Amerada Hess Corporation

Text (OCR of the scan at left; may contain errors)

IN THE MATTER OF AMERADA HESS CORPORATION, ET AL.

SET ASIDE ORDER IN REGARD TO ALLEGED VIOLATION OF THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION ACT AND SEe. 7 OF THE CLA YTON ACT Docket C- 2456. Consent Order, Sept. 18, 1973-- Set Aside Order, Jan. 1995 This order reopens a 1973 consent order (83 FTC 487) -- which required rhat the Clarco Pipe Line be divested and prohibited Amerada, VGS Corporation and Clared Pipe Line Company from acquiring assets related to the transportation or refining of crude oil produced in either Mississippi or Alabama without prior Commission approval -- and sets aside the consent order pursuant to the Commssion s Sunset Policy Statement, under which the Commission presumes that the public interest requires setting aside competition orders in effect for more than 20 years.

ORDER REOPENING PROCEEDING AND SETTING ASIDE ORDER On September 12, 1994, Amerada Hess Corporation ("Amerada Hess ) tied a Request to Reopen and Vacate Order ("Request ) in this matter. I Amerada Hess requests that the Commission set aside the 1973 consent order in this matter, pursuant to Rule 2. 51 of the Commission s Rules of Practice, 16 CFR 2. , and the Commssion July 22, 1994, Statement of Policy with Respect to Duration of Competition Orders and Statement of Intention to Solicit Public Comment with Respect to Duration of Consumer Protection Orders Sunset Policy Statement Leon Hess, also a respondent in this matter, joined in Amerada Hess' Request, by letter dated September 21 , 1994. Southland Oil Company, successor to respondent VGS Corporation, filed a Statement in Support of Request to Reopen and Vacate Order on October 21 , 1994. In addition, on October 20, 1994, Hunt Refining Company, the purchaser of assets from respondent Clarco Pipe Line Company, filed a petition requesting, among other things, that the Commission reopen the proceeding and vacate the order as to Hunt See Amerada Hess Corp. 83 FTC 487 (1973). 2 The Sunset Policy Statement is published at S9 Fed. Reg. 45.286 (Sept. 1994). Set Aside Order 119 FTC. Petition ). Amerada Hess' Request, Hunt s Petition and the information supplied by Leon Hess and Southland Oil Company were placed on the public record pursuant to Section 2. 51 of the Commission s Rules of Practice and Procedure, 16 CFR 2. comments were received.

The Commission in its July 22, 1994, Sunset Policy Statement said, in relevant part, that "effective immediately, the Commission will presume, in the context of petitions to reopen and modify existing orders, that the public interest requires setting aside orders in effect for more than twenty years. ,,4 The Commission s order in Docket No. C-2456 was issued on September 18, 1973, and has been in effect for more than twenty-one years. Consistent with the Commission s July 22 , 1994, Sunset Policy Statement, the presumption is that the order should be terminated. Nothing to overcome the presumption having been presented, the Commission has determined to reopen the proceeding and set aside the order in Docket No. C-2456. Accordingly, It is ordered That this matter be, and it hereby is reopened;

It is further ordered That the Commission s order in Docket No. 2456 be, and it hereby is, set aside, as of the effective date of this order.

3 The fifth respondent named in the order died in 1989.

4 Sunset Policy Statement, 59 Fed. Reg. at 45 289. THE AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY Complaint