Brussels, 25/01/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is expected to give its view on 9 or 16 February on the merger of French oil companies Elf and TotalFina, it was confirmed on Tuesday by the spokesman's service for the Competition Commissioner. In order to respond to concern expressed by the Commission, mainly concerning the dominant presence of service stations of the two petroleum companies on motorways, Elf and TotalFina presented further commitments at the end of last week. These commitments cover, according to information provided by Total: i) the sale of 70 petrol stations of the two brand names on motorways; ii) the sale of interests in oil pipelines and in stocks of finished products; iii) the sale of certain assets for the logistics and distribution of liquified petroleum gas (LPG); iv) the opening of infrastructures for supplies to the two French airports of Lyons and Toulouse.
The Commission had opened a detailed inquiry on 6 October and agreed in December to refer part of the examination of the case to the French competition authorities. The latter are examining the aspects of the merger concerning the storage of finished petroleum products in the areas around Port la Nouvelle in the south of the country, in the Parisian region and around Lyons. Without transfers, the new entity would have represented half of the fuel refining capacities in France and nearly 60% of the volume of fuel sold on motorways. The merger of the teams of the two companies should be concluded at the end of the year, creating the fourth largest oil company worldwide. The repurchase operation of Elf by Total, ending mid October, represented the sum of EUR 52.59 billion.