Last
week the national government said it was calling for an
official investigation into allegations that the country’s five major
oil
companies are in league to charge more for the bulk sale of diesel than
what
they do in the fuel service station network. PetrolWorld Global News Service has been following the story.
Federal Planning Minister Julio De Vido accused the companies,
including Repsol-YPF and Shell, of pocketing a profit of 3.5 billion pesos a
year by selling bulk diesel at a higher price than in the retail market. De
Vido predicted no problems in sorting out the problem with Repsol-YPF, but he
said Shell was a different matter because its local chief executive, Juan José
Aranguren, “opposes” the government.
The story almost turned out to be completely
the opposite when the oil companies met with government officials to discuss the
diesel price issue on Wednesday of last week. Shell had released a statement two
days earlier on Monday denying the allegations of any diesel overpricing on its
part. But Aranguren attended the talks. Repsol-YPF, not Shell as first
expected, was meanwhile blasted after the meeting by Vice-President Amado
Boudou (acting president while Fernández de Kirchner recovers) for also denying
any overpricing. The argument could really be about the national government’s
aiming to cap diesel prices to limit transport fare increases.
PetrolWorld 220112
See also Friday 20th Jan & Wednesday 18th January 2012
