Repsol lasts a battery of legal arguments to defend against the sanctioning file opened by the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) for an alleged dominant position abuse. The oil company “flatly” rejects the accusations of the agency chaired by Cani Fernández, who questions the additional discounts offered to customers through its Waylet application, where nine million users already accumulate.
The CNMC accuses Repsol of taking advantage of an alleged dominant position in the wholesale hydrocarbon market to make additional discounts to its customers, thus harming independent service stations.
According to the supervisor, this strategy would have included increases in wholesale prices applied to third competitors, eroding their margins and limiting competition in retail fuel distribution.
Repsol discounts launched just after the VAT reduction in the fuels that the government had applied and at a time of strong social pressure from the carriers, who claimed lower prices in a scenario of energy crisis, disappeared.
For his part, as explained by the company to the election. Specifically, the oil company has a month to elaborate its defense arguments.
The company will argue that it does not maintain a dominant position in the wholesale distribution market and ensures “strictly with competition regulation.”
In addition, Repsol denies any exclusive intention and gives as an example that the independent stations increased their results in 2022, thus contradicting the main part of the accusation formulated by the competence responsible agency, which is processing this file with the maximum possible stealth, according to the process of knowledge of the process.
For its part, the CNMC maintains that these practices could constitute a violation of both article 2 of the Competition Defense Law and Article 102 of the Treaty of Operation of the European Union.
The file has its origin in complaints made by the National Association of Automatic Service Stations (AESAE) and the Association of Independent Hydrocarbons Marketers. The investigation included a home inspection at the Repsol headquarters carried out in December 2023. Paradoxically, competition has subsequently excluded access to this file to the complainant associations when considering that they are not interested.
The resolution of this conflict will be key to the future of competition in the Spanish energy market and could sit important precedents for digital fuel marketing through mobile applications.
Receive 315 million for your green hydrogen projects
The Government has finally awarded Repsol a total of 315 million euros to boost its green hydrogen projects in Bilbao and Cartagena, within the program of the European Common Interest Project (IPCEI) Hy2use. IDAE, an agency assigned to the Ministry for Ecological Transition, has published the final resolution proposal that confirms these amounts in the aid of European funds to energy for its electrolyte projects in Cartagena and Bilbao.
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