London, Sep 6 (IANS): The British Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced it will launch an investigation into the prices of petrol and diesel to see whether a fall in oil prices is being transferred to customers.
The OFT Wednesday issued a call for information on Britain's petrol and diesel sector, saying that its review will address competition issues and worries about price coordination, reported Xinhua.
The retail road fuels sector in Britain is estimated to be worth around 32 billion pounds. Britain's petrol prices rose by 38 percent between June 2007 and June 2012, and diesel prices by 43 percent over the same period, according to the OFT.
The body said that in light of continuing public concern about pump prices, it is asking the industry, motoring groups and consumer bodies to submit pricing information.
The OFT will explore a number of claims about how the road fuels sector in Britain is functioning, including whether reductions in the price of crude oil are being reflected in falling pump prices.
"We are keenly aware of continuing widespread concern about the pump price of petrol and diesel and we have heard a number of different claims about how the market is operating," said Claire Hart, director at OFT.
After information is gathered over the next six weeks, the plan is to publish the findings in January 2013.