Aanalysis of the Proposed Consent Order and Draft Complaint to Aid Public Comment I. Introduction The Federal Trade Commission ("Commission") has accepted for public comment from BP Amoco p.l.c. ("BP Amoco") and Atlantic Richfield Company ("ARCO") (collectively, "Proposed Respondents") an Agreement Containing Consent Orders ("Proposed Consent Order"). The Proposed Respondents have also reviewed a draft complaint that the Commission contemplates issuing. The Commission and BP Amoco and ARCO have also agreed to an Order to Hold Separate and Maintain Assets ("Hold Separate Order") that requires the Proposed Respondents to hold separate and maintain certain divested assets. The Proposed Consent Order is designed to remedy the likely anticompetitive effects arising from BP Amoco's proposed acquisition of ARCO. II. The Parties and the Transaction BP Amoco is a United Kingdom corporation with headquarters in London, England. It is the world's third largest oil company, with total worldwide revenues of more than $91 billion in 1999. BP Amoco is engaged in exploration, development, and production of crude oil on the Alaskan North Slope ("ANS crude oil"), which it sells to refineries on the West Coast of the United States, Hawaii, and Alaska, and in markets abroad. It also owns capacity on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System ("TAPS") and leasehold interests in Jones Act tankers. These specialized tankers are used by BP Amoco to transport ANS crude oil from the North Slope production fields to its refinery customers. ARCO is a Delaware corporation with headquarters in Los Angeles, California. In 1999, ARCO had total revenues of more than $12 billion. ARCO is also engaged in the exploration, development, and production of ANS crude. ARCO also owns capacity on TAPS, and it owns its own Jones Act tankers, which it uses to transport ANS crude oil to the West Coast. ARCO also owns and operates two refineries on the West Coast that refine ANS crude oil. BP Amoco and ARCO were the pioneers in developing the Alaska North Slope, and today are the two most important oil companies doing business there. They account for more than half of all ANS crude oil discovered over the last decade, and currently produce about 74% of all ANS crude oil. BP Amoco and ARCO are the only two operators of ANS crude oil fields, they each own more proven ANS crude oil reserves than any other oil company, they have the largest leaseholds of exploration and production acres, and they have drilled the largest number of exploration wells on the North Slope. Individually, each has won more exploration tracts than any other company in the last decade. The Alaska North Slope is a major oil-producing region of the United States. ANS crude oil is used to supply refineries in Alaska, Hawaii, the West Coast of the United States, and Asia. Approximately 90% of all ANS crude oil is refined on the United States West Coast, and approximately 45% of all crude oil refined on the United States West Coast is ANS crude oil. BP Amoco and ARCO entered into an agreement on March 31, 1999, to merge their companies. The size of the transaction, based upon the value of the deal when it was announced, was about $26 billion. III. The Proposed Complaint and Consent Order The proposed complaint alleges that merger of BP Amoco and ARCO would violate Section 7 of the Clayton Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. § 18, and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. § 45. The proposed complaint alleges that the merger will lessen competition in each of the following markets: (1) the production, sale, and delivery of ANS crude oil; (2) the production, sale, and delivery of crude oil used by targeted West Coast refiners; (3) the production, sale, and delivery of all crude oil used on the West Coast; (4) the purchase of exploration rights on the Alaskan North Slope; (5) the sale of crude oil transportation on TAPS; (6) the development for commercial sale of natural gas on the Alaskan North Slope; and (7) the supply of crude oil pipeline transportation to, and crude oil storage in, Cushing, Oklahoma. The competitive concerns underlying the allegations in the draft complaint are discussed in Part V of this analysis. IV. The Proposed Consent Order To remedy the alleged anticompetitive effects of the merger, the Proposed Consent Order requires Proposed Respondents to divest: (1) all of ARCO's assets and interests related to and primarily used with or in connection with ARCO's Alaska businesses; and (2) all of ARCO's assets related to its Cushing, Oklahoma crude oil business. Proposed Respondents will divest all of ARCO's Alaska assets to Phillips Petroleum Company ("Phillips"), an approved up-front buyer. The vast majority of these assets must be divested to Phillips within 30-days of the signing of the Proposed Consent Order. Some of the ARCO Alaska assets require third-party or governmental approvals and Proposed Respondents have up to six (6) months to divest those particular assets. Proposed Respondents will divest the Cushing assets to an acquirer or acquirers that receive the prior approval of the Commission and in a manner approved by the Commission. They must divest the Cushing assets within four (4) months of signing the Proposed Consent Order. For a period of ten (10) years from the date the Proposed Consent Order becomes final, the Proposed Consent Order prohibits the Proposed Respondents from acquiring, directly or indirectly, any ownership, leasehold or other interests in any of the assets they are required to divest without giving prior notice to the Commission. The Proposed Consent Order also requires the Proposed Respondents to provide