Antitrust watchdog launches probe into Spain's Exolum over potential abuse

Oct 21 (Reuters) - Spain's competition authority CNMC has opened sanctioning proceedings against Spanish energy logistics company Exolum over three suspected abuses of a dominant position, it said on Wednesday.

• The CNMC is investigating Exolum's alleged imposition of excessive fees and its refusal to grant access to its transport and storage facilities to a competing third-party operator at the northeastern port of Tarragona.

• The potential abuses might have led to consumers facing successive price hikes, the CNMC said, adding that the conduct would have allowed Exolum to maintain high profit margins and strengthen its dominant position in a coastal area of significant economic importance.

• "A third competitor might have seen its right of access to Spain's only pipeline network for the transport of liquid hydrocarbons restricted and, consequently, its ability to compete in downstream markets," it added.

• Exolum said it will cooperate fully with the CNMC throughout the proceedings and that it will exercise its right to defend itself.

• The company said in a statement that it considers its prices reasonable and transparent, and that its conduct complies with competition law and regulations.

• "In fact, price changes for Exolum's main services have been below the rate of inflation every year for the past 25 years and have remained unchanged throughout the recent energy crisis," Exolum said.

• The watchdog has up to 24 months to resolve the investigation.

(Reporting by Javi West Larrañaga in Gdansk; Editing by David Latona and Tomasz Janowski)