French Competition Watchdog Fines Fuel Companies $218 Million After Cartel Probe
By Edith Hancock
France's competition watchdog fined several road-fuel companies a total 187.5 million euros ($217.9 million), saying they had formed a cartel in Corsica.
The Autorite de la Concurrence said Monday that it fined TotalEnergies Marketing France, two subsidiaries of Rubis Group and EG Retail. It said shareholders of the Corsican group Depots Petroliers de la Corse--which is majority owned by Rubis--implemented anticompetitive practices likely to exclude rivals.
The regulator said the companies entered into a contract to secure an exclusive right of access to petrol depots in Corsica and made competitors purchase fuel under conditions imposed by them.
That meant that rivals incurred higher costs due to multiple markups overlapping, the watchdog said, which could ultimately drive up prices for consumers. "Since membership in the contract was conditional on being a shareholder of DPLC, nonshareholder operators found themselves in a relationship of subjugation to shareholders for their supply, even though the latter were their direct competitors," it said.
The regulator started investigating road-fuel companies in 2021 over suspected anticompetitive behavior. TotalEnergies Marketing France received the highest penalty at 115.8 million euros.
The companies didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Write to Edith Hancock at edith.hancock@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 17, 2025 08:23 ET (13:23 GMT)
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