[more below WSJ article]
BRUSSELS -- ExxonMobil Corp. and other companies are being investigated by the European Union on suspicion of fixing prices for a material used in making asphalt, EU officials said Thursday.
A separate probe is under way involving Bayer AG and other companies that may have colluded in producing chemicals used in tire rubber, said Amelia Torres, a spokeswoman for the European Commission, the EU's executive body.
She refused to identify any of the companies involved, saying the investigations were at a preliminary stage. EU fines in price-fixing cases can run as high as 10% of an offender's world-wide annual revenue, if found in breach of EU competition rules.
ExxonMobil spokesman Dmitri Schildmeijer confirmed that three of its offices were raided this month in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium by EU officials. He said the company was "fully cooperating with the investigation." The EU carried out the raids on Oct. 1 and 2 in the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Belgium, Ms. Torres told reporters Thursday.
Officials said that probe centers on whether the companies were colluding on fixing prices on bitumen, a petroleum byproduct used in making asphalt for road surfacing.
Ms. Torres said a separate investigation centered on whether chemical companies had set up a cartel in rubber products. Those raids were carried out Sept. 26.
Roland Ellmann, a spokesman for Bayer in Germany, said the raids took place Sept. 26 at Bayer headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany, and involved "chemicals for rubber."
The EU probes were first reported in the Financial Times.
Bayer has been the subject of previous EU cartel probes. In 1988, the company was fined for joining with petrochemical producers who rigged markets for products used to make plastics.
ExxonMobil, the US oil group, has been raided by European anti-trust investigators as part of a wide-ranging probe into allegations of price-fixing in the chemicals sector.
Bayer, the German chemicals group, was also raided as part of a separate investigation into allegations of a cartel in the market for rubber chemicals, used to make tyres.
Crompton, a US chemicals group, also said its rubber chemicals operation was under investigation in the US and the EU. The raids, which are believed to have affected other companies, are part of the European authorities' efforts to crack down on cartels.
Raids are only the beginning of a price-fixing investigation, which can last for a number of years, and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by ExxonMobil, Bayer and Crompton.
ExxonMobil confirmed yesterday that officials from the European Commission visited its central European headquarters in Hamburg at the beginning of last week.
It said the officials, who had not announced their visit, talked to ExxonMobil managers. "They did not take files away, they did not confiscate anything. But they made copies of documents," the company said.
The Commission declined to comment.
However, people in the industry said the Commission's investigation focused on allegations of price-fixing in the market for bitumen.
About 16m tonnes of bitumen were traded in Europe in 2000, with about 95 per cent supplied by fewer than 20 companies, according to the European Committee for Standardisation, an industry body. Competition experts said the probe was likely to involve a number of companies in several European countries.
Separately, Bayer confirmed that its offices in Leverkusen, Germany, had been raided by officials seeking information on chemicals used in rubber manufacture.
Royal Dutch/Shell, the petrochemicals company, has been raided by European anti-trust investigators as part of a wide-ranging probe into allegations of price-fixing in the chemicals sector.
Shell confirmed on Thursday it was raided in an investigation into the pricing of bitumen chemicals. It followed a Financial Times report that ExxonMobil, the US oil group, Bayer, the German chemicals group and Crompton, a US chemicals group, had been raided by commission officials.
Bayer and Crompton are under investigation in the US and EU into allegations of a cartel in the market for rubber chemicals, used to make tyres.
The raids, which are believed to have affected other companies, are part of the European authorities' efforts to crack down on cartels.
Raids are only the beginning of a price-fixing investigation, which can last for a number of years. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by ExxonMobil, Bayer and Crompton.
ExxonMobil confirmed on Wednesday that officials from the European Commission visited its central European headquarters in Hamburg at the beginning of last week.
The company said the officials, who had not announced their visit, talked to ExxonMobil managers. "They did not take files away, they did not confiscate anything. But they made copies of documents."
The Commission's investigation is focused on allegations of price-fixing in the Benelux markets for bitumen.
Some 16m tonnes of bitumen were traded in Europe in 2000, with about 95 per cent supplied by fewer than 20 companies, according to the European Committee for Standardisation, an industry body. Competition experts said the probe was likely to involve a number of companies in several European countries.
Separately, Bayer confirmed that its offices in Leverkusen, Germany, had been raided by officials seeking information on chemicals used in rubber manufacture.
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