Russia: New claims from FAS threaten oil companies

Gasoline prices in Russia, which broke through their previous maximum level in the wholesale and retail segments last week, have begun to decline. There is no consensus about the future dynamics among the participants of the market: some sources of the Kommersant expect there to be new price records against the background of the repair of the refineries, others believe that the potential of the growth is exhausted. FAS, which, according to the Kommersant, considers the current level of prices the maximum allowable and made ​​it clear to oil companies that it is ready to start a new wave of antitrust cases, which may influence the situation.

According to the Russian Statistics Committee, in July, retail gasoline prices in Russia increased by 1.5% as compared with June, reached 31.3 rubles per liter of 92 octane on the average. In annual terms, the growth made up 10%, exceeded the dynamics of inflation (7.5%). Like last year, July became a month of rapid growth of wholesale prices: index of AI-92 on SPIMEX increased by about 17%, eventually reached the maximum rate in the history of trading and passed the mark of 40 thousand rubles per ton.