“To be observed very closely”
Habeck has the Cartel Office check fuel prices
3/16/2022, 3:47 p.m
While the price of oil falls in the third week of the war, fuel prices remain high. This arouses the mistrust of the federal government. Economics Minister Habeck asks the cartel office to check whether gas station chains with illegal price agreements are cashing in on drivers.
After the price explosion for petrol and diesel, the Federal Cartel Office is taking a closer look at further price developments at petrol stations. “If crude oil prices are now falling again and gas station prices don’t follow suit or even continue to rise, you have to take a closer look,” said the President of the supervisory authority, Andreas Mundt, in Bonn.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck has also asked the competition authorities to examine it. “My house has asked the Federal Cartel Office to monitor petrol and diesel prices very closely and to take action if there is any indication of abusive behavior,” said the Green politician. The position of power held by the large gas station chains in the German fuel market has been a structural problem for a long time. “It must not be the case that companies make unreasonable profits from the current situation. If there are indications of this, for example when comparing price movements in other EU countries, we will prepare legislative measures to give the Federal Cartel Office better market surveillance for the fuels,” announced Habeck. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is not authorized to issue directives to the Cartel Office. However, it can ask the authority to take action in critical situations.
Other distortions for high prices are also possible
However, the Bundeskartellamt pointed out that, in addition to changes in the price of crude oil, other market developments and upheavals at the refinery and wholesale level caused by the Ukraine crisis could also affect prices at the pumps. Imports from Russia also played a not insignificant role for individual products. The Bundeskartellamt is therefore also observing the possible reasons for the price development at the refinery and wholesale level and its possible influence on the level of the prices at the pumps, it said.
The authority relies on data from the Market Transparency Unit for Fuels, which continuously records price developments at filling stations in Germany. However, the market transparency office only receives the price data, but not data on the quantities supplied. “A legal obligation for market participants to also provide volume data to the market transparency office would significantly improve the informative value of our data,” said Mundt.
ADAC: Oil companies are currently making really good money
After the extreme rise of the past few weeks, fuel prices have recently fallen slowly. Diesel became cheaper by 1.5 cents and cost 2.292 euros per liter on a nationwide daily average on Tuesday, as announced by the ADAC. E10 cost 1.1 cents less and cost 2.192 euros per liter. Nevertheless, the prices at the gas stations are much higher than before the start of the Ukraine war. The price of oil, on the other hand, has returned to its pre-war level.
The Baden-Württemberg Finance Minister Danyal Bayaz had previously criticized the fact that fuel prices remained extremely high despite falling oil prices. “My impression is that a few oil multinationals are making the big bargain,” wrote the Green politician on Twitter. This discrepancy was also emphasized at the ADAC. “Despite all the war-related special effects and explanations for the high fuel prices – somewhere between oil production and gas station the additional driver’s money gets stuck,” says fuel market expert Jürgen Albrecht. “The mineral oil companies are currently making really good money in the refinery business.”