Court gives Shell Argentina green light to lift gasoline prices

Argentina’s efforts to keep gasoline prices down were dealt a setback after a federal court issued a temporary restraining order in favor of Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s local subsidiary, which had challenged a government order that sought to roll back price hikes. Shell “is studying” the court ruling and has not made a decision about pump prices, a company official told Dow Jones Newswires. In August, Commerce Secretary Guillermo Moreno asked oil companies including Shell; Esso, a unit of ExxonMobil Corp.; Petrobras Argentina, a unit of Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA; and YPF SA, a unit of Spain’s Repsol SA to return prices to July 31 levels. But only Shell had increased pump prices in August, raising them by about US$1.70 per liter. Shell was the only company to challenge the price cap in court and the current ruling applies only to Shell. (October 8, 2010)