Italy hits six oil firms with $1 billion antitrust fine | Business

MILAN, Italy, Sept 26, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Italy's antitrust regulator said Friday it has slapped Italian energy giant Eni and five other companies with fines totalling more than 936 million euros ($1.1 billion) for "restricting competition" in the sale of fuel. The authority said in a statement that Eni, Esso, Ip, Q8, Saras and Tamoil "coordinated to set the value of the bio component factored into fuel prices", which tripled between 2019 and 2023. A probe following a whistleblower's complaint revealed that "the companies implemented parallel price increases -- largely coinciding -- which were driven by direct or indirect information exchanges among them", the authority said. "The cartel began on 1 January 2020 and continued until 30 June 2023," it...