64 Table IX presents the changes in market shares of direct and independent marketer distribution channels by There has been a shift since 1972 in refiner marketing Nationally, branded independent home heating and 68 refiners have fared well since 1972. An increasing percentage of refiner volume has gone to this independent sector for the last four years. Nonbranded product supplies to independent marketers have not grown at the same rate as branded product. While large integrated refiners have increased their supplies of nonbranded product to independents since 1972, large independent and small refiners generally have decreased their nonbranded supplies to independents during the same period. The decline in direct marketing by refiners has occurred primarily in No. 2 heating oil and diesel fuel oil. For these other fuels, which constitute about 20 percent of total middle distillates sales, refiners increased their direct marketing slightly from 50.8 percent in 1972 to 51.7 percent in 1975. Table XI shows in detail the annual volume and percentage market share of each distribution channel for No. 2 distillate fuel oil and for other middle distillate fuels. Tables XII and XIII show the market shares of the large integrated refiners versus the independent and small refiners, and show that the independent and small refiners increased their share of other middle distillate fuel sales at the refiner level at the expense of large integrated refiners from 1972 to 1975. |