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10. 01. 12. - 13:00

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10. 01. 12. - 13:00

Six oil companies fined 200 million Euros for antitrust breach - the largest in EU

Romanian Times

Romania's Competition Council announced today (Tues) it had fined six oil companies for agreeing to withdraw, all together, a retail product, in the period of 2007 to 2008, with an EU-wide record sum of 204 million Euros (880 million RON).

The Competition Council's President Bogdan Chiritoiu announced today that each company was fined 3 per cent of its turnover. He said that OMV Petrom was fined a "little over 3 per cent" because it was the initiator of the agreement.

Total fines add up to 204 million Euros (880 million RON), for the six companies: OMV Petrom Marketing, OMV Petrom, Rompetrol Downstream, ENI România, MOL Romania Petroleum Products and Lukoil România.

Chiritoiu said it was the largest fine ever issued to oil companies in the European Union.

The antitrust body refers to the withdrawal of the retail product Eco Premium (unleaded gasoline pre-mixed with lead substitute) from the Romanian fuel market.

He said there was a previous case in Cyprus, of 43 million Euros, but it was rejected in court, because there was no clear evidence.

"We are the only ones in Europe to have clear evidence. We have message exchanges, emails, the transcript of meetings of the Romanian Oil Association."

The companies will receive the motivation of the decision in 30 days and they have another 30 days' term to contest it in court.

The maximum fine possible was 10 per cent of its turnover, from the year previous to the decision taken by the antitrust body.

Last year, Austria's OMV Petrom said the allegations were unjustified, explaining that during the time period of the alleged breach, Eco Premium had a market share of approximately 2 per cent on the Romanian fuel market. The decision to withdraw Eco Premium from the market was based on environmental and economic reasons, duly considering consumers’ interests, it added.

Austria's OMV Petrom Group in 2010 had a turnover of 4.42 billion Euros.

OMV, one of Austria’s largest listed industrial companies holds a 51.01 per cent share in Petrom. The Ministry of Economy holds 20.64 per cent of Petrom shares, the Property Fund SA holds 20.11 per cent, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development 2.03 per cent and 6.21 per cent are freely floating on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

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