The British Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced it will launch an
investigation into the prices of petrol and diesel to see whether a
fall in oil prices is being transferred to customers.
The OFT
Wednesday issued a call for information on Britain's petrol and diesel
sector, saying that its review will address competition issues and
worries about price coordination, reported Xinhua.
The retail
road fuels sector in Britain is estimated to be worth around 32 billion
pounds. Britain's petrol prices rose by 38 percent between June 2007 and
June 2012, and diesel prices by 43 percent over the same period,
according to the OFT.
The body said that in light of continuing
public concern about pump prices, it is asking the industry, motoring
groups and consumer bodies to submit pricing information.
The
OFT will explore a number of claims about how the road fuels sector in
Britain is functioning, including whether reductions in the price of
crude oil are being reflected in falling pump prices.
"We are
keenly aware of continuing widespread concern about the pump price of
petrol and diesel and we have heard a number of different claims about
how the market is operating," said Claire Hart, director at OFT.
After information is gathered over the next six weeks, the plan is to publish the findings in January 2013.
