France’s anti-trust authority has imposed a fine totalling €187.5m ($217.3m) on TotalEnergies, Rubis and EG Group for engaging in an anti-competitive agreement that led to higher fuel prices in Corsica.
The Mediterranean Island of Corsica depends on cars for transportation, and all fuel imports there are distributed through Dépôts Pétroliers de la Corse (DPLC) depots.
DPLC is jointly owned by TotalEnergies, Rubis and EG Group.
The penalty follows an investigation into agreements that restricted access to these fuel depots.
The investigation began after a 2022 complaint from Ferrandi, another fuel distributor operating on the island.
According to the regulator, between 2016 and 2023, no other companies were allowed to use these depots.
In its statement, the regulator said: “The agreement to reserve the use of Corsican fuel depots exclusively for DPLC shareholders is anticompetitive and likely to foreclose competitors to the detriment of consumers.”
TotalEnergies responded by stating that the authority’s position, following four years of probes and several hearings and on-site visits, is not backed by any “tangible evidence” of any potential anti-competitive impact on the island.
The company said the decision is based only on a 2016 contractual clause governing access to these oil depots for shareholders who have made investments in them.
A contractual fuel supply arrangement was also available to those distributors who were not shareholders of the depots, the French oil and gas company said.
TotalEnergies stated that it “regrets that the Authority did not recognise that this clause had no adverse effect either on the local distributor in Corsica, which filed the complaint, or on consumers on the island”.
The company said it has supplied fuel to Corsican residents for 60 years and currently operates a network of 47 service stations across the island.
It reduced the fuel prices by €0.20 per litre in 2022 and capped prices at €1.99 since 2023, a measure still in effect.
TotalEnergies said: “Our company struggles to see, under these circumstances, how it could have engaged in anti-competitive practices and will therefore appeal this decision before the Paris Court of Appeal.”
