Meanwhile, California Democratic senator Barbara Boxer accused the state's oil industry of not passing lower wholesale gasoline prices on to drivers. She said Californians had lost $544 million in the last two months alone.

California gasoline prices jumped more than 50 cents a gallon in April to reach record highs of $1.80 a gallon in some areas. They have since fallen to a statewide average of $1.33 a gallon, according to the California Energy Commission.

A lawyer for 40 Shell and Texaco gas stations said he would file suit on their behalf in a federal court in Los Angeles on Tuesday, charging that they were being forced to pay higher rents and higher gasoline prices to suppliers Shell and Texaco.

Shell and Texaco joined forces for West Coast and Midwest oil refining and fuelmarketing activities in January 1998. The two joined with Saudi Arabia's state oil company, Aramco, for operations on the Gulf and East Coasts.

Station owners argue that the joint operations have led to price gouging.

``This (lawsuit) charges the combination of Shell, Texaco and Saudi's Aramco of price-fixing and that is the reason prices have been going up,'' said the attorney for the station owners, Joseph Alioto.

``We regret that some of our dealers have apparently found it necessary to resort to litigation as a means to address certain issues,'' said a spokeswoman for Equilon Enterprises, Shell and Texaco's joint operation.

``We nevertheless remain committed to working with them ...to reach an appropriate solution to these issues,'' she said.

The gas station owners are seeking damages equivalent to the difference between prices charged them by Shell and Texaco and what prices would have been ``in a competitive market,'' an anti-trust specialist, Alioto, said.

``It's probably in the range of 25to 50 cents a gallon each month,'' he said. He said the amount would total between $25,000 and $50,000 per station per month since the merger.