Correct. Chinese government-owned CNOOC Ltd. last week offered to buy Unocal Corp. for $67 a share in cash, or $18.5 billion. Unocal in April had accepted a cash-and-stock bid worth $62 a share, or $18 billion including assumed debt, from ChevronTexaco Corp. (now Chevron Corp.), and that acceptance remains in effect. Unocal shareholders are scheduled to vote on Chevron’s offer on Aug. 10.
Just to expand a little: Gasoline arrives in tanker trucks, so the complex delivery infrastructure is simply piggybacked on the existing one (that is, highways). Your gas and electricity are delivered through pipes and wiring systems that were laid years ago by one company. Duplicating this infrastructure in order to compete in the market wouldn’t make much economic sense, so the PUC (or PSC, here) monitors these “natural monopolies.”
On the other hand, Exxon can build a gas station across the street to compete with Mobil.
Hang on a minute…