BP, Shell raided over oil price rigging

Two of Britain™s biggest oil companies British Petroleum (BP) and Royal Dutch Shell have been raided by European regulators over allegations of manipulating the oil price since 2002.

According to the reports, officers from the European Commission™s competition authority searched the London headquarters of the two companies for possible evidence of price manipulation.

BP and Shell are suspected of oil price rigging since 2002. Over more than ten years, the price of a litre of petrol has risen dramatically by more than 80 percent to about £1.35 a litre.

œEven small distortions of assessed prices may have a huge impact on the prices of crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels purchases and sales, potentially harming final consumers.” the European Commission said.

The European Commission described today™s raid as œa preliminary step to investigate suspected anti-competitive practices”. Offices owned by price-reporting agency Platts, and Norwegian oil Company Statoil were also raided as part of the commission™s investigation across the continent.

MOS/SSM/HE