Senators Ask FTC To Probe Possible Price Fixing By Oil Refineries

Several U.S. senators will ask the Federal Trade Commission Tuesday to investigate oil refiners for failing to produce gasoline at their full potential, consequently keeping gas prices high. 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is among the senators who plan to send a letter to the FTC Chair Jon Leibowitz seeking the investigation. The group of senators, however, are not targeting specific oil refining companies, but instead have focused on the entire refining industry, a congressional aide said according to Reuters. 

Energy Department data show that American refiners are only operating at 82 percent of their full capacity, but Valero Energy Corp. spokesman Bill Day said this is normal for this time of year. According to Day, oil refining plants are functioning at a lower capacity because of scheduled annual maintenance to refiners in preparation for the high-demand summer driving season. 

Day also argued that purposefully producing less gasoline is ill advised considering the status of current profit margins. 

“It would be self defeating to limit production at a time of high margins,” Day said. 

Nonetheless, the group of senators will wait for the FTC to consider the investigation that would ensure insider maneuvering is not driving longer periods of high gas prices.