Spain investigates Exolum over 3 suspected abuses of dominance
Key Facts
Spain's competition authority has opened sanction proceedings against Exolum to investigate 3 suspected abuses of a dominant position, according to its statement issued on 21 October 2026. The case concerns the terms for providing petroleum product transport and storage services, including fees and access to facilities for a competing operator. The decision to open the case followed the authority's review of reports prepared by its Regulatory Oversight Chamber, alongside a network access dispute submitted to it. The Competition Directorate inspected the company's headquarters as part of its investigation. The proceedings put the practices of Spain's main liquid hydrocarbon logistics operator under scrutiny in a business that combines infrastructure management with fuel transport and storage services.
The suspected practices include charging what the authority described as "excessive fees" for the company's services. The authority believes tariff increases may have allowed Exolum to maintain high margins, one aspect of the suspected abuse of dominance it is examining. It is also investigating a refusal to allow a competing operator access to transport and storage facilities at the port of Tarragona. According to the statement, denying access could limit that operator's ability to compete in downstream markets that depend on the use of these facilities. The case thus covers both the financial terms for using the infrastructure and access to it, with the practices cited remaining suspicions under investigation in the authority's proceedings against the company.
Exolum operates Spain's only national pipeline network, stretching more than 4,000 kilometres, alongside 39 storage facilities, according to the oversight statement published by the competition authority in July 2026. This network makes the company the country's main provider of liquid hydrocarbon logistics services. At group level, Exolum says its operations span 10 countries as part of an international logistics business that includes its Spanish operations. In the latest operating figures in the company's statement on September 2026 deliveries, kerosene deliveries from its facilities to the Spanish market exceeded 821,700 cubic metres. That represents an increase of 7.1% from September 2025, according to the company, which attributed the reported volume to deliveries leaving its facilities for the domestic market.
On financial results, Exolum Group's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation in Spain reached 604.2 million euros in 2025, according to the competition authority. This earnings measure rose 3.6% from the previous year, according to figures published in the statement overseeing the company's activities. The authority's annual report attributed the growth to higher income from investee companies, which increased by 316.6% during the same year. Net profit after tax for the group's Spanish operations reached 386.0 million euros, an annual increase of 1.9%. The Spanish business thus recorded growth in both measures during 2025, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rising faster than profit after tax, according to the authority's annual comparison.
The group's investments in Spain totalled 119.8 million euros in 2025, according to figures cited by the competition authority in its oversight statement published in July 2026. This figure covers investment by the group's operations within Spain during the year, across its domestic transport, storage and logistics activities. On service pricing, the authority's annual report put the average effective price at 0.997 euro cents per litre in 2025. This average relates to petrol and diesel handling, transport, storage and delivery services within the logistics activities covered by the report. It is a calculated effective price for services relating to these two products over the stated annual period, while the new investigation proceedings concern suspected excessive pricing practices and the terms of a competitor's access to facilities.
The regulatory framework requires operators of petroleum product transport and storage facilities to allow third-party access through negotiation, according to the authority's annual report. The technical and economic terms of access must be "non-discriminatory, transparent and objective", governing the relationship between facility owners and operators seeking to use them. Facility owners must also notify the authority of access requests, contracts concluded and amendments to them, and fees for using the facilities, according to an explanation of the sector's obligations published by the authority. These obligations enable oversight of market entry conditions within the regulatory framework governing transport and storage facilities. For the case announced on 21 October 2026, the authority set a maximum period of 24 months from the opening of proceedings to complete the investigation and issue a decision. It stressed that opening sanction proceedings "does not prejudge" the investigation's final outcome.