Plaintiff state filed suit in October 2005 alleging that McLeod Oil and Home Oil
conspired with gas stations they supply to fix the price of gas sold in Durham County. Attorney General’s office alleged that McLeod Oil and Home Oil were pressuring gas stations to raise their prices by at least 20 cents a gallon As alleged in the complaint, McLeod Oil and its affiliate, Home Oil, had an agreement to supply gas to A&P Mini Mart. Representatives from McLeod demanded that the station
immediately raise gas prices by 40 cents a gallon. McLeod said that competing gas stations also supplied by McLeod were angry with A&P Mini Mart’s low prices, and that it needed to be “in the ballpark” of the other
stations’ prices. The station refused to hike its prices, McLeod padlocked its gas pumps. When the station again declined to raise prices, McLeod removed all of the gas from the underground tanks. McLeod and Home are prohibited from trying to set the price of gas at stations they supply and from establishing a minimum price above which stations must sell their gas. The also agreed to pay $25,000 in civil penalties.