The UK Office of Fair Trading has started a probe into UK gasoline and diesel prices given "continuing public concern" about pump prices, the OFT said Tuesday.
The trade watchdog said in a statement it would gather information over the next six weeks, and plans to publish its findings in January 2013.
"We are keenly aware of continuing widespread concern about the pump price of petrol and diesel and we have heard a number of different claims about how the market is operating," Claire Hart, Director in the OFT's Services, Infrastructure and Public Markets Group, said.
"We have therefore decided to take a broad based look at this sector, to provide an opportunity for people to share their concerns and evidence with us. This will help us determine whether claims about competition problems are well-founded and whether any further action is warranted," Hart said.
The OFT said the UK retail road fuels sector is estimated to be worth around GBP32 billion.
It also said that gasoline prices rose by 38% between June 2007 and June 2012, and diesel prices by 43% over the same period.
"The OFT wants to identify whether or not there are competition problems that it can tackle in the sector," it said.
It is inviting the industry, motoring groups and consumer bodies to submit information.
Among the claims it will explore are: whether reductions in the price of crude oil are being reflected in falling pump prices; whether supermarkets' and major oil companies' practices may be making it more difficult for independent retailers to compete with them; whether there is a lack of competition between fuel retailers in some remote communities in the UK; and whether concerns about price co-ordination and the structure of road fuels markets identified by other national competition authorities are relevant in the UK.
