Fines “mammoth” in 6 oil companies It was imposed by the Italian antitrust authority to form a cartel in relation to sale fuel For cars in Italy.
The Italian Competition Authority announced that, after research, it found that ENI oil companies, EXXON ESSO, IP Group, Kuwait’s Q8, Saras Spa and Tamoil Italia Spa were alleged to “apply parallel fuel prices – them. “
ENI and IP said the sentence is unfounded and will be infected. The other companies did not immediately respond to requests for comments or we could not contact them immediately.
Specifically, the antitrust authority stated that, after a complex investigation that began after a complaint, it found that the alleged “cartel” determined the prices of one component biofuel between January 2020 and June 2023, with the result that its value was tripled during this period. The companies have determined price increases that are largely coincided with and were determined by direct or indirect exchanges of information with each other, the Authority said.
ENI said the case is based on a “imposing reconstruction that ignores market logic and misrepresented the facts, removing legal communications related to reciprocal commission relations between operators”.
A previous decision by the Competition Authority on the fuel market was rejected. Last year, the Italian Council of State rejected the claims of the competition that ENI had been involved in unfair commercial practices against consumers in an advertising campaign for diesel in Italy. This is the first time biofuels have been targeted.
The Authority also introduced restrictions on engine fuel sales for all parties.
Fines for each company totaling € 936.7 million ($ 1.1 billion) were set as follows:
- ENI, 336.2 million euros
- Esso, 129.4 million euros
- IP, 163.7 million euros
- Q8, 172.6 million euros
- Saras, 43.8 million euros
- Tamoil, 91 million euros