UK: OFT denies second look at oil market

After receiving a petition to open a new inquiry into the UK’s oil market, the Office of Fair Trading announced it has denied the requests and noted that the regulator’s January probe did not yield “any credible evidence” of suspected price-fixing. The investigation, which lasted for five months, was closed but a petition was launched for a new inquiry into the petrol market following the European Commission’s investigation into the oil market. The Commission conducted dawn raids in some of the largest oil firms in Europe to investigate allegations of price-fixing. The US has similarly looked into various gas companies for the same reason. Lobby group FairfuelUK sent the OFT a petition with 32,000 signatures asking the regulator to take another look at the market; five MPs were among those to present the OFT with the petition. The announcement comes just one day after the OFT said it was reviewing whether to lodge a new investigation in conjunction with the Serious Fraud Office and the Financial Conduct Authority. The SFO stated it was “urgently reviewing” whether to launch the probe.