The fraud suffered by the fuel sector is causing a fiscal hole that already exceeds 3,000 million euros in our country at the hands of organized crime. An analysis carried out by Informa D&B, in collaboration with elEconomista.es, for the preparation of the Ranking of the most important companies in the sector – ESP250 Energy – reveals that ten of the eleven energy companies that grew the most in turnover in Spain during the year 2023 were companies dedicated to the distribution of oil and other fuels.
This situation is especially striking since the previous year was neither characterized by high prices nor by a strong increase in demand that justifies these growths. In fact, the total turnover of the largest companies in the sector was reduced by 20%. compared to the figures recorded the previous year, as shown in the Informa D&B analysis.
The ten companies that appear leading this ranking collectively invoiced 3.8 billion euros, registering growth rates that are outside the parameters of the sector, which necessarily places them in the focus of the Tax Agency.
We find proof of this in Biomar Oil, the company at the top of the list, has already been disqualified by the Government for its fraudulent practices.
This distributor registered a growth of 4,259% and had a turnover of 1,069 million in a year in which total fuel consumption decreased by 1.2%, according to data from the Strategic Reserves Corporation (CORES). Along with it, other companies appear such as Hatta Energy with a growth of 1,235% and 1,181 million euros in turnover or Olivia Petroleum with an increase in its sales of 605% to 839 million euros.
In the case of Hatta Energy, despite this strong growth, the bank decided to close access to new accounts this year, which led to a complaint from the company to the CNMC to continue operating. In the case of Olivia Petroleum, which works largely in the tax area of the Free Trade Zone of Cádiz, the company faces a claim from the Tax Agency (AEAT) for an alleged fraud of 40.3 million due to non-payment of the VAT on its activity with hydrocarbons.
Regarding the rest of the companies, it is unknown at the moment if the Tax Agency is carrying out any type of investigation on them to analyze the reasons for such surprising jumps in their income.
These strong increases in billing in oil product distribution companies have also been recorded in previous years’ editions of the ESP250 Energía, where notable increases were already noted in companies such as Carburantes Teruga (1,670%), Operador Petrolificador Martín López (3,145% ), Drachma Inversión (3,177%), Jadash Petroleum (3,144%) or Gaslow Supplies (335%).
For the moment, the Government has decided to disqualify Gaslow Abastecimientos, as well as the companies Everton Magnific, MarTankShip and Me doil Energy 2050, in addition to Biomar Oil, and it is expected that this list will continue to grow in the coming months.
Modus operandi
Biomar is a clear example of the modus operandi of these operators. The company was registered in the list of wholesale operators of petroleum products of the CNMC in January 2009. Since its incorporation and until 2021, it belonged to the Pérez Ramón family. In 2021, the last year in which it belonged to said family, Biomar had a turnover of 24.5 million euros and losses of 1.2 million euros.
In 2022, the company was acquired by the Wiredbase holding company, without turnover, and became part of the TCM group, which in turn was established in 2022. A few months after its incorporation, TCM acquired the Buran Group, dedicated to the sector. of hydrocarbons, continuing its operations. The Buran Group included Buran Energy (in liquidation); Buran Operadora, (in liquidation); Buran Infraestructuras, Tancar, ODT and Buran Red. Buran Operadora had been disqualified in July 2020 for failing to comply with the regulations on minimum security stocks and biofuel obligations (it was fined 1,268,500 euros) and has been in liquidation since 2023. This company is also included in the list of defaulters of the AEAT with a debt in 2022 of 16.7 million euros.
Already within the TCM structure, Biomar achieves this strong turnover growth of 4,259% and presents profits of 5.3 million.
Just like what happened with Buran, Biomar also requested its liquidation in 2024when it was investigated for biofuel fraud and went bankrupt, its activity passed to the company Bio-Zenite.
TCM is the holding company of a set of subsidiaries focused on the hydrocarbon sector that includes Tancar. Tancar belonged to Buran and had a storage terminal and fiscal warehouse in the Port of Escombreras in Cartagena (Murcia), where the entire process of unloading ships, storage, additives and loading trucks is carried out.