the Commission with a report of compliance with the terms of the Proposed Consent Order within thirty (30) days after the Order becomes final, and every sixty (60) days thereafter, until the Proposed Respondents have fully complied with the divestiture requirements under the Proposed Consent Order. The Proposed Respondents must also file annual compliance reports detailing their compliance with the notice provisions under the Proposed Consent Order. Proposed Respondents have also agreed to a Hold Separate Order. The purpose of the Hold Separate Order is (a) to preserve the competitive viability of the assets required to be divested under the Proposed Consent Order, pending their actual divestiture, (b) to assure that no material confidential information is exchanged between BP Amoco and the held-separate businesses, and (c) to prevent interim harm to competition pending the divestitures. The Commission may immediately appoint an asset maintenance trustee to monitor both the ARCO Alaska businesses and the ARCO Cushing Assets which are to be divested, and, in the case of the Alaska assets, to monitor whether the necessary waivers and regulatory approvals are being expeditiously pursued. Under the terms of the Hold Separate Order, if the Proposed Respondents have not completed the divestiture of the ARCO Alaska assets that do not require third party or regulatory approvals within thirty (30) days of consummating the merger of BP Amoco and ARCO, they must maintain the relevant ARCO Alaska businesses as a separate, competitively viable businesses, and not combine them with BP Amoco's operations. A trustee may be appointed to oversee the held separate businesses. Under the terms of Hold Separate Order, until the divestiture of the ARCO Cushing Assets has been completed, Proposed Respondents must maintain the ARCO Pipeline Company as a separate, competitively viable business, and not combine it with BP Amoco's operations. The Proposed Consent Order also requires the Proposed Respondents to maintain the assets to be divested in a manner that will preserve their viability, competitiveness and marketability, to avoid causing their wasting or deterioration. Pending divestiture, Proposed Respondents are prohibited from selling, transferring, or otherwise impairing the marketability or viability of the assets to be divested. Under the terms of the Proposed Consent Order, in the event that BP Amoco and ARCO do not divest the assets required to be divested under the terms and time constraints of the Proposed Consent Order, the Commission may appoint a trustee to divest those assets, expeditiously, and at no minimum price. Also, in the event the assets requiring third-party or governmental regulatory approvals are not divested within the allowed time, a trustee may be appointed to oversee the divestiture of those assets to Phillips. V. The Competitive Concerns The merger of BP Amoco and ARCO gives rise to competitive concerns in seven relevant markets, each of which is discussed below.
BP Amoco currently has about a 44% share of all ANS crude oil production and ARCO has about 30% share. BP Amoco owns no refineries that it supplies with ANS crude oil. As a consequence, all of its ANS crude oil sales are to third party customers. ARCO, on the other hand, owns two refiners that use ANS crude oil. One is located in the Los Angeles area (at Carson) and the second is in the Seattle area (at Cherry Point). Because ARCO supplies its West Coast refineries with ANS crude oil, ARCO now sells only relatively small amount of ANS crude oil to third parties. According to the complaint the Commission intends to issue, BP Amoco already exercises market power in the sale of ANS crude oil to refineries on the West Coast. The evidence of this market power is the fact that BP Amoco engages in price discrimination on two fronts: First, BP Amoco sells ANS crude to West Coast refinery customers at different prices, net of transportation ("netbacks"). Second, BP sells ANS crude to the West Coast refineries at higher netbacks than to refineries in the Far East. The Commission's draft complaint alleges the existence of three relevant markets implicated by BP Amoco's ANS crude oil pricing: (1) the production, sale, and delivery of ANS crude oil; (2) the production, sale, and delivery of crude oil used by targeted West Coast refiners; and (3) the production, sale, and delivery of all crude oil used by refiners on the West Coast. According to the Commission's draft complaint, for several reasons, ARCO is the firm most likely to be able to constrain BP Amoco's future exercise of market power. First, with the opening of the Alpine oil field, ARCO has new production that is about to commence. Second, with a new and increased ability to substitute away from ANS crude oil to other types of crude oil at its Los Angeles refinery, ARCO will have incentives to substitute cheaper imports for ANS crude oil if the price of ANS crude oil becomes non-competitive. Third, ARCO is the firm best positioned and most likely to find new sources of ANS crude oil, and bring that oil to market. Entry into the crude oil markets implicated by this merger is unlikely to occur in a timely or sufficient manner to prevent the merger from reducing competition in the relevant markets. Entry has not constrained BP Amoco's exercise of market power to date. Nor is it likely that producers of other types of crude oils will supply West Coast refineries in a manner that would constrain BP Amoco's ability to exercise market power. The most compelling evidence is that they have not already done so, even as BP Amoco has been exercising market power directed at West Coast refineries for many years.
