Petrol price 'rigged for a decade' EU raids Shell/BP

[Ichingcarpenter]

MPs and energy experts have raised fears motorists have been “taken for a very expensive ride”, after officials searched the offices of BP and Shell for evidence of price-rigging.
The companies are suspected of distorting the oil price since 2002, meaning drivers have potentially been ripped off for more than 10 years.
Over that time, petrol prices have risen dramatically by more than 80 per cent to around 135p per litre.

European investigators, who raided the London offices of BP and Shell, said the alleged price-rigging could have had a “huge impact” on the cost of oil, including the price of fuel for consumers.

The investigation into market-fixing already has echoes of the Libor scandal, which saw the banks falsely report key interest rates used to calculate mortgages. It cost several British banks hundreds of millions of pounds in fines.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/10057460/Petrol-price-rigged-for-a-decade.html


Holder to raid Exxon next to see if they are leaking ......pot fumes.

[Ichingcarpenter]

1. The Guardian's report link

The London offices of BP and Shell have been raided by European regulators investigating allegations they have "colluded" to rig oil prices for more than a decade.

The European commission said its officers carried out "unannounced inspections" at several oil companies in London, the Netherlands and Norway to investigate claims they may have "colluded in reporting distorted prices to a price reporting agency [PRA] to manipulate the published prices for a number of oil and biofuel products".

The commission said the alleged price collusion, which may have been going on since 2002, could have had a "huge impact" on the price of petrol at the pumps "potentially harming final consumers".


http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/may/14/bp-shell-oil-price-rigging

[HiPointDem]

2. No duh. It's been pretty obvious that the price of oil & its derivatives is rigged for a long time.

Oligopolistic pricing.

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. Well then

when does the US act on this?

I'm sure US oil companies were complicit in this.

[HiPointDem]

4. never

[Rise Rebel Resist]

6. in the US or eu never

spot on

[Hugin]

5. K&R

Tip of the iceberg, man.

[jambo101]

7. Never doubted it for a minute.

Probably goes back further than 10 years.
As the world uses 100 million barrels of oil per day some are getting obscenely rich off our addiction to the products oil produces.

[dipsydoodle]

8. Quite perversely

if this has happened then the main beneficiary would've been the UK government given our high rates of tax and duty on fuel @ over 60% in aggregate. http://www.whatgas.com/car-finance/fuel-duty.html

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. Isn't the tax by the liter and not by the price?

Or is the VAT on the price and not the liter?

The US tax is on the gallon not the price. Just want to clear it up for US vs EU differences.
thanks.

[dipsydoodle]

11. Vat is definately on the price , currently 20% ,

whereas duty is on volume i.e / litre.

I know there are US v. UK differences but I've never been able to relate successfully to what happens in the US on this subject. Does for example state sales tax affect price of fuel in the US ?

As has been the case here on other subjects changes from imperial to metric allowed price increases which the public wouldn't have worn on imperial measures.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. But it the govt take from VAT hadn't been going up, and the actual cost of the fuel going up,

they probably would have implemented one or more of the duty rises that they postponed/cancelled.

I wonder if this is related to the price premium for Brent crude oil (ie as traded in Europe, by the firms under investigation) compared with the American benchmark Texas price.



http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2011/04/brentwti_spread_1.html

That was in April 2011; since then, it widened to a difference of $25/barrel

http://articles.marketwatch.com/2013-02-01/markets/36671299_1_wti-oil-march-brent-crude

and is now about $9: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/market_data/commodities/default.stm

[dipsydoodle]

18. I've never undestood the price differential

some details here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_Crude

Also seem to be a function of supply and the strength of the dollar.

[Sherman A1]

9. Hardy a surprise

there is no doubt in my mind that the entire game is rigged, this just being a small portion of it.

[malaise]

12. Lenin's book Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism

is a must read. We're almost there in terms of the end stage of this corrupt system.

[hobbit709]

13. I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.

[Ichingcarpenter]

14. I'm shocked that EU regulators

raided the offices.

That's the real story.

[Laelth]

15. +1 n/t

-Laelth

[jambo101]

17. Heres the Canadian breakdown of the price per liter.

Government seems to have quite the little gold mine going on at consumers expense.

[dipsydoodle]

19. Oil pricing probe widens, Britain pledges tough action.

(Reuters) - Oil companies will face the full force of the law if they manipulated prices, Britain's energy minister said on Wednesday as the European Commission's demanded more firms provide information as part of its probe into oil pricing.

Eni (ENI.MI) said it was asked by the Commission to provide information. The Italian company's statement came a day after the offices of Shell (RDSa.L), BP (BP.L) and Statoil (STL.OL) were raided by investigators over suspected oil price manipulation.

The surprise searches of major oil companies, but not their competitors the powerful privately-owned trading companies, were one of the biggest cross-border probes since the Libor scandal and sent shock waves through the secretive industry.

>

A spokesman for Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron said he expected companies to fully comply with the investigation.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/05/15/uk-oil-pricing-britain-idUKBRE94E0K620130515

[Ichingcarpenter]

20. I hope US media

picks up this story and start asking questions
about US oil companies...




Nevermind....LOL

[Egalitarian Thug]

21. K&R Nice catch. n/t