Oil companies determined not to have fixed fuel prices in Bulgaria – NIS, Lukoil and another four companies cleared of doubt

The Bulgarian Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) has reported that it doesn't have enough proofs confirming its previous claim of six oil companies having fixed regular and diesel fuel prices in Bulgaria.

In October 2016, the CPC claimed that six oil companies – Russia's Lukoil, Anglo-Dutch Shell, Austria's OMV, Greece's Hellenic Petroleum, Serbia's NIS Petrol and Bulgaria's Petrol – were guilty of forming a cartel for the purpose of maintaining fuel prices in gas stations at an artificially high level.

The said companies, which control 70% of the Bulgarian petrol market and 55% of the diesel market, filed complaints against the charges, and the regulatory body has now dismissed this case.

The Bulgarian regulatory body has, however, warned the companies to refrain from sharing any kind of information about the prices with their competitors in the future and to dismiss the officials who fail to comply with these suggestions.

The issue of fuel price is very sensitive in Bulgaria, as consumer protection organizations have been accusing the leading oil product distributors of fixing prices for a long time.

Lukoil Company Moscow

Lukoil Neftochim Bugarska

OMV Aktiengesellschaft Austria

NIS a.d. Novi Sad

Petrol group Ljubljana

Royal Dutch Shell DEN HAAG , Netherlands

Bulgarian Commission for Protection of Competition

Lukoil

Shell

OMV

Hellenic Petroleum

NIS Petrol

Petrol

fuel price

petrol price

diesel price

price fixing