The European Commission has begun an inquiry into petrol pricing amid allegations that the full benefit of recent steep falls in the global price of oil are not being passed on to motorists.

Details of the inquiry emerged in correspondence seen by The Times from Neelie Kroes, the EU’s Competition Commissioner.

In the correspondence, Ms Kroes reveals that the Commission had begun a study of the relationship between wholesale fuel prices and pump prices in European countries, after pressure from the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, the European umbrella organisation for motorists’ groups including the AA and RAC in Britain.

She warns that the Commission “stands ready to act expeditiously to stop any anticompetitive behaviour on these markets and thereby protect consumers”.

The inquiry was ordered amid concern that retail prices for petrol and diesel have been creeping higher in EU countries despite the price of crude holding steady at about $45 a barrel since the start of this year.

“Artificially high prices in the fuel market adversely affect millions of European consumers,” Werner Kraus, FIA chairman, claimed in an earlier letter to Ms Kroes.

The FIA has raised specific concerns about unfair petrol pricing in Portugal and Austria, where competition inquiries have already been opened by national regulators.

However, the AA insisted that the Commission’s study would also examine petrol retailing in Britain. It points out that the price of petrol in the UK rose by more than one and a half times the current rate of inflation between mid-January and mid-February.

In the UK, unleaded petrol now averages 90.88p a litre, compared with 86.6p a month ago, adding £2.14 to the cost of refilling a 50-litre tank. The last time petrol prices were at 90p a litre, the price of crude was $68 a barrel.

UK supermarket petrol prices have risen on average 4.98p a litre while non-supermarket prices rose 4.2p.

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