After the merger, no single firm, or combination of firms, will be both large enough and sufficiently well informed with respect to the value of individual tracts, to replace the loss of revenues to the State of Alaska and the Federal Government, from bidding revenues. Moreover, the reduced competition in the bidding for oil and gas leaseholds will eventually result in less exploration and development, and less production of ANS crude oil. New entry will not be timely, likely or sufficient to undermine the anticompetitive effects of the merger. Firms that lack the information, infrastructure, and interest in North Slope bidding will simply be unable to fill the void created by the loss of ARCO as an independent bidder for exploration and development acreage.
The owners of TAPS ere entitled to capacity on the pipeline in proportion to their ownership interests. Because not all oil producers have an interest in TAPS, or an interest in TAPS in proportion to their oil production, TAPS owners can and do discount their tariffs in an effort to attract additional shippers. According to the Commission's draft complaint, the increase in concentration in TAPS ownership may cause the TAPS tariffs to increase.
BP Amoco and ARCO are the two largest holders of natural gas reserves on the Alaska North Slope. ExxonMobil is the only other company that holds sufficiently large volumes of natural gas reserves to have the potential to develop those reserves for significant commercial use. The merger of BP Amoco and ARCO would reduce the potential for future competition in the sale of North Slope natural gas from three firms to two firms. Although it is unclear at this time when the North Slope gas fields will be commercialized, it is likely that this will eventually occur. To date, over $1 billion has been spent by various firms in an effort to commercialize the North Slope's natural gas reserves. When gas commercialization does become a reality, the benefit of three firms competing for this business, rather than a market characterized by a duopoly, will result in increased competition and lower prices.
Efficient functioning of the pipeline and oil storage facilities leading into, and in, Cushing, Oklahoma, is critical to the fluid operation of both the trading activities in Cushing and the trading of crude oil futures contracts on the NYMEX. The restriction of pipeline or storage capacity can affect the deliverable supply of crude oil in Cushing, and consequently affect both WTI crude oil cash prices and NYMEX futures prices. The proposed merger would concentrate control of over 43% of Cushing storage capacity, 49% of Cushing pipeline delivery capacity, and 95% of the trading services provided at Cushing. A firm that controls substantial crude oil storage capacity in Cushing, and crude oil pipeline capacity leading into Cushing, would be able to manipulate NYMEX futures trading markets. This threat of manipulation will cause prices to rise and, because WTI crude oil is a benchmark crude oil, have ripple effects throughout the oil industry. VI. Resolution of the Competitive Concerns The Proposed Consent Order alleviates the competitive concerns arising from the merger as discussed below.
