Alaska task force meets with federal trade officials about BP/ARCO antitrust issues

by The Associated Press

Three top-level officials from the Knowles administration met June 22 with the Federal Trade Commission to discuss potential antitrust issues arising from BP Amoco’s proposed $26 billion takeover of Atlantic Richfield Co.

The three — Attorney General Bruce Botelho, Revenue Commissioner Wilson Condon and Natural Resources Commissioner John Shively — represented Alaska’s interests in three hours of meetings. They were joined by John Katz, who heads the state’s office in Washington, D.C.

The group had an hour with FTC chairman Richard Pitofsky and two more hours with agency staff.

“Our goal — and I think we achieved it — was simply to lay out facts, not suggest that there are any conclusions which the FTC should reach,’’ Botelho told reporters June 22.

Botelho said BP’s pending buyout of ARCO raises questions about the future of competition on the North Slope, but the state is not sure it would violate state or federal antitrust laws.

“We’re permitted to work through the case separate from the FTC,” Botelho said. “We could, in fact, reach different conclusions.”