Italy fines six oil companies €936 million for fuel price-fixing scheme
Antitrust authority accuses Eni, Esso, Q8 and others of colluding to inflate biofuel component costs in pump prices.
Italy’s competition authority has imposed a record €936.6 million fine on six major oil companies: Eni, Esso, Ip, Q8, Saras, and Tamoil, after finding they colluded to artificially increase the cost of the biofuel component used to calculate fuel prices.
According to the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), the companies coordinated to triple the value of this component from €20 per cubic meter in 2019 to around €60 per cubic meter by 2023.
The investigation began after a whistleblower report prompted the authority to launch a formal inquiry. Regulators determined that from January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2023, the six companies engaged in anti-competitive practices by aligning price increases related to the biofuel element, a component introduced to meet legal sustainability obligations.
The coordinated pricing behavior was often synchronized and allegedly facilitated by direct or indirect information exchanges among the companies.
Eni faces the largest fine, at €336.2 million, followed by Q8 (€172.6 million), Ip (€163.7 million), Esso (€129.4 million), Tamoil (€91 million), and Saras (€43.8 million). Only Iplom and Repsol, which did not participate in the price adjustments, avoided penalties.
"AGCM's decision on alleged biofuel cartel incomprehensible and unfounded, based on a complete misrepresentation of the facts and the market," said Eni in a statement.
The AGCM noted that the scheme was reinforced by regular publication of the bio component’s exact value in the industry newspaper Staffetta Quotidiana, to which Eni directly supplied data. The findings mark one of the largest antitrust penalties in Italy’s energy sector and highlight ongoing scrutiny over pricing practices in the fuel market.
