The European Commission Monday delayed its antitrust review of Portuguese oil and gas company Galp Energia SGPS SA's (GALP.LB) bid to buy assets from Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM).
The commission, which originally had an Oct. 17 deadline to clear the deal or launch an in-depth investigation, has pushed back that date to Oct. 31.
The delay will be used to study "commitments" made by the companies, the commission said in a statement, without providing further details. In such cases, commitments typically are sell-offs designed to resolve antitrust problems.
The deal includes Exxon Mobil's retail-station network of 130 service stations, industrial, wholesale, LPG and aviation fuels businesses and most lubricants businesses in Spain and Portugal.