AGO opens probe vs Mobil pricing

The Attorney General’s Office subpoenaed Mobil Oil Mariana Islands Inc. yesterday to produce documents and records related to the company’s business practices as part of an official investigation on possible unlawful conduct regarding fuel pricing.

Attorney General Pamela Brown said her attorneys served the subpoena on Mobil officials during a meeting at the AGO in Capitol Hill yesterday.

This development comes in the heels of a protracted investigation by the Federal Trade Commission on the possibility that Mobil committed unfair business practices in raising fuel prices that breached the $3-per-gallon mark earlier this year.

CNMI consumer counsel Brian Caldwell had asked the FTC to look into the fuel industry’s pricing on the islands, following complaints that Mobil’s pump prices on Rota and Tinian breached the $3-a-gallon mark when both Mobil and Shell were rolling back fuel prices on Saipan.

The AGO served Mobil with a 10-page “civil investigative demand.” It vowed to look into Mobil’s pricing structure, the ownership of retail stations, fuel distribution routes and relationship to competitors, among other information.

“The public interest requires that an investigation be conducted to ascertain whether Mobil Oil Mariana Islands Inc. has engaged in, is engaged in, or is about to engage in, any practice declared to be unlawful under the Consumer Protection Act,” the subpoena stated.

The AGO pointed out, though, that it was Mobil that asked for yesterday’s meeting, which covered issues surrounding the fuel company’s pricing policies.

“Mobil has expressed its willingness to be transparent and forthcoming with us in our investigation. We are very pleased to hear this and hope that they will follow through with their legal duty to respond to the investigative demand in a timely manner,” Brown said.

“We hope that the information provided will shed light on some of the problems we are currently experiencing with gas prices and the delivery of petroleum products to all CNMI islands,” she added.

Brown said her office would work with other government agencies to formulate policies that would address the fuel price situation in the CNMI, noting, however, that high gas prices have become a problem not just on the islands but worldwide.

The Saipan Tribune tried to obtain comments from Mobil but a message left with the company was not immediately returned as of press time.

Successive price increases this year had resulted in Mobil’s gallon price reaching as high as $3.129 but it has since implemented price rollbacks that have pulled prices back to slightly below the $3-per-gallon mark.

Mobil gas stations on Saipan now peg gallon prices of regular and super gasoline at $2.859 and $2.979, at full-serve rate. It sells diesel at $2.979 per gallon.

At self-serve rate, Saipan’s Mobil stations peg gallon prices of regular and super gasoline at $2.689 and $2.819; diesel, $2.929.