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File on 4: Petrol Prices

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Petrol Prices

25/06/2013

BBC Radio 4 - File on 4, Petrol Prices

Are petrol prices manipulated to keep them artificially high?

Are petrol prices being kept artificially high? Gerry Northam investigates claims that the international oil markets are open to manipulation.

The way in which oil is traded on commodities markets is coming under close scrutiny. Last month, officers of the European Commission raided the London offices of BP and Shell along with Norway's Statoil company and the leading price reporting agency Platts. They said they were investigating claims of collusion to manipulate the prices of oil and biofuels on the international markets.

A leading city insider tells File On 4 that the price-reporting mechanism for oil is 'wide open to abuse'

So are petrol prices being kept artificially high by hidden forces beyond the normal workings of supply and demand ? 

Gerry Northam investigates and asks whether British regulators are proving slow to recognise the potential problem.

Producer: David Lewis.

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