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4 ~COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES tf )
WASHINGTON. .C. 201 i O QS
B-1820 SEPTEMBER 19, 1979
The Honorable Henry M. Jackson RELEASED
Chairman, Committee on Energy
and Natural Resource iSTRiCTED Not to be released outside the Gene-.
United States Senate AccountIng Office except on the basis of specific approvi
Dear Mr. Chairman: by the Office of Congressional Relations -
Subject: Lurvey of Department of Energy data on gasoline
overcharges by oil companies (EMD-79-108)
Your letter of April 4, 1979, Lasked]us to conduct afll/'
preliminary investigation of the Department of Energy's audit
reports to determine (1) whether its auditors have identified
large numbers of oil companies who have illegally overcharged
the public, (2) the kinds of firms involved and some indica-
tion of the magnitude of the overcharges, and (3) what
enforcement action is being taken. You also asked that
we submit the results of our preliminary investigation in a
letter before any decision is made to expend more resources
in a full investigation.
Since the format' n of the Departmeft of Energy on
October 1, 1977, the Economic Regulatory AdministrationDhas
been responsible for ensuring that oil companies comply with
the petroleum regulations. The Administration's Compliance
Program is organized into two major components--the Office
of Special Counsel for Compliance, which is responsible for
auditing the 34 major refiners and the Office of Enforcement,
which is responsible for auditing all other oil firms. Each
of these components is responsible for determining whether
their designated segment of the petroleum industry is com-
plying with applicable pricing and allocation regulations,
identifying violations, and initiating and executing what-
ever enforcement actions are necessary to remedy the
violations7i
- /Since October I, 1977, 109 civil violation notices have
qbeen issued against the 34 major refiners while 1,230 civil
and criminal violations have been issued against all other
firms/ DOE officials told us that they have referred 53
criminal cases to the Justice Department. *Some of the 53
cases are included in the 1,230; but the exact number was
not readily available from DOE sourcesy
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