Case No. RF300-18802

December 12, 1997

DECISION AND ORDER

OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Application for Refund

Name of Petitioner: Gulf Oil Corporation /

Sure Fire Butane Company, Inc.

Date of Filing: December 16, 1991

Case Number: RF300-18802

This Decision and Order will consider the Application for Refund filed in the Gulf Oil Corporation (Gulf) overcharge refund proceeding by Sure Fire Butane Company, Inc., (Sure Fire). The application is based upon Sure Fire’s purchases of Gulf petroleum products during the Gulf consent order period (January 1, 1973 through January 27, 1981). Sure Fire has requested a refund from Gulf funds available for disbursement by the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) of the Department of Energy (DOE) under the provisions of 10 C.F.R. Part 205, Subpart V. The procedures for disbursing the Gulf funds were set forth in a Decision and Order on September 8, 1987. Gulf Oil Corp., 16 DOE ¶ 85,381 (Gulf).

In Gulf, we adopted a presumption that the alleged Gulf overcharges attributable to refined products had been dispersed equally in all sales of refined products made by Gulf during the consent order period. Gulf, 16 DOE at 88,736. We stated that, in the absence of a demonstration of a disproportionate overcharge, a claimant would be allocated a share of the consent order funds on a volumetric basis. We provided that eligible claimants would receive $.00064 per gallon of covered Gulf product purchased.(1)Id. at 88,739. We established that a refiner, reseller, or retailer claimant generally would be required to demonstrate that it was injured as a result of its Gulf purchases; that is, that it did not pass through to its customers Gulf's alleged overcharges. However, we established a presumption that firms claiming refunds of $5,000 or less would not be required to demonstrate that they absorbed the

alleged overcharges. Id. at 88,740. We also established that end- users or ultimate consumers whose businesses are unrelated to the petroleum industry were injured by the alleged refined product overcharges. Id. Thus, end-user claimants need only document their purchase volumes of Gulf products to make a sufficient showing that they were injured by the alleged overcharges. Id.

We have carefully reviewed the information submitted by Sure Fire, and we have determined that the information required of applicants by the Gulf Decision has been submitted in this case. Id. at 88,741-42. To demonstrate its purchase volume, Sure Fire submitted a computer printout from Warren Petroleum Company (a subsidiary of Gulf) which shows it purchased 4,193,602 gallons of propane from Warren Petroleum Company during the consent order period. Sure Fire has not demonstrated that it suffered a disproportionate overcharge as a result of Gulf's alleged overcharges. Accordingly, its allocable share of the Gulf fund will be based on the volumetric approach described above. Sure Fire’s allocable share is less than $5,000. Therefore, it will not be required to provide a separate, detailed demonstration that it absorbed the alleged overcharges.

Sure Fire was dissolved voluntarily in 1983. In the case of a voluntarily dissolved corporation, the Office of Hearings and Appeals has generally refunded the stockholders of the corporation at the time of dissolution according to their respective ownership percentages. See Gulf Oil/Pate’s Gulf, 22 DOE ¶ 85,219 (1992). Sure Fire was a wholly owned subsidiary of Schlensker Drilling Corporation, which is also a dissolved corporation. John A. Schlensker, who signed Sure Fire’s application, was the sole shareholder of Schlensker Drilling Corporation. Therefore, Mr. Schlensker is entitled to Sure Fire’s refund.

Accordingly, Mr. Schlensker will receive a refund amount equal to Sure Fire’s allocable share (the principal amount), as well as interest accrued on the principal since the consent order funds were placed in escrow.(2) The total volume approved in this Decision and Order is 4,193,602 gallons of refined petroleum products, and the refund granted is $5,242 (4,193,602 gallons x $.00125 = $5,242).

Sure Fire filed its Application for Refund through Federal Refunds, Inc., (FRI). Refund checks of claimants represented by FRI in the Gulf proceeding are sent directly to the applicants. See Gulf Oil Corp./LeBlanc’s Gulf Service, 18 DOE ¶ 85,876 (1989).

It Is Therefore Ordered That:

(1) The Application for Refund filed by Sure Fire Butane Company, Inc., is hereby granted as set forth in paragraph (2) below.

(2) The Director of Special Accounts and Payroll, Office of Departmental Accounting and Financial Systems Development, Office of the Controller of the Department of Energy shall take appropriate action to disburse a total of $5,242 from the DOE deposit fund escrow account maintained at the Department of the Treasury and funded by Gulf Oil Corporation, Consent Order No. RGFA00001Z, to “John A. Schlensker, Re: Sure Fire Butane Company, Inc., P.O. Box 831330, Richardson, TX, 75083-1330.”

(3) The determinations made in this Decision and Order are based on the presumed validity of statements and documentary material submitted by the applicant. Any of these determinations may be revoked or modified at any time upon a determination that the factual basis underlying any Application for Refund is incorrect.

(4) This is a final Order of the Department of Energy.

George B. Breznay

Director

Office of Hearings and Appeals

Date: December 12, 1997

(1)1/ This amount was derived by dividing the fund received from Gulf allocable to refined products ($42,499,566) by the estimated volume of refined products sold by Gulf from August 1973 through the date of decontrol of the relevant product (66,387,563,569 gallons). Id.

(2)2/ Each applicant's refund amount will be calculated by multiplying its approved gallonage by the total volumetric, which is $.00125 (principal volumetric of $.00064 + interest volumetric of $.00061 = $.00125).