California members of the U.S. House of Representatives are asking the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate California oil refineries for potential non-competitive practices, anti-consumer behavior, and market manipulation.
The lawmakers point out that at least six California refineries have gone offline for maintenance in recent weeks, which has caused gas prices to spike far beyond the national average. The refineries have gone offline without a clear explanation from industry leaders about why or why California prices have diverged from national averages in an unprecedented way.
“While maintenance is a normal occurrence at refineries, this degree of divergence from national prices is unprecedented, regardless of planned or unplanned refinery maintenance,” the members wrote in the letter. “Even as gas prices continue to increase, the industry has provided no clear explanation on why prices are rising so rapidly as well as how refineries are making decisions about maintenance or outages. At moments of significant financial hardship for Californians, refiners should be transparent on market dynamics.”
The letter was led by U.S. Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA) and was signed by 30 of his California colleagues.
“We urge the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in collaboration with the Department of Justice, the Department of Energy, and the California Department of Justice, to use its existing authorities to launch an investigation into any potential anti-consumer behavior and market manipulation within California’s transportation fuel markets,” they wrote. “While refiners and other actors may want to continue operating without transparency and accountability, our constituents deserve to know whether these companies are manipulating markets at the expense of everyday Americans, including through any collusion or coordination to affect refining capacity or inventory levels. Our constituents deserve to know why gas prices in California continue to rise even as the price of oil has not. We urge you to immediately investigate the business practices of refiners across California to analyze whether these companies may be engaging in any anti-consumer behavior,” they added.