China’s Independents To Sue Oil Majors Over Fuel

From Reuters:

Frustrated by an unsteady trickle of overpriced fuel, China’s independent oil firms hope to sue the country’s two energy giants Sinopec and PetroChina under a new anti-monopoly law, Chinese media reported on Monday.

The companies have crushed their smaller rivals as they fought to protect their own bottom line from the impact of unprofitably low state-set fuel prices, the Beijing News reported.

Two-thirds of the country’s 663 independent wholesalers have gone bankrupt and one third of its 45,064 independent service stations had also closed, the paper said, citing a survey by the China Fuel Distribution Association.