SOCAL SAYS SO WHAT; DEAL WON'T AFFECT SOUTHLAND MARKET.Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Daily News Staff Writer Exxon Corp.'s marriage to Mobil Corp. may create the world's largest corporation, but it will cause barely a ripple in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , the world's biggest gasoline gasoline or petrol, light, volatile mixture of hydrocarbons for use in the internal-combustion engine and as an organic solvent, obtained primarily by fractional distillation and "cracking" of petroleum, but also obtained from natural gas, by market, analysts and company officials said Tuesday. Mobil is a big local player with 581 gasoline stations spread across Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , Ventura, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino San Bernardino, city, United States San Bernardino (săn bûr'nədē`nō), city (1990 pop. 164,164), seat of San Bernardino co., S Calif., at the foot of the San Bernardino Mts.; inc. 1854. counties, third behind Arco and Unocal. Mobil has a 15.64 percent market share, which also places it third. Neither number will change much. Exxon pulled out of the Los Angeles market in 1992, prompting lawsuits by many of its 156 dealers. It has recently re-entered the local market with only a handful of stations. By way of comparison, Arco, long known as the industry's low-price leader, has a 30.32 percent share, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Tulsa, Okla.-based Whitney Leigh Corp. Alan Cherko, owner of a Mobil station in Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. and a director of Auto Cal, a trade group that represents service station owners, thinks the new company will pretty much leave the local scene alone. ``I don't see many changes. Mobil is a recognized brand name, and I don't think they will give that up,'' he said. In addition, in order to take market share away from Arco in Southern California, Exxon Mobil would have to slash prices to compete at the expense of profits. ``They want to increase profits. I don't see much changing out there for the foreseeable future,'' said McDonald J. Beavers, Whitney Leigh's president. DIVIDED MARKET The gas market in greater Los Angeles is heavily divided: Arco 30.32% Chevron 15.78% Mobil 15.64% Union 76 12.72% Shell 11.73% Texaco 4.77% Other 9.04% SOURCE: Whitney Leigh Corp. CAPTION(S): Chart CHART: DIVIDED MARKET (see text) Daily News |
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