Mergers Boosted Pump Prices, Study Says

Exxon Corp.’s purchase of Mobil Corp. and five other oil-company mergers since 1990 lifted U.S. gasoline prices an average of 1 or 2 cents a gallon, the U.S. General Accounting Office said.

The GAO, the watchdog agency of Congress, concluded that the mergers increased market concentration in the refining and sale of gasoline, leading to higher wholesale prices. In addition to the 1999 Exxon-Mobil deal, the GAO also cited alliances Texaco Inc. formed in 1997 with Shell Oil Co. and Saudi Refining Co.

The Federal Trade Commission called the GAO’s methodology flawed because it didn’t take into account other factors.