SOUTHLAND : Arco Ends Freeze on Gas Prices

Atlantic Richfield Co. today halted its two-week freeze on gasoline prices, which has left its gasoline selling for 13 cents a gallon less than competitors.

Arco said the action would result in an average price increase of 2.5 cents a gallon and would occur at about 80% of its 1,700 stations in five Western states.

George Babikian, president of Arco Products Co., the company’s marketing and refining unit, said that “this is not an across-the-board price hike. We are targeting only those areas where Arco prices are well below their competitors’.”