Officials from the Commission raided the London offices of BP and Shell, where their trading divisions are based

Motorists who fear they are being ripped off at the pump may soon have their answer after anti-trust officials from Brussels raided the offices of BP, Shell and Statoil over concerns they colluded to manipulate the oil price.

The allegations echo the Libor interest rate-rigging scandal by banks and may have far-reaching consequences for the industry and consumers.

The European Commission said that even small distortions of prices could have a “huge impact” on oil prices, “potentially harming final consumers”.

Officials from the Commission raided the London offices of BP and Shell, where their trading divisions are based, yesterday. It is thought that they were accompanied by officials from the Office of Fair Trading. Officials also turned up unannounced at one of Statoil’s offices in