The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of six subsidiaries of ConocoPhillips by Russian oil and gas company Lukoil.

<p>The European Commission&#0039;s investigation has found that the proposed transaction would not impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it, as the parties activities only overlap to a limited extent.<br /><br />The six ConocoPhillips subsidiaries concerned by the proposed transaction are predominantly active in operating motor fuel retail service stations in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, Luxembourg, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. The purchase would effectively see Lukoil take control of around 380 Jet-branded forecourts across Europe.<br /><br />The commission&#0039;s examination of the proposed transaction showed that the horizontal overlaps between the activities of Lukoil and the six ConocoPhillips subsidiaries within the EEA are limited to the retail sale of motor fuels in Finland, Hungary and Poland, and to secondary distribution storage within Finland. <br /><br />In all markets concerned, the combined market shares would be relatively low and below a level where the companies could affect either the supply or the prevailing price in the market, the commission concluded.</p>