2002/792/EC: Commission Decision of 20 December 2001 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market and the EEA Agreement (Case No COMP/M.2533 — BP/E.ON) (Text with EEA relevance) (notified under document number C(2001) 4527)

• Articles: 5

Article 1

The notified operation whereby BP, together with E.ON, would acquire joint control of Veba within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation is declared compatible with the common market and the EEA Agreement.

Article 2

Article 1 is subject to compliance with the conditions set out in points 1, 2, 3, 8 and 9 in connection with 30 of Annex I and in points 1 and 2 of Annex II.

Article 3

Article 1 is subject to compliance with the obligations set out in points 4 to 7 and 10 to 29 of Annex I and in point 3 of Annex II.

Article 4

This Decision is addressed to: BP plc Britannic House

1 Finsbury Circus

London EC2M 7BA United Kingdom E.ON Aktiengesellschaft Beningsenplatz 1 D - 40474 Düsseldorf

Done at Brussels, 20 December 2001.

For the Commission

Mario Monti

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 395, 30.12.1989, p. 1; corrected version OJ L 257, 21.9.1990, p. 13.

(2) OJ L 180, 9.7.1997, p. 1.

(3) OJ C 246, 12.10.2002.

(4) OJ C 246, 12.10.2002.

(5) Parts of this text have been edited to ensure that confidential information is not disclosed; those parts are enclosed in square brackets and marked with an asterisk.

(6) Turnover calculated in accordance with Article 5(1) of the Merger Regulation and the Commission Notice on the calculation of turnover (OJ C 66, 2 March 1998, p. 25). To the extent that figures include turnover for the period before 1 January 1999, they are calculated on the basis of average ECU exchange rates and translated into EUR on a one-for-one basis.

(7) See Cases COMP/M.1628 - Totalfina/Elf, COMP/M.2345 - BP/Erdölchemie, IV/M.361 - Nesté/Statoil, IV/M.550 - Union Carbide/Enichem.

(8) Cases COMP/M.1628 - Totalfina/Elf, IV/M.361 - Nesté/Statoil, IV/M.550 - Union Carbide/Enichem. In case M.2092 - Repsol Chimica/Borealis, the Commission left open whether the relevant market was local or wider, but in the area at question (the Iberian peninsula) there were no ethylene pipelines. The geographic scope of the ethylene market was also left open in COMP/M.2345 - BP/Erdölchemie.

(9) See Case IV/M.361 - Nesté/Statoil, 17.2.1994.

(10) Although DEA was to a limited degree active in downstream ethylene derivatives production until early 2001, their entire production on the ARG was available to the merchant market. DEA's downstream activities were located off the ARG at Heide/Brunsbüttel and thus were not supplied via the ARG.

(11) See Case COMP/M.1751 - Shell/BASF/JV Project Nicole, 29.3.2001.

(12) See, for example, Case IV/M.1383 - Exxon/Mobil, 29.9.1999.

(13) The pipeline is actually owned by Ruhr Oel GmbH (ROG), a 50/50 joint venture between Veba and the Venezuelan oil company PdVSA. [...]*.

(14) The others are owned by Exxon, FAO (a 65/35 JV between Atofina and Exxon), BASF and Dow.

(15) See Case COMP/M.1671 - DOW Chemical/Union Carbide (OJ L 245, 14.9.2001, p. 1).

(16) Case COMP/M.2299 - BP Chemicals/Solvay/HDPE JV, 29.10.2001.

(17) i.e. the published contract price for the third quarter.

(18) Third parties [...]* can obtain [...]* discounts from these figures. [...]*.

(19) The port authority of Rotterdam is currently building a pipeline link from Rotterdam to the ARG on the basis of Shell's Moerdijk pipeline, see the Article "Investing in pipelines" in ACN/CMR/ECN, Port of Rotterdam supplement, September 2001, pp. 21 to 22.

(20) See the Commission Notice on remedies acceptable under Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 and under Commission Regulation (EC) No 447/98.

Schedules & Appendices

ANNEX

The full original text of the conditions and obligations referred to in Articles 2 and 3 may be consulted on the following Commission website:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/ competition/index_en.html