OREANDA-NEWS. February 25, 2014. The issue was discussed on 13th February 2014 by the Federal Antimonopoly Service with representatives of business community at a meeting of the Working Group on oil and gas chemical complex. Currently the market players operate under the long-term contracts.

The meeting, chaired by Deputy Head of FAS Russia, Andrey Tsyganov, was organized to fulfill the order of the Government of the Russian Federation to devise the mechanisms of stimulating long-term agreements between suppliers of raw materials and infrastructure companies in oil- and gas chemical sector. The business community was represented by “SIBUR”, “Gazprom”, “Bashkiria Soda Company”, “Rosneft”, “FosAgro”, “Acron”, “Minudobrenie” OJSC and Russian Chemists Union.

According to the Head of FAS Divisiton for Chemical Industry, Karina Badalova, structural problems in this field include local and bilateral infrastructure monopolies that can geneate conditions for consumer discrimination in the part of both the tariffs for their services and volume distribution.

“Performance of vertically-integrated companies on these markets is a separate issue”, pointed out Deputy Head of FAS Department for Control over Chemical Industry and Agro-Industry, Sergey Vershinin. “Primarily such companies provide raw materials to their subsidiaries and then supply raw materials to independent consumers with whatever funds remain. In misbalance of raw and refining capacity, it can also lead to discriminating independent consumers”.

In the FAS opinion, approaches to resolving another dramatic issue - prices for raw materials – can be considered from different aspects: using world price indicators, exchange indicators, prices calculated on the basis of export alternatives or using the cost plus method.

According to Andrey Tsyganov, formalizing the arrangements reached under the