Gas supplier ordered to appear in court

CALDWELL COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) - For seven straight days a Mustang Ridge service station with super low prices has had to shut down its gas pumps early because its rival gasoline supplier has cut back deliveries, in apparent defiance of a court's restraining order.

The Mustang Travel Center, at the crossroads of State Highway 21 and U.S. 183, has been offering a gallon of regular for $2.99, which is 40 cents cheaper than at the Tiger Tote down the road.

That works out to about an $8 swing for a 20-gallon fill-up.

But Tiger Tote is owned by Johnson Oil, which also supplies Moghadassi's Mustang Center. 

Despite a restraining order that Johnson Oil not limit the sales to Mustang, the supplier has continued to do so, providing less than half what the service station ordinarily purchases. Mustang ran out of fuel Thursday and closed its crowded pumps at 1 p.m.

"I don't know if I would stop here anymore," Moghadassi worries. "I'm with them, I'm trying to serve the community. But at the same time, I understand if nobody wants to stop here anymore."

"Every night or afternoon when Mo has to shut down his pumps his business is hurt," said Alex Metcalf, Moghadassi's lawyer. "It's hurt by people not coming in and those who drive by, see no gas and scratch this place off."

Customers are in Moghadassi's corner. "It's wrong to cut people back who are trying not to rip off the community," Odeza Blair said.

Moghadassi said Johnson Oil wants him to adjust his prices upward, but he says that would be price-fixing. An he refuses to do it.

Johnson Oil has been ordered to attend a court hearing with Moghadassi on Wednesday.