Date:         Wed, 12 Sep 2001 14:18:21 -0500
Reply-To:     Frank Herzig <fherzig@SWRI.ORG>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Frank Herzig <fherzig@SWRI.ORG>
Subject:      Gas gouging
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Here's what the financial reports are saying. It's not big oil that's
screwing up the prices. It's your friendly local stations ....

ExxonMobil has issued a statement in an attempt to assuage fears of a gas
shortage and price-gouging. The company said it has supply available for
retail customers and that it will meet its contractual obligations. The
company encourages customers to maintain normal buying patterns in order to
avoid runouts. ExxonMobil added that it has not raised prices in any of its
company-owned stations. However, out of roughly 16,000 Exxon and
Mobil-branded stations, the company owns less than 1,000, with the rest
operated by independent dealers and distributors. "We have not raised prices
to these dealers or distributors and we are encouraging them to act
responsibly as well," the company said in a press release. "To reiterate, we
have not taken any pricing action with Exxon and Mobil-branded customers as
a result of this tragedy."