Federal Antimonopoly Service chief Igor Artemyev knows how to contain the gasoline prices.
Photo: Dmitry Dukhanin
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Antimonopoly Service Spots Subject of Collusion
Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) lashed out at Moscow Fuel Association Wednesday. FAS said its statement about forthcoming advance in prices was illegal and pledged to probe into the Association to spot the calls for cartel collusion.
For chief of Federal Antimonopoly Service Igor Artemyev, the highlight of the yesterday’s news conference was the gasoline prices. Artemyev's agitation could be blamed on the statement of Yevgeny Arkusha, head of Moscow Fuel Association.
Arkusha vowed August 8 the prices for gasoline will surge in September with a liter of A-95 going up from today’s 19.5 rubles to 21 rubles and A-92 soaring from 18 rubles to 20 rubles, but specified that the decline will follow some time later.
The Antimonopoly Service set into motion, the decline reservation notwithstanding. The bureaucrats remember no cases of downward movement in prices after the seasonal growth.
But the main point is that FAS got suspicious, thinking oil companies stage the price collusion on the market again. Past year, the government had to impose moratorium on the increase in gasoline prices and a special provision to fight cartel collusions was added to the Antimonopoly Act. But this Act takes effect only October 1 and oil companies have all September at their disposal.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 10, 2006
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