Prime Minister's statement on unfair competition in oil market

Chisinau, July 4 /MOLDPRES/-  I have been waiting for the Competition Council to go to court regarding the oil companies and I am waiting for it to take note of other important sectors as well, such as the collection and marketing of grain, the marketing of fertilizers or, for example, the media market, which we know how monopolized and exploited it has been. Prime Minister Dorin Recean made the statement at a TV show on Wednesday evening, referring to unfair competition on the oil market.

"There are areas where the Competition Council needs to move a bit faster. The institution must defend its position in court and defend the result recorded today. We must encourage competition and we must punish its lack or sublimation in all areas. This is the only way to have the best quality and the most affordable prices for the citizens of the Republic of Moldova", the Prime Minister said.

The Competition Council announced on Wednesday a fine of around 480 million lei (€24 million) for six oil companies after finding that they had entered into an anti-competitive agreement aimed at coordinating prices on the market. The fines range from 1.1 million lei to 191 million lei per company, depending on their turnover.

The investigation in this case was initiated in 2021 and covered the period from March 2019 to January 2021. Thus, the Competition Council found that six companies present on the retail market of petroleum products had allegedly entered into an anti-competitive agreement "to coordinate the marketing prices of petrol, diesel and liquefied gas".