On July 11, 2018, CCI passed an order under Section 27 of the Competition Act imposing a penalty on the South Asia LPG Company Private Limited (‘SALPG’) for abuse of dominant position. The information was filed by East India Petroleum Private Limited (‘EIPL’).[1] SALPG, an Indian company established in 1999 as a joint venture between Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (‘HPCL’) and Total Gas & Power India Private Limited (‘TGPI’), is engaged in the business of providing terminalling services, which includes receipt, storage and dispatch of propane/butane/liquefied petroleum gas (‘LPG’) to oil marketing companies (‘OMCs’) at the Visakhapatnam Port.As per the information, EIPL alleged three counts of unilateral conduct by SALPG amounting to contravention of the provisions of Section 4 of the Competition Act. First, that SALPG had imposed certain mandatory conditions on the OMCs that resulted in limiting and restricting the provision of services by EIPL as well as the market for such services. Second, that SALPG was charging exorbitant bypass charges, which limited the economic viability of EIPL’s services for the users. Third, that SALPG controlled the total volume of pre-mixed LPG that could be imported from Very Large Gas Carrier (‘VLGC’) to be bypassed for tank-truck loading. This meant that the remaining gas had to be necessarily transported through the underground storage facility of SALPG, and the practice restricted the business volumes of EIPL.CCI delineated the relevant market as the ‘market for upstream terminalling services at Visakhapatnam Port’. CCI further noted that SALPG was the provider of terminalling services at Vishakhapatnam Port, and therefore enjoyed a monopoly for the provision of such services. Additionally, SALPG will continue to be dominant even on a stream-wise segmentation of terminalling services. On the issue of abuse, CCI undertook an examination of allegations of denial of market access to EIPL by SALPG by way of restriction on EIPL’s access to terminalling infrastructure. On its part, SALPG submitted that the restrictions on access to terminalling infrastructure were justified as they ensured safety and technical feasibility of the entire apparatus, and created business efficiencies. Based on its analysis, CCI concluded that SALPG’s efficiency claims were unfounded, and the denial of access had ensured that a significant capacity of LPG terminal at Visakhapatnam Port remained unutilized over the last seven years. CCI also took note of SALPG’s reluctance to undertake an independent study on safety concerns, which CCI construed as an attempt by SALPG to refuse sharing its terminalling infrastructure.In sum, CCI found SALPG in contravention of Sections 4(2)(a)(i), Section 4(2)(a)(ii), 4(2)(b)(i) and Section 4(2)(c) of the Competition Act, and imposed a penalty at the rate of 10% of SALPG’s average annual turnover generated from the relevant market for upstream terminalling services at Visakhapatnam Port for the Financial Years 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17, amounting to ₹ 192.07 million.[1] Case No. 76 of 2011.