Russia: FAS Officials File Anti Monopoly Suit Against TNK-BP & Lukoil

Anti-monopoly officials in Russia accused subsidiaries of Anglo-Russian venture TNK-BP and Russian oil company Lukoil of a pricing conspiracy. Russia's Federal Anti-monopoly Service announced in December it was considering a series of measures against domestic oil companies for manipulating prices on the domestic market. FAS officials said they wouldn't tolerate "unjustified" increases in price.

The FAS has filed a suit against subsidiaries of TNK-BP and Lukoil for cooperating on gasoline prices in central Russia, Russia's state-run news service RIA Novosti reports. The companies control about 70% of the market in the region.

The FAS in April accused Gazprom of exploiting its dominant market position regarding access to a gas transportation system.

Gazprom and Russian oil company Lukoil were fined by the FAS in 2008 for coordinating to fix the price of gasoline and diesel. The companies had set identical prices for domestic fuel from the end of April to mid-June 2008.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had criticised the firms for keeping energy prices high while concerns were expressed that prices were falsely controlled.

PETROLWORLD 21/02/2011