Price Fixing. Texaco, Inc., and Shell Oil Co. are competitors in the national and international oil and gasoline markets.

They refi ne crude oil into gasoline and sell it to service station owners and others. Between 1998 and 2002, Texaco and Shell engaged in two joint ventures—Equilon Enterprises, which consolidated their operations in the western United States, and Motiva Enterprises, which performed the same function in the eastern United States. Consequently, Texaco and Shell ended their competition in the domestic refi ning and marketing of gasoline. As part of the ventures, Texaco and Shell agreed to pool their resources and share the risks and profi ts of their joint activities. The Federal Trade Commission and several states approved the formation of these entities without restricting the pricing of their gasoline, which the ventures began to sell at a single price under the original Texaco and Shell brand names. Fouad Dagher and other station owners fi led a suit in a federal district court against Texaco and Shell, alleging that the defendants were engaged in illegal price fi xing. Do the circumstances in this case fi t the defi nition of a price-fi xing agreement?

Explain. [Texaco Inc. v. Dagher, 547 U.S. 1, 126 S.Ct.

1276, 164 L.Ed.2d 1 (2006)]