May 23 (Reuters) - A commodities trader has sued BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Statoil inthe United States, accusing them of colluding to fix prices inNorth Sea Brent crude oil.
Prime International Trading Ltd, in a proposed class-actionlawsuit filed in White Plains, New York, accused the oilcompanies of misreporting prices of trades in the North Seabenchmark, which sets the price of about 70 percent of theworld's oil.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of a European Commissionprobe into potential market abuse involving the reporting offalse prices to price-setting agency Platts, a unit ofMcGraw-Hill. Authorities last week raided the Londonbureau of Platts and the offices of the three oil majors namedin the lawsuit.
BP (BP.)
