The company issued a news release saying it was surprised to take note of the regulator’s decision in connection with the withdrawal of Premium E4 gasoline from the market. The investigation report’s conclusions are seen as “entirely unjustified and unproven”.
Romanian antitrust regulator Tuesday fined six top players in the oil industry, including OMV Petrom (SNP.RO) and Rompetrol Rafinare (RRC.RO), with a total amount of around 880 million lei (EUR205 million) for having breached competition laws.
Although it did not attend talks between companies, Rompetrol was fined “because it knew what the others are doing, and acted accordingly”.
In reply, Rompetrol said it has never expressly or tacitly approved any joint plan (to pull the gasoline mentioned from the market). Furthermore, the company says it complied with legal provisions that imposed the selling of Premium E4 gasoline until January 1, 2009, after which production would be switched to comply with Euro 5 norms.
According to the news release, the Rompetrol group ceased Premium E4 production in November 2008, and it continued sale until stocks were depleted.
Should the challenge the regulator’s decision in court, companies fined need to post bail worth 10% of the fine.