The fuel market is under constant surveillance by the Competition Commission due to its socio-economic importance. We are awaiting the data that we requested within our powers from the National Revenue Agency on fuel prices at gas stations in the country for the purpose of ongoing monitoring and timely identification of possible coordinated anti-competitive behavior. This was stated by Zhelyo Boychev, a member of the Competition Commission, in the program “This Morning“ on bTV.
According to him, in recent years, within the framework of two antitrust proceedings, the Commission has identified anti-competitive violations by the “Lukoil“ group in Bulgaria for abuse of dominant position and failure to provide access to their tax warehouses and the port terminals Rosenets in Burgas and Petrol in Varna and to the group's oil product pipelines for transporting imported fuels. The sanctions imposed by the CPC are worth over 262 million leva.
The Commission for Protection of Competition has made recommendations for immediate action to the executive branch in order to prevent market distortion and violations in the competitive environment. Among them are the full engagement of all mechanisms under the Law on the Administrative Regulation of Economic Activities Related to Oil and Petroleum Products, as well as the intensification of the work of the Advisory Council to the Minister of Economy and Industry under this law.
“In order to prevent speculation, coordinated actions are necessary on the part of the institutions that have a functional relationship to the sector“, Boychev emphasized.
He stated that specific actions have also been recommended to the special commercial manager of the “Lukoil“ group, one of which is to guarantee equal access for all economic operators in the sector to the company's facilities. Among the recommendations is the implementation of the pricing policy and, respectively, price levels for wholesale sales of fuels, determined in accordance with the acquisition prices of the company's current stocks of raw materials. “It is also important not to allow speculative storage of fuels intended for the market in view of an expected price increase“, said Zhelyo Boychev. The Commission also recommends ensuring, if necessary, alternative supplies of raw materials for fuel production and preparing an analysis of the need for actions to guarantee the stability of the fuel markets in the country. “We recommend that the implementation of the 6-month detailed action plan with which the special manager was appointed by the Council of Ministers be made public“, emphasized Boychev.
He also commented on the sectoral analyses of the food and drug markets that the CPC launched with the aim of studying the competitive environment and distortions in the sector, emphasizing that the Commission continues its active work. “The role of the CPC is to recommend economic and regulatory actions to guarantee market sustainability and effective competition“, said Zhelyo Boychev.