VOLUNTARY JOINT EFFORTS TO SOLVE ENERGY PROBLEMS

At the FEA we have two primary responsibilities that involve antitrust dimensions. First, the agency is charged by law with regulation of the petroleum industry from the standpoint of both price control and allocation of crude oil and petroleum products. I sometimes feel a strong identification with the antitrust people because our principal statute, the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act, was really the result of strenuous efforts by independent refiners and marketers of petroleum whose problem, as presented to Congress, was that their competitive position was endangered and they were in danger of being put out of business by the leverage of the major oil companies in the fuel shortage. When Congress passed the Allocation Act, it built in many provisions which sound like antitrust provisions. These provisions are designed to engender in our regulations commercial protection for smaller and less economically viable entities in the industry.