The Proposed Consent Order, if finally issued by the Commission, would settle all of the charges alleged in the Commission's complaint. Under the terms of the Proposed Consent Order, BP Amoco has agreed to divest to Phillips all of the assets, properties, businesses, and goodwill, tangible and intangible, that as of March 15, 2000, were related to and primarily used with or in connection with ARCO's Alaska businesses. The ARCO assets and properties that BP Amoco and ARCO are required to divest to Phillips include the following: (a) ARCO Alaska, Inc,; (b) ARCO Transportation Alaska, Inc., (including any interest in Alyeska Pipeline Service Company and Prince William Sound Oil Spill Response Company; (c) ARCO Marine, Inc.; (d) ARCO Marine Spill Response Company; (e) Union Texas Alaska assets of Union Texas Petroleum Holdings, Inc.; (f) Union Texas Alaska, LLC; (g) Kuparuk Pipeline Company, (including any interests in Kuparuk Transportation Company and Kuparuk Transportation Capital Corporation); (h) Oliktok Pipeline Company; (i) Alpine Pipeline Company; (j) Cook Inlet Pipeline Company; (k) All Alaska oil and gas leases; (l) AMI Leasing Inc.; (m) ARCO Beluga, Inc. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of CH-Twenty, Inc.); (n) ARCO's office complex in Anchorage; (o) intellectual property; (p) Patents; (q) seismic data; (r) ship construction contracts; (s) customer and vendor lists; (t) ARCO records; and (u) long-term supply agreements entered between BP Amoco and several West Coast refiners. To ensure that key ARCO employees remain with the company, and become available to work for Phillips, the Proposed Consent order also provides that (a) BP Amoco not solicit for employment any ARCO employee unless that employee was terminated by Phillips; (b) vest all current and future pension benefits; and (c) pay a bonus of not less than 35% of the base salary for certain key ARCO employees. Phillips is headquartered in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and is the sixth largest United States oil company. In 1999 it had total revenues of about $14 billion. Phillips currently has about a one percent interest in ANS crude oil production and about a 1.4% interest in TAPS. Phillips also owns oil and gas leases in the National Petroleum Reserve area of the North Slope. The divestiture of ARCO's Alaska Businesses is intended to preserve the level of competition that existed before the merger in the production, sale and delivery of crude oil to the West Coast, bidding for exploration rights on the Alaskan North Slope, and in pipeline transportation services for ANS crude oil.
Except for those ARCO Alaska assets that require consents, waivers, or approvals by regulatory authorities or other third parties before they may be transferred to Phillips (e.g., pipelines, oil and gas leases, rights of way), the Proposed Respondents must complete the required divestitures of the Alaska assets within thirty (30) days of the acquisition. The Proposed Respondents must cooperate with Phillips and use reasonable best efforts to assist Phillips in securing the consent and waivers that may be required from private entities. The Proposed Respondents must complete all other divestitures within six (6) months of consummating their merger.
The Proposed Consent Order requires that the Proposed Respondents enter into a transition services agreement with Phillips. Under this agreement, the Proposed Respondents must provide Phillips with the transition services it may need in order to conduct the ARCO businesses as they are currently being conducted.
The Proposed Consent Order requires that the Proposed Respondents enter into various licensing agreements with Phillips for intellectual property necessary or related to the ARCO Alaska Assets. These agreements are in addition to the absolute transfer of other intellectual property.
to an Acquirer Approved by the Commission Under the terms of the Proposed Consent Order, BP Amoco agreed to divest ARCO's assets related to its Cushing, Oklahoma crude oil business to an acquirer to be approved by the Commission and in a manner approved by the Commission. Those assets include all of ARCO's assets, properties, businesses and goodwill, tangible and intangible, in the Seaway Crude Oil Pipeline and the Mid-Continent Crude Oil Logistics Services Businesses. The ARCO assets and properties that BP Amoco and ARCO are required to divest include the following: (a) ARCO's crude oil interest in Seaway Pipeline Company, a partnership with subsidiaries of Phillips; (b) ARCO's crude oil terminal facilities in Cushing, Oklahoma and Midland, Texas, including the line transfer and pumpover business at each location; (c) ARCO's undivided ownership interest in the Rancho Pipeline, a 400-mile, 24-inch diameter crude oil pipeline from West Texas to Houston; (d) ARCO's undivided ownership interest in the Basin Pipeline, a 416-mile crude oil pipeline running from Jal, N.M., to Wichita Falls, Texas and then on to Cushing, Oklahoma; and (e) the ARCO West Texas Trunk System of receipt and delivery pipelines, which is centered around Midland. BP Amoco and ARCO must complete the required divestitures of the Cushing assets, within 120 days of their signing the Proposed Consent Order, to an acquirer or acquirers that receive the prior approval of the Commission. VII. Opportunity for Public Comment The Proposed Consent Order has been placed on the public record for thirty (30) days for receipt of comments by interested persons. Comments received during this period will become part of the public record. After thirty (30) days, the Commission will again review the Proposed Consent Order and the comments received and will decide whether it should withdraw from the Proposed Consent Order or make it final. By accepting the Proposed Consent Order subject to final approval, the Commission anticipates that the competitive problems alleged in the complaint will be resolved. The purpose of this analysis is to invite public comment on the Proposed Consent Order, including the proposed divestitures, to aid the Commission in its determination of whether it should make final the Proposed Consent Order. This analysis is not intended to constitute an official interpretation of the Proposed Consent Order, nor is it intended to modify the terms of the Proposed Consent Order in any way. |