Some 120 gas stations grouped in ‘Affected by Oil Companies’ sue Repsol, Moeve and BP for 600 million

MADRID Dec. 31 () –

Some 120 service stations, grouped in the ‘Affected by Oil Companies’ platform, have filed a lawsuit against Repsol, Moeve and BP for 600 million euros, understanding that they have set fuel prices for 30 years, as reported through a statement.

According to the platform, this first claim, which will be joined by more gas stations in the coming weeks, comes after the “confirmation” by the Supreme Court of the existence of a prohibited practice based on the fact that oil companies (Repsol, Moeve, BP ) “directly and indirectly set the sales price at service stations.”

For this reason, the Platform for People Affected by Oil Companies (APP) has filed the first of the demands it is preparing in December 2024.

The platform indicates that the Supreme Court has referred to the ruling of the CJEU of April 20, 2023 and to the “evidence” that the same indirect mechanisms for fixing prices were present in the industry and exclusive supply lease contract that is the subject of the procedure. prices detected by the CNC in its 2009 resolution, “so there is a personal material, temporal and geographical or territorial coincidence with respect to the contracts examined by the CNC,” according to said platform.

“And it expressly points out that a restrictive practice of competition such as price fixing harms the general interest, distorts free competition in the market and “can harm and generate damage to the assets of the economic operators involved in the market,” he said. secured the platform.

In his opinion, the ruling establishes “undoubtedly” the existence of “collusive practices” in the market followed by the three oil companies and as a consequence of it a way is opened for both consumers and users as well as service stations to claim. harmed, “since all of them have suffered the damage derived from said practices.”

Specifically, this first lawsuit requests the nullity of the contracts and calculates the economic effects that the “anti-competitive practice” has had for the more than 100 service stations that have currently joined the platform, the estimated amount of which amounts to to 600 million euros.

The platform indicates that, so far, the volume of service stations that have joined the platform represents a “very small” percentage, around 5%, of the total number of potentially affected gas stations, which is why it continues to be accepted applications for membership and expects to “significantly” increase demand in the coming months.