The head of French oil company Total SA (TOT) said Friday he believed the companies being investigated as part of a European Commission probe into alleged oil-price manipulation weren't involved in such activities.
The head of French oil company Total SA (TOT) said Friday he believed
the companies being investigated as part of a European Commission probe into
alleged oil-price manipulation weren't involved in such activities.
On Tuesday, European Union antitrust authorities carried out unannounced
inspections of energy companies BP PLC (BP), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) and
Statoil ASA (STO), escalating a probe amid scrutiny of how prices are set in
global financial markets.
EU officials are investigating whether the three companies manipulated prices
in the $2.5 trillion physical-oil market by giving false data to an oil index
publisher, the Platts unit of McGraw Hill Financial Inc. (MHFI). Platts's
offices were also inspected Tuesday.
The companies involved confirmed their offices had been inspected and that they
were cooperating with the investigation.
ENI SpA (E) of
Italy
said
it had been asked for information by commission investigators but that its
offices hadn't been searched.
"When one knows the companies in question, I'd be really very surprised
they took part in price rigging," Total chairman and chief executive
Christophe de Margerie told reporters on the sidelines of the company's annual
shareholders meeting in
Paris
.
Mr. de Margerie insisted that Total, which had raised some issues during an
pan-oil industry consultation last year, hadn't been the whistleblower in the
commission's probe.
When asked if the company had complained to the commission, Mr. de Margerie
replied: "We haven't sent any letter." Total isn't being investigated
as part of the EU probe, he reiterated.
Mr. de Margerie also said that overall, the price reference system was working
satisfactorily even if there had been minor glitches and he didn't believe the
EU probe would reveal a huge scandal.
Were the commission to uncover evidence of collusion in reporting distorted
prices or engaged in other anticompetitive practices, such as potentially
distorting prices by preventing others from participating in the price assessment
process, it could impose substantial fines.
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