July 21 is the day scheduled by the Competition Council to impose significant financial sanctions against oil operators accused, among other things, of anti-competitive practices.
The oil market is certainly one of the sectors most criticized by Moroccans. Price fixing, anticompetitive practices, large profit margins, petroleum distributors are in fact engaged in all practices that severely penalize the purchasing power of Moroccans. The Competition Council, which has just finalized a particularly critical report on the sector, after a contentious referral relating to possible agreements on the liquid fuel market, reveals the existence of a decision to combine companies and practices concerted between the members of the Group of petroleum companies of Morocco. The latter are accused of collecting, exchanging and disseminating sensitive information among themselves. For the Competition Council, chaired by Driss Guerraoui, these behaviors can be compared to the agreements prohibited by article 6 of the law on free prices and competition.
Business association
This grouping is thus considered as an employer structure which allows, not only to defend the interests of its members, but also to set up a system of mutualized surveillance between the operators, so that each of them knows on a regular and close, sales made by other competitors. This situation led to the creation and then the aggravation of the oligopolistic structure of the market. This structure still shows, according to data provided by the Competition Council, three major majors who share more than 56% of the market: Afriquia stands at 25%, Vivo Energy, distributor of the Shell brand, with 17% and Total Morocco with 14%.
To put an end to all these practices, the Competition Council decided to pronounce, for July 21, 2020, heavy financial penalties against several operators whose amount is estimated at around 10% of their turnover. Never has such a decision been taken or even envisaged by this supervisory body which is visibly beginning to establish its authority. The same Council had previously refused to cap prices at the pump, following a request by the former Minister of General Affairs and Governance, Lahcen Daoudi. A refusal which has been interpreted as a weakness of the Council faced with the influence and the weight of the lobby of oil tankers which continues to apply a pricing policy which often does not reflect in any way the international situation of international oil prices.
We all remember the famous parliamentary report made public in May 2018 which reports 17 billion dirhams which represented the profit margins of operators made in a context of falling prices internationally. A scandal to which no action was taken when the Moroccans had demanded the return of this unduly pocketed money.
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