Follow-up: Rising petrol prices: does the oil and fuel market lack transparency?

Do rising petrol prices signal a lack of competition in the oil and fuel markets? To complement the contributions to ifo Schnelldienst 11/2012, Andreas Mundt, President of the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt), explains the reasons for drafting a bill to establish a market transparency unit for the fuel market at the Federal Cartel Office. In his view, the ongoing reporting of fuel purchasing prices does not seem to be absolutely necessary in order to get to the bottom of predatory strategies. Cases of suspected abuse of 'margin squeezes' can also be detected using the published quotations for refined products. Targeted queries in suspicious cases could reduce the bureaucracy involved on the part of both the oil companies and the market transparency unit, without the authorities losing any information.