merger, concentration would increase in each terminal market by more than 100 points to levels ranging from more than 1,500 to more than 3,600. According to the draft complaint, entry into the terminaling of gasoline and other light petroleum products in each of these nine metropolitan areas is difficult and would not be timely, likely, or sufficient to prevent anticompetitive effects that may result from the merger. The draft complaint alleges that a second line of commerce in which to analyze the competitive effects of the merger is the wholesale sale of gasoline.
Gasoline is a motor fuel used in automobiles and other vehicles.
It is manufactured from crude oil at refineries in the United States and throughout the world. There are no substitutes for gasoline as a fuel for automobiles and other vehicles that use gasoline. The wholesale sale of gasoline, as alleged in the complaint, is the business of selling branded gasoline to retail dealers. Both BP and Amoco sell branded gasoline at wholesale in the markets alleged in the complaint. In the gasoline markets alleged in the complaint, the wholesale sale of gasoline would become significantly more concentrated as a result of the merger, and the relatively small number of remaining wholesalers could tacitly or expressly coordinate price increases.