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首页> 美国政府科技报告 >Energy Markets: Analysis of More Past Mergers Could Enhance Federal Trade Commission's Efforts to Maintain Competition in the Petroleum Industry
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Energy Markets: Analysis of More Past Mergers Could Enhance Federal Trade Commission's Efforts to Maintain Competition in the Petroleum Industry

机译：能源市场：过去更多合并的分析可能会加强联邦贸易委员会维持石油行业竞争的努力

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During the late 1990s, many petroleum companies merged to stay profitable while crude oil prices were low, and in recent years mergers have continued. Congress and others have concerns about the impact mergers might be having on competition in U.S. petroleum markets. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has the authority to maintain competition in the petroleum industry and reviews proposed mergers to determine whether they are likely to diminish competition or increase prices, among other things. GAO was asked to examine (1) mergers in the U.S. petroleum industry and changes in market concentration since 2000 and (2) the steps FTC uses to maintain competition in the U.S. petroleum industry, and the roles other federal and state agencies play in monitoring petroleum industry markets. In conducting this study, GAO worked with petroleum industry experts to delineate regional markets and to develop estimates of refinery gasoline production capacity in order to calculate market concentration. GAO used public and private data as well as interviews for its analyses. More than 1,000 U.S. mergers occurred in the petroleum industry between 2000 and 2007, mostly between firms involved in crude oil exploration and production. According to experts and industry officials, mergers in this segment were generally driven by the challenges associated with producing oil in extreme physical environments, such as deepwater, as well as increasing concerns about competition with national oil companies and access to oil reserves in regions of relative political instability. Industry officials from the segments of the petroleum industry that transport, refine, and sell petroleum products reported that mergers were generally driven by the desire for greater efficiency and cost savings. Despite these gains, mergers have the potential to enhance a firm's ability to exercise 'market power,' which potentially allows it to raise prices without being undercut by other firms. GAO measured market concentration with an index that FTC uses, where market regions with few, large firms are considered to be highly concentrated and have a greater potential for market power. Conversely, market regions with many smaller firms are considered to have low or moderate concentration and generally have less potential for firms to exercise market power.

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