The American oil industry : a failure of anti-trust policy / a study of the structure and operations of the oil industry and the need for immediate and effective anti-trust action published by the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association, prepared by Stanley H. Ruttenberg and Associates, Inc., Norman Medvin, Senior Consultant.

Includes appendices.

Chapter I. Purpose of study -- II. Basic facts about the oil industry -- III. Control of competing energy sources -- IV. Gasification and liquefaction of coal -- V. Joint ventures and the oil industry -- VI. Director interlocks in the oil industry -- VII. Oil companies and financial institutions -- VIII. The oil industry and accounting services -- IX. Summary and recommendations.

"The study demonstrates what many of us have long suspected: there is a hard core of joint action and control in the oil industry surrounded at its periphery by semi-independent fiefdoms which offer a somewhat deceptive patina of truly independent competition. The study reveals the multiple ties within the oil industry, in what may be a flagrant disregard of the spirit and specific application of the antitrust laws. Furthermore, the study spotlights the harmony in which the oil industry operates - and puts the harsh light of disclosure on the industry's policy of acquiring competing forms of energy." -- From the foreword.