Russia: Competition Body Urges More Coordination Among Refiners

The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service wants oil firms to disclose and coordinate maintenance work at refineries to avoid a repetition of sharp gasoline and diesel price spikes, an agency official said.

Alexander Pirozhenko, head of the service’s energy section, said the measure would be the first in a series of actions by his office to guarantee a competitive environment.


Gasoline prices are a politically sensitive issue, and oil firms have said they have informally agreed to cap price rises ahead of the March presidential election.

But a spike in inflation, which shot out of government control in the past months, will most likely prompt oil firms to drop the agreement earlier, analysts say.

“The competition on the market is at big risk. If we — government and oil firms — don’t take large-scale action, the government could respond [to products price spikes] in such a way that no one would benefit,” Pirozhenko said Thursday.

Reuters