Juneau -- Tuesday, the Joint Special Committee on Mergers voted to send a letter to the Federal Trade Commission endorsing Phillips Petroleum's purchase of ARCO Alaska's assets and encouraging approval of the merger between British Petroleum and ARCO.

"The only step that remains is for the court to enter into a consent decree recognizing the Phillips purchase of ARCO Alaska assets and approving the BP/ARCO merger," said Senator Rick Halford (R-Chugiak) and Chair of the Joint Special Committee on Mergers.

In the month since the FTC filed a lawsuit to enjoin the merger, all parties to that litigation have worked hard to find an out-of-court solution. That solution appears close at hand following the FTC's request to put the litigation on hold and last week's announcement that Phillips would purchase ARCO Alaska's assets.

"These latest developments satisfy all of the committee's concerns aimed at retaining a major, vertically integrated oil producing competitor in Alaska," said committee member Senate President Drue Pearce (R-Anchorage). "Though we understand that Alaska issues are not the only consideration before the FTC, we do hope that a consent decree is entered soon. This would herald an auspicious future for Alaska's oil patch."

At the conclusion of today's meeting Senator Halford announced that he would send out the committee's letter to the FTC in the next day or two.