Australian PM says oil firms need to be investigated by price regulator

Oil refining and marketing companies in Australia could be profiteering at the expense of motorists and need to be closely investigated by the government's price regulator, Prime Minister John Howard said. He was commenting after gasoline prices in Sydney jumped around 10 cents a litre to A$ 1.08, the second time within two weeks of a sharp price jump near a public holiday.
Asked if he thought there might be profiteering going on, Howard replied: "There could be: He said he is glad the government's price regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, is investigating. "I would encourage (ACCC Chairman) Professor Fels to throw the book at the oil companies if there's been anything untoward done, if there's been any collusion," Howard said.

The prime minister said the high gasoline price chiefly reflects the high global oil price. "But the extra bits that come and go around holiday times are very irksome and I can understand the anger of motorists," often on holidays or at weekends, he said. "We will insist that the ACCC use its power to root out any collusion that is occurring between the oil companies," he said.
The local refining industry is dominated by four major companies, namely local units of BP, ExxonMobil, and Shell Group. The other concern is Caltex Australia, which is 50 % owned by Caltex, a joint venture of Chevron and Texaco. The other half of Caltex Australia is owned by local shareholders.