European Commission drops price fixing case against Shell, BP and Statoil

According to media reports, the European Commission has dropped its investigation into the possible manipulation of benchmark oil prices by three oil companies, Shell, BP and Statoil. The commission originally opened the investigation in May 2013 but, according to a Bloomberg report, now says that the case against the companies has no basis.

“It’s important to close down probes when evidence and data don’t support the suspicions,” Margrethe Vestager, European Union competition chief, told a Bloomberg correspondent. “When it turns out there’s no basis for a case, it should be shut down instantly.”

Oil benchmark prices are critically important in setting prices for a variety of oil related products, including various types of crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels. The European Commission investigation started at a time when market price manipulation was a particularly sensitive topic, following a 2012 scandal involving the manipulated by several prominent banks of the Libor interbank interest rates.

Oil price benchmarking involves the daily assembly of price data relating to actual oil trades.

- ALAN BAILEY