S Korean court rescinds cost collusion verdict on refiner S-OilPosted by Lambert MacGregor on January 26th, 2021 The Seoul High Court has reversed a decision imposed on S-Oil by the country's Fair Trade Commission in May in 2014 for rate collusion, a court official told Platts Monday. Under the High Court decision, the Won 43.8 billion ($ 38.6 million) penalty that S-Oil paid to the FTC last November will certainly be gone back to the company with interest, disallowing any type of appeal submitted with the High court. Information of the High Court judgment are not known. S-Oil, the nation's third-largest refiner, invited the ruling, saying in a declaration Friday that "the fine has actually harmed the business's track record yet the court judgment would certainly clean up misunderstanding as well as uncertainties." When called Monday, the FTC decreased to discuss whether it would file an allure with the High court. In amino trimethylene phosphonic acid atmp in 2014, the antitrust watchdog formally got neighborhood refiners-- S-Oil, SK Advancement as well as Hyundai Oilbank-- to pay Won 252.5 billion ($ 212.7 million) in fines for colluding in the retail oil market to keep pump rates unnaturally inflated. The watchdog charged the refiners of having conspired not to offer their oil products to retail stations that were currently provided by a rival in order to assure secure market shares as well as maintain rates high. " The collusion has actually robbed fuel terminals of chances to choose refiners, which has restricted reasonable competition," the FTC claimed then. It "successfully obstructed possibilities of cost lowering through competition." The nation's second-biggest refiner, GS Caltex, was fined Won 177.1 billion in the exact same instance, but the FTC exempted it from repayment, granting "kindness" for its voluntary report to the watchdog regarding the collusion. SK Innovation, South Korea's most significant refiner, as well as No. 4 refiner Hyundai Oilbank likewise paid their fines of Won 133.7 billion and also Won 75 billion, specifically, in November in 2015 to the FTC, yet both firms refuted wrongdoing and also filed requests in 2014 with the High Court. The latter has yet to issue its judgment on these two situations. When called Monday, an SK Innovation official stated: "We are not in position to claim something about the [S-Oil] court judgment because our situation is still in progress." SK Technology controls 35% of the nation's 13,000 retail pump stations, GS Caltex 27%, Hyundai Oilbank 21% and also S-Oil 15%.Like it? Share it! More by this author |