PRESS RELEASE

ENERGY: ANTITRUST AUTHORITY LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO BUSINESS OF LPG CYLINDERS FOR DOMESTIC USE IN SARDINIA

This follows many complaints over retail prices on the island being almost double those in the rest of the country. The Authority is to ascertain whether the conduct of ENI, Butan Gas, Fiamma 2000, Liquigas, Sarda Gas Petroli di Antonio Pisano & C. and Ultragas Tirrena, all wholesale bottlers and distributors, constitutes an anti-competitive arrangement to the detriment of consumers.

The Italian Competition Authority, at its meeting on 24 April 2008, decided to investigate ENI, Butan Gas, Fiamma 2000, Liquigas, Sarda Gas Petroli di Antonio Pisano & C. and Ultragas Tirrena to determine whether their conduct could amount to an anti-competitive arrangement in the market for bottled LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) for domestic use in the Region of Sardinia, to the detriment of consumers.

The Authority has received via the Prices Oversight Commissioner numerous complaints from consumers about price increases for bottled LPG for domestic use, specifically within the Region of Sardinia. In particular, the complaints indicate that retail prices of LPG cylinders are significantly higher than in the rest of Italy (almost double).

Documentation in the Authority's possession, though covering the years 2005-2006, reveals an almost total correspondence of the wholesale prices and their fluctuations amongst the main bottlers and distributors of LPG cylinders in Sardinia, as well as a strong correlation in the movement of the retail prices of bulk and bottled LPG as recommended by the main suppliers, even though the absolute prices were different. There also seems to be a significant difference, as the consumers complain, between the retail price of bottled LPG in Sardinia compared with the rest of the country.

The investigation, which must be completed by 30 April 2009, will ascertain whether, in an oligopoly such as the market for wholesale bottling and distribution of LPG cylinders in Sardinia where, besides, consumers cannot use alternative fuels for domestic use, there has been collusion in establishing the suppliers' commercial strategies. Specifically, such coordinated conduct may have taken place by way of joint setting of prices and other contractual conditions to be applied to resellers, as well as through market-sharing arrangements.

The decision was notified today during a number of inspections carried out by Authority personnel with the assistance of the Guardia di Finanza's Nucleo Speciale Tutela della Concorrenza e del Mercato.

Rome, 6 May 2008