FTC Says Refiners Did Not Manipulate Fuel Prices

he U.S. Federal Trade Commission said a nine-month probe of the oil industry after last year's Hurricanes Katrina and Rita showed fuel providers didn't manipulate the market.

Gasoline soared above $3 a gallon last summer as the hurricanes shut down U.S. Gulf Coast production and refineries, reported Bloomberg News. Prices would have gone higher if companies had failed to raise imports or increase output at unaffected refineries, said Louis Silvia, assistant director in the commission's bureau of economics.

The report found that 15 companies, including seven refiners, two wholesalers and six independent retailers, charged prices that exceeded limits set by Congress. Further investigation determined that prices charged by all but one of the companies, a retailer, were similar to prices charged by regional competitors, Bloomberg said.

TC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras is scheduled to appear Tuesday at a hearing on gasoline price gouging called by the Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Alaska Republican Ted Stevens, Bloomberg said. She is likely to face criticism from Democrats.

The report also found that federal price gouging legislation, such as a bill approved in the U.S. House on May 3, may not lower prices. Because price gouging is difficult to define, a federal law could confuse industry and "run counter to consumers' best interest," the report said.

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