EU says not investigating price benchmarks for crude oil

[BRUSSELS] The European Commission said on Monday that it was not currently investigating price benchmarks for the crude oil sector after launching a formal investigation to into possible collusion among three ethanol producers.

The Commission said it had concerns that the three companies may have colluded to manipulate ethanol benchmarks published by price reporting agency Platts.

Its investigation followed a series of unannounced inspections, the first in 2013 looking at the crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels sectors. "The Commission's investigation focuses on behaviours in price benchmarks for the ethanol sector. The Commission is currently not investigating further behaviours in price benchmarks for the crude oil sector," the Commission said in response to an email asking if crude oil and refined products were still being assessed.

REUTERS