Crude Oil Pipe Lines and Competition in the Oil Industry

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The author investigates costs of operation of crude oil pipe lines and the geographical and ownership structure of the crude oil pipeline system and the refineries.

The first section of the book is devoted to the cost characteristics of crude oil pipe lines. The second part is concerned with a statistical investigation of the structure of the pipe line, refining, and crude production stages of the oil industry. The third part describes and discusses the charge that the major oil companies own the pipe lines as their “chief weapon” of market control in the oil industry. In the final section Leslie Cookenboo describes a proposed public policy advanced in lieu of either rate regulation or disintegration.