Files open in gas price-fixing case

By Frank Cho
Advertiser Staff Writer

State and oil industry attorneys unsealed hundreds of documents yesterday related to the state's four-year legal battle with the industry over charges of price fixing.

The documents show the state's efforts to prove that oil companies in Hawai'i colluded to keep wholesale and retail gasoline prices artificially high, and show that for the oil industry, Hawai'i was among the most profitable markets during the 1990s, where drivers paid 30 percent or more on average for a gallon of gas than did Mainland drivers.

The decision to open the case files, which have been largely kept from public view, comes as the state and the oil industry finalize the settlement announced earlier this year of the state's $2 billion antitrust lawsuit.

Details of the state's settlement with the oil companies are still being worked out and will not be released until they are approved by the court, said Clyde Matsui, the mediator brought in to help settle the dispute.

The state filed the price-fixing suit against divisions of Chevron, Shell, Texaco, Unocal and Tosco Corp. in October 1998.

It accused the companies — which include the state's two refinery owners and all its major gasoline wholesalers — of fixing gas prices and allocating market share among themselves, in violation of antitrust laws, from 1991 to 1998.

The oil companies have consistently denied any wrongdoing. BHP and Tesoro also were named in the original suit, but dismissed from the case as part of a $15 million settlement.

"I think it's safe to say that these cases are typically very circumstantial and difficult to prove," said Deborah Emerson, the head of the state Attorney General's Commerce and Economic Development Division, which oversees antitrust litigation.

Reach Frank Cho at 525-8088, or at fcho@honoluluadvertiser.com.