I find that intensely interesting! Did ARCO have to make that self-limiting deal to get such a good deal on what they have on the north slope?
There is no more ARCO. When BP took over ARCO, one of the conditions was that BP sell ARCO Alaska and the marine dept.(BP is not allowed to operate ships that travel within the US, Jones Act) because it would have given BP the lions share of Alaskan oil. So, ARCO Alaska and the marine dept were sold to Phillips (now Conoco-Phillips). BP has been most unhappy with the arrangement and tried to convince Conoco to allow them to run the operations for them. BP is a foreign company and their MO are foreign, not at all like US companies that most of us are familiar with. Bottom line and control of the market are all that matter.
BP has also been restricting the market by controlling the pipeline in WA state and setting arbitrary pricing from the end of the pipeline, even though the local gas never enters the pipeline. They are going so far as to box in the higher octane gasoline of other countries with lower octane gasoline to dilute it.