Is there STILL an oil cartel in Galway?

The following is a long and rather rambling post. Please bear with me, or, at least, read the last two paragraphs of my post.

As many of you know, most of Galway's oil distributors were suspected of being part of an oil cartel about two years ago, following an investigation by the competition authority. It was said during the court proceedings at the time that the cartel resulted in losses to people like you and I of about 10%. Having done a few sums in the last day or so, I believe that figure to be about right.

I wonder whether operations by Galway oil companies are not entirely squeaky clean today either, despite many distributors being fined by the courts and found guilty of being part of a cartel. Just wondering, like.

Among the companies found guilty of membership of the "Connacht Oil Promotion Federation", i.e. the cartel were:

Corrib Oil
All Star Oil
Hi-Way Oil
Mór Oil
Cloonan Oil
Muldoon Oil
Gort Oil
Flanagan Oil
Matt Geraghty Oil

There may well be more. But that's all I've been able to get from the Galway Independent archives on Google. If someone knows anything more, please post or pm me.

For years, I have rang around all the oil companies in Galway about once a year trying to order the cheapest oil. About three years ago, I remember noticing that while prices for 500 litres of Kerosene varied from operator to operator, those for 1000 litres of Kerosene were exactly the same to the cent! Shortly after I noticed that, allegations of a cartel in Galway hit the media (I had nothing to do with that, or with the investigations of the competition authority, just in case anyone thinks I might).

After the allegations hit the media and the courtcases commenced, I noticed, when doing my usual annual ring-arounds for the cheapest price, that the situation hadn't really changed, bar one: the commencement of The Inquisitions.

By Inquisitions, I mean that my simple query for the price of 1000 litres of kerosene was frequently met by a barrage of questions before I could get a straight answer, i.e.:

What's your name?
What's your phone number?
What's your address?
Do you usually order your oil from us?


"Neanderthal", as I see him referred to on a recent thread on the matter, was the worst offender in this regard, and, on one occasion, when I was repeatedly grilled, then kept on hold, then thrice hung up on abruptly without getting a straight answer to a straight question (i.e. "What is the price of 1000 litres of kerosene?") I wondered whether the poor chap was afraid of my being a journalist (No!), someone working for or reporting to the competition authority (No!), or an enforcer/informer for the cartel (No!). My mistake had been to state from the outset that I was ringing around for prices.

(If I didn't state this from the outset, the tendency was for the oil distributors to assume (or pretend to assume) my query re prices was an order for oil and extract information before answering my query.)

Note that "Neanderthal" is working for one of the companies found guilty of being in the cartel. In his defence, he is probably just an ordinary paid worker doing what he is told.

Still, I felt something was definitely up. And I am wondering if something is still amiss.

Now yesterday, Mr and Mrs Doubleglaze figured our supplies must be getting low and decided I should take 15 minutes to ring around ALL the suppliers in Galway county and order 1000l of the cheapest kerosene. And here were my findings:

I discovered, when I rang the following distributors - Corrib Oil, Geraghty Oil, Cloonan Oil (all found guilty of cartel involvement) also Kelly Oil, Brady Oil and God knows who else- are all members of The Corrib Group. When I rang any one of those operators' phone numbers, I got through to the same person! This group was joint most expensive, at 495 euros, although, by the third of fourth time I got through to the same operator (although I was ringing a different oil distributor each time) they had dropped the price to 470 for one or two of their distributors.

Joint most expensive (again, 495 euros) was the Hi-Way Oil-Gort Oil group, also found guilty of involvement in the cartel. This latter group also includes Sweeney Oil, O Grady Oil, Mitchell Oil, East Galway Oil, Rabbitt/Sweeney Oil. Same thing with these operators, they all have their individual phone numbers, but you are put through to the same person.

The above two groups are about 10% more expensive than the cheapest oil operator in Galway, although there appears to be some minor variations in price allowed within the group...

Second most expensive were the Connell/Texoil/Connolly group (note that Connell oil were NOT found to be involved in the cartel). I rang them yesterday afternoon (Friday the 2nd) and their office was closed. An answering machine wanted me to leave my name and number so that they could get back to me. So, I went to the texoil.ie website, where they quoted 490 euro.

Third most expensive was Suttons Oil at 470, and also Mór Oil at 470 (they don't share the same telephone operator) although Suttons Oil say their price is dropping to 450 on Monday next. (Mór Oil were found guilty.)

Fourth most expensive was the Fenmac Oil/Mc Mahon Oil/Emo Oil group at 460 euro. Also at 460 were Garbally Oil, who are not part of any other group that I am aware of.

Fifth most expensive was Top Oil/Galway Oil/Oil Flow, Carraroe, at 454 euro.

Cheapest of all was Excelsior Oil, at 450 euro.

While I was ringing around the different numbers I kept getting through to two telephone operators, so the Corrib group became aware I was ringing around. They then offered to match the cheapest quote I got.

I have decided against that, however. Instead, I will support the cheapest operator, an operator who has not been found to be involved in any oil cartel, as far as I can see. So, I'm placing my order with Excelsior on Monday.

I really don't see the point of many of these apparantly different distributors having different phone numbers if the customer just keeps getting through to the same two or three phone operators. I can't help wondering, given the history of the cartel in Galway, if this is deliberately misleading, if it is a camouflage of sorts. Perhaps I am wrong to be suspicious. If so, I'm perfectly happy to be put straight. However, I'm posting this in a public forum to get the views of other people and try and establish the true number of oil distribution groups in Galway. Is it one? Is it five? Who is linked to whom? What is the extent of current price-fixing? How much real competition really exists in the oil distribution industry in Galway? Is there still a cartel operating in Galway, but one better able to hide its tracks? If there is no longer a cartel, then it's a matter of forgive and forget the past, but if there still is a cartel, I want to know about it and see what the public can do to put an end to it.

Bottom line: I believe it is in our interest to support the cheap/independent oil distributors in Galway, those who provide the best service to the Galway customer, and we are right to be wary of those companies who were found to be members of the cartel. We must be careful not to let the big expensive group operators put the small cheap independent ones out of business. The cheapest yesterday, by 10%, was Excelsior.