Oil companies are accused of manipulation in fuel exchange market

As Kommersant thought, FAS has finally initiated a case in respect of the oil companies for manipulations in the stock exchange market. The participants of the case became Rosneft, Bashneft, Lukoil and its affiliate. According to the chairmen, these companies could hold within seconds the deals on SPIMEX due to which the wholesale fuel price in Jan-September rose by 34-35%. Meanwhile the fines that might be imposed on the oil companies are not high – about 600 mln roubles for all. But FAS already considers an opportunity of initiating new cases.

FAS has reported of the initiation of cases in respect of Bashneft, Rosneft, Lukoil and its affiliate Lukoil-reservnefteprodukt due to the signs of manipulation in the stock exchange market, i.e. violation of part 4 of article 11 of the law on competition defense. The decision was made on the results of the analysis of the oil markets monitoring. FAS found out that in Jan-September in the off-exchange segment the rise of AI-92 and AI-95 petrol price made up about 20%. At the same time in the stock exchange wholesale segment the price of AI-92 rose by 34%, of AI-95 – by 35%.