The holding also had ODT, which also belonged to Buran until it was acquired by Wiredbase in 2023. ODT has a liquid bulk and biodiesel storage terminal in the Port of Malaga where the entire unloading process is carried out. of ships, storage, additives and truck loading.
ODT went from a turnover of 2.2 million euros in 2021 to 12.3 million in 2022. The new Bio-Zenite Energy’s corporate purpose is the import, export, marketing, distribution and sale of all types of petroleum products. It has been registered in the List of Wholesale Operators of Petroleum Products since 2019, but has not presented accounts in any year.
In the focus of the AEAT
Given this situation and the strong complaints from the sector, the Tax Agency decided to focus of its Annual Tax and Customs Control Plan for 2024 in the fight against fuel fraud.
The Ministry, headed by María Jesús Montero, recognized that during 2022 and 2023 organized fraud in the marketing of hydrocarbons had been the most active and predicted that “the continuity of these activities is foreseeable throughout 2024.”
Faced with this scenario, the Treasury decided to follow the cases investigated by the judicial authorities or the Public Prosecutor’s Office and accentuate the coordination between the services of the Tax Inspection and the Customs Surveillance, which seem to be beginning to bear fruit with an increase in number of arrests and cases.
This sharp increase in diesel fraud in turn coincides with a change in the structure of the service station sector where Independent companies have overtaken the three major oil companies in terms of number of points of sale.: Repsol, Cepsa and BP.
According to the National Markets and Competition Commission, the number of gas stations grew in Spain last year to reach 12,636 points of sale, driven mainly by the openings of these independent groups.
The market supervisory body assures that this type of facilities already represent 45% of the network, while those of the three operators with refining capacity represent 44% with the data available until December 31, 2023. The unattended model It also continues to grow and now reaches 13% of the network among those totally and partially unattended, but the National Association of Automatic Service Stations (AESAE) assures that this share rises to 20% by having some 2,000 operational gas stations.
According to CNMC data, Repsol closed 2023 with 3,221 points of sale, six less than the previous year. Cepsa ended the year with 1,523, 30 more gas stations and BP fell to 735, with 16 fewer points of sale.
The purchase of Ballenoil this year by Cepsa automatically increases its market share by 4% and could have put the balance back in balance, although for a short time.
‘Low cost’ grows
The race of openings that low cost brands are carrying out such as Plenoil or Petroprix is reducing the market share of large operators and many of their service stations manage to sell product at a price below reference levels.
Last year, Plenoil added a total of 68 service stations, which represents the all-time high number of openings.
Petroprix, for its part, increased its available points of sale in Spain by 40. After having closed the year 2022 with 120 gas stations, the company indicates that it now has 160 points of sale. Ballenoil, for its part, has carried out 41 new openings during the last year. Plenoil, for its part, is already processing the opening of 200 service stations (170 in Spain and 30 in Portugal). This growth in points of sale is also accompanied by a strong increase in liters sold, which has meant an increase of between 31% and 40% compared to the previous year for the main low-cost service stations.
This market loss has forced major oil companies to react both last year and this year with an extensive customer loyalty campaign through its mobile applications.
War for the customer
Repsol, Cepsa and BP began a trade battle to address stagnant fuel saleswhich remain at levels below 2019. The three large distributors are fighting to defend their market share in the face of the slowdown in consumption and strong competition from low-cost gas stations in an environment of volatile fuel prices.
The three major oil companies offer discounts of at least 5 cents on prices, but they add the option of increasing these discounts according to the level of loyalty, which has caused a strong confrontation between the companies to offer discounts and promotions to customers.
The companies have also added cross-sell offers to make your commercial approach more attractive compared to low-cost service stations.
Repsol and Cepsa continue to add greater offers to their products every day. Waylet and Gow loyalty platforms through which they offer additional discounts to their customers not only on fuel.
Both companies maintain their own battle but are also preparing for the emergence of the third player in the BP market, which has launched its miBP application.
The supervisory body opened a sanctioning file against Repsol for offering greater discounts to its customers on fuel with Waylet and, on the other hand, increasing the price of fuel to other suppliers, but for the moment, the CNMC has not yet ruled on said analysis.
Fuel fraud worries and occupies the main people in charge of the sector since they assure that, with the money defrauded, Spain could have built between 4 and 10 new hospitals in our country.
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