European investigators have raided the offices of three energy giants over allegations of oil price fixing.
The European Commission (EC) said yesterday that inspectors had visited BP, Shell and Statoil bases unannounced to investigate claims they had “colluded in reporting distorted prices” to one of the world’s top price-reporting agencies.
The commission said the raids had taken place in two European Union states as well as one outwith the EU in what is believed to be one of the biggest cross-border actions since banks were targeted over the Libor rate-rigging scandal.
Statoil said the suspected violations may have been ongoing for 11 years, in which time the oil price has more than quadrupled.
The EC said: “The commission has concerns that the companies may have colluded in reporting distorted prices to a price reporting agency to manipulate the published prices for a number of oil and biofuel products.
“Furthermore, the commission has concerns that the companies may have prevented others from participating in the price assessment process, with a view to distorting published prices. Any such behaviour, if established, may amount to violations of European anti-trust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices and abuses of a dominant market position.”
All three energy firms said they were co-operating with the inquiry, while the commission stressed that the inspections did not mean the companies were guilty.
It is understood that one of BP’s London offices was targeted in the raids while Shell said its London and Rotterdam offices were visited by inspectors. Inspectors also visited Statoil’s Stavanger base.
The reporting agency Platts was also involved in yesterday’s investigation, and the EC said prices assessed and published by the agency and its counterparts were used as benchmarks for commodity trading.
“Even small distortions of assessed prices may have a huge impact on the prices of crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels purchases and sales, potentially harming final consumers,” the commission said.
The investigation follows a warning from a subsidiary of French energy giant Total over inaccurate pricing.
In October, Total Oil Trading told international regulators it came across estimates of market prices “that are out of line with our experience of the day” several times a year.
It is understood one of BP’s London offices was targeted by the commission, while Statoil said its Stavanger base was visited by investigators.