The irony is that BP Amoco-Arco would be less than half the size of Exxon Mobil. But the FTC voiced concerns that the move would stifle competition on the U.S.'s West Coast, with BP Amoco-Arco controlling 45 percent of the oil refined in California, Oregon and Washington. This won't be the last you hear about this — the heads of British-based BP Amoco and L.A.-based Arco have long said that they would fight regulators to the bitter end.
Why FTC Put the Brakes on BP Amoco-Arco
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This could get ugly. The heads of the FTC voted 3 to 2 Wednesday to block the pending merger of petroleum giants BP Amoco and ARCO. Though the FTC will no doubt deny it, it would appear that timing was the gasoline companies' problem as much as anything — they decided to combine just when the FTC had had its fill of oil company mergers. The commission spent good portions of 1998 and 1999 wrangling over whether to approve the $81 billion Exxon-Mobil merger, and have since indicated that the competitive playing field of gasoline vendors can't stand to be condensed anymore. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, who petitioned the FTC to block the BP Amoco-Arco deal, told regulators the transaction would lead to other "copycat" mergers. If the folks at BP Amoco can find solace in anything, it might be that it's starting a new trend — this was the first time the had FTC blocked an oil merger since the early '80s.