German cartel authority to investigate oil companies

Germany‘s competition authority announced on 4 April 2012 it had opened an investigation into five main oil refiners suspected of hampering smaller filling-station competitors.
The Cartel Office said the five multinational oil companies, which also own most German filling stations, constituted an oligopoly.
Soaring motor fuel prices have triggered political friction in Germany this week, with some politicians advocating a form of price control or additional tax rebates to ease the strain on commuters.
The Federal Cartel Office in Bonn said independent retailers which buy petrol and diesel fuel from the five big oil groups had complained they sometimes had to pay a higher wholesale price than the retail price at filling stations.
They are the German subsidiaries of BP, Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Shell and Total, which all own nationwide retail operations. Independent retailers do not have their own refineries.
The independents sell about 13 per cent of German fuel, the Cartel Office said. In Germany, retail fuel prices sometimes change two or three times a day and motorists often cruise to find the cheapest.
“Independent filling stations must be supplied on fair terms so they can compete with the oligopoly of the Big Five,” said Andreas Mundt, president of the Cartel Office, which has powers to seize data, fine offenders and order business changes.
The inquiry began Tuesday. Axel Graf Buelow, head of the independent fuel retailers‘ association, welcomed the inquiry and forecast there would be prosecutions.

europeonline-magazine, 04.04.2012