Mexican Regulator Fines LPG Distributors In Cartel Probe

The Board of Commissioners of the Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece or Commission) fined a total of 2 thousand 414 million 51 thousand 954 Mexican pesos to 53 companies and 34 persons acting on their behalf, for colluding to fix, raise, arrange and manipulate the distribution price of liquified petroleum gas (LP Gas) through plants and sale at service stations.

LP gas is the most widely used domestic fuel in the country and, in accordance with the National Survey on Energy Consumption in Private Homes of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, eight out of ten families use it astheir main fuel for cooking.

From January to June 2022, the value of the total sales of LP gas at the national level increased to more than 36 billion Mexican pesos, according to data from the Energy Information System of the Ministry of Energy. 

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Once the trial-like procedure was concluded, the Board of Commissioners of Cofece determined that there were enough elements to prove the absolute monopolistic practices conducted by the alleged distributors – which are part of the Soni, Nieto, Tomza, Simsa, Global, Uribe and Metropolitano groups- in Mexico City and some municipalities of the State of Mexico, Culiacán, Colima and Tamaulipas.