Platts’s oil-price reporting system “could be prone to collusion or distortion,” according to the European Union official in charge of the benchmark probe that led to raids on the premises of BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Statoil ASA. The EU probe is still examining two areas of concern — abuse of dominance and unlawful collusion, Gauer said.
Platts’s oil-price reporting system “could be prone to collusion or distortion,” according to the European Union official in charge of the benchmark probe that led to raids on the premises of BP Plc (BP/), Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Statoil ASA. (STL)
“The mere set up could be prone to collusion or distortion because it doesn’t take much to basically have strange reporting” by companies that participate in the pricing system, Celine Gauer, director at the European Commission’s antitrust unit for the energy industry, said today at a conference in Brussels.
It takes at least a year to review all the documents garnered during and after raids in cases such as the oil probe if the commission plans to open a formal investigation, Gauer said in an interview. Reviewing documents can go faster if the EU decides not to open a formal probe, she said, emphasizing that her comments today were in a personal capacity.
The commission also raided the premises of Abengoa SA and Argos Energies in May looking for evidence in relation to the markets for crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels. Gauer’s comments come after four longtime traders in the global oil market said in a U.S. lawsuit that the prices for buying and selling crude are fixed.
The EU probe is still examining two areas of concern — abuse of dominance and unlawful collusion, Gauer said.
“None of the two avenues is closed yet because we are simply looking at the material” gathered during the investigation, she said.
Kathleen Tanzy, a Platts spokeswoman in New York, couldn’t be immediately reached to comment.
Offers, Bids
Platts has assessed prices for crude oil, petroleum products and related swaps using its market on close process since 2002 in Europe. Traders voluntarily report bids, offers and trades to Platts through e-mails, instant messages and phone conversations in a defined window period each day, which are then used to create end-of-day price assessments for various commodities, including crude oil and ethanol.
“Very often you see that it is not that many transactions or bids and offers that are reported on a day-to-day basis,” Gauer said. “On the basis of these trades, Platts develops independently, or so it seems, its price benchmark.”
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To contact the reporter on this story: Gaspard Sebag in Brussels at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at [email protected]
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
