Italy's antitrust drops fuel prices probe on Eni, Exxon and others

Saras SpA

31/07/2023 17:58

ROME, July 31 (Reuters) - Italy's antitrust authority
AGCM said on Monday it had closed a probe into several energy
groups, including Eni  ENI.MI  and Exxon Mobil's  XOM.N  ESSO
Italiana unit, without imposing any sanctions.
    The companies, which were under investigation over alleged
fuel price violations, have accepted to take a series of actions
to address competition concerns, the watchdog said in its weekly
bulletin.
    The probe was opened in January and also concerned Italiana
Petroli, Kuwait Petroleum Italia and Tamoil. Together with Eni
and Esso, they were accused of failing to adopt appropriate
measures "to prevent and counteract this unlawful conduct to the
detriment of consumers". 
    The Italian antitrust opened a separate investigation
earlier this month targeting energy groups, citing an alleged
cartel over the sale of transport fuel.
    The companies, including Eni, Saras  SRS.MI , Esso, Ip and
Kuwait's Q8, allegedly coordinated price increases for the
bio-component of the fuels they sell, the authority said on July
19.
    

 (Reporting by Federica Urso, editing by Alvise Armellini and
Gianluca Semeraro)
 ((federica.urso@tr.com))