Australian Institute of Petroleum

On 2 April 2020, the Australian Institute of Petroleum (AIP) applied for authorisation on behalf of itself, its current oil refiner members, and future parties to discuss, enter into, or give effect to, any contract, arrangement, or understanding between them (including with customers for wholesale fuel, suppliers of crude oil and finished fuel products, suppliers of import and storage facilities, and suppliers of trucking and delivery services) with the broad purpose of ensuring the security of supply of fuel products and facilitating the efficient use of refining capacity and fuel storage capacity in Australia during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

AIP sought authorisation for 12 months from the date of the ACCC’s final determination.

On 3 April 2020, the ACCC granted interim authorisation, subject to conditions which broadly required that:

• AIP must notify the ACCC of any material arrangements
• the ACCC may request information from AIP, and
• any other parties wishing to obtain the protection of interim authorisation must be approved by the ACCC.

On 20 May 2020, the ACCC revoked and replaced the interim authorisation. The new interim authorisation requires that:

• AIP must report to the ACCC on each meeting conducted pursuant to the authorisation and any implementation or operational activities subsequently undertaken by authorised parties
• the ACCC may request information from AIP or any other authorised party, and
• any other parties wishing to obtain the protection of interim authorisation must be approved by the ACCC.

On 13 July 2020, AIP confirmed that the Applicants are seeking substantive authorisation for the conduct described in the interim authorisation of 20 May 2020.

On 23 July 2020, the ACCC released a draft determination, proposing to grant conditional authorisation for 6 months from the date of the ACCC’s final determination.

On 10 September 2020, the ACCC issued a final determination granting conditional authorisation until 31 March 2021. If no application for review of the determination is made to the Australian Competition Tribunal, the authorisation will come into force on 2 October 2020.

Further information on the application for authorisation and the ACCC’s decision is available through the links below.