Any confirmed manipulation of oil prices would have caused "huge"
damages for consumers and the case has similarities to the Libor
benchmark scandal, the European Union's top antitrust regulator said
Tuesday.
EU antitrust authorities carried out unannounced inspections
of energy companies BP PLC (BP), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) and
Statoil ASA (STO) this month as part of a probe into whether they
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. The offices of Platts were also inspected.
"If...the manipulation is confirmed, indeed, huge damages for
consumers and users would have been originated by this," Joaquin
Almunia, European Commissioner for competition, said at a European
Parliament hearing in Brussels. "To some extent, this problem has
similarities with the benchmarks in the financial sector and with the
investigations we are carrying out on Libor, Euribor and Tibor cases."
Index-publishing companies such as Platts derive their prices
from self-reported transaction data from participants in deals. It isn't
clear whether Platts is a target of the probe, nor whether the
investigation is limited to those four companies. Representatives of the
oil companies and Platts have said they are cooperating with
authorities.
Mr. Almunia said the Commission is investigating both
infringements of anti-cartel laws and the possible abuse of dominant
market positions as part of its probe.
However, he stressed that the investigation is still at an
early stage. "We are still starting the analysis of the information we
obtained, [and] we will adopt a decision to launch a formal
investigation" if manipulation is confirmed, Mr. Almunia said.