Florida subpoenas 4 gas sellers in price probe

By Jane Sutton

MIAMI, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Florida regulators subpoenaed records from four gasoline companies named most often in 360 price-gouging complaints since Hurricane Ike hit oil-producing Texas, the state's attorney general said on Sunday.

Subpoenas were issued to the corporate offices of Flying J, Dodge's Gas Stores, Valero (VLO.N) and Pilot Travel Centers, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said.

The state wants to examine their invoices to determine whether dramatic price increases at the pump were justified by their own rising costs of buying fuel from suppliers.

"There are quite a number of stations that have jacked their prices up to an incredible degree," McCollum told reporters on a conference call. "I've seen it as high as $5.36."

The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline averaged $3.795 nationwide and $3.799 in Florida, according to the American Automobile Association.

Valero Energy Corp does not own or operate any of the Valero stations in Florida, company spokesman Bill Day said.

"Those are all operated by third-party people," said Day. "Obviously we will cooperate with authorities and get them whatever information they're looking for."

Efforts to reach the other subpoenaed companies were not immediately successful.

Overall gas prices were stable in Florida and there was no shortage, McCollum said. But some stations had raised prices by as much as a dollar a gallon since Friday, he said.

His office confirmed 360 complaints and was investigating dozens more. Most involved independent distributors who depend more on the spot market than those owned by major companies that produce their own gasoline, McCollum said.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency on Sept. 5, when it appeared Ike would hit southern Florida. The order, which remains in effect, prohibits unjustified price hikes for gasoline and emergency supplies.

Price-gougers can be fined $1,000 per incident and up to $25,000 per day.

State law does not set a percentage limit for price increases. But regulators compare prices to those charged during the 30 days before an emergency was declared and look for dramatic and unjustified increases, McCollum said.

"A dollar a gallon more is pretty dramatic," he said.

Merchants are allowed to pass on increases when their own costs rise, and gasoline prices are expected to go up as Ike's impact filters through the marketplace, McCollum said.

Fifteen Texas oil refineries were shut down as a precaution ahead of Ike, while another in Louisiana remained shut since Hurricane Gustav two weeks ago. Together they make up just under a quarter of U.S. fuel production capacity.

"This was a major storm," said Day, the Valero spokesman. "Hurricane Ike has knocked out about 3.5 million barrels per day of refining capacity."

The storm shut down three Valero refineries with a combined capacity of 700,000 barrels a day, he said.

McCollum said some dramatic price hikes could prove justified. His investigators checked out another gas station that was the subject of complaints, McKenzie, and found it had legitimately raised prices because the price its suppliers charged had jumped by $1.60 a gallon, McCollum said.

There were scattered reports of gas stations limiting purchases to 10 gallons at a time, and the Tallahassee area was hit with what McCollum called an artificially induced run at gas stations, apparently prompted by a flurry of e-mail warnings circulating state offices.

"Generically, we do not have a gas shortage," McCollum said. "There's no reason for anybody to panic." (Editing by John O'Callaghan)