Isle Texaco dealers want
state oil decree modified

Associated Press

Owners of several Oahu Texaco gasoline stations have asked lawmakers to urge the attorney general's office to drop its opposition to the proposed joint venture between Texaco and Shell.

A consent decree agreed to earlier this month by the two oil companies and the state requires the companies to sell either all the Texaco stations on Oahu or all the Shell stations in order to win approval for their proposed $17 billion worldwide joint venture. The companies chose to shut down the 15 Texaco stations, leaving station owners unsure of their futures.

A resolution before the House Energy Committee calls on the Legislature to ask the attorney general to modify the consent decree and eliminate the provision calling for the Oahu divesture.

But Deputy Attorney General Ted Clause opposed the resolution. "The rescission of the Shell-Texaco consent decree would not be in the best interests of Hawaii's consumers," he said yesterday.

An attorney representing some Texaco station owners said the attorney general's office is wrong to think that competition will increase -- and thereby lead to lower pump prices -- if Texaco is forced to sell its Oahu stations.

Attorney Robert Miller also complained that the decree does not provide safeguards for station owners in the event no new buyer makes an offer before the stations are set to be closed in September.

"What they're doing here is wiping out 15 dealers for an assumption that you would need to believe in the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy to make it come true," Miller said.

Also yesterday, the House Energy Committee was told that the Attorney General's office would need $2.1 million to conduct a five-year study of whether oil companies are colluding to set gasoline prices in Hawaii.

Clause told the House Energy Committee he needs $415,000 a year to research the issue. The committee is considering a resolution requiring such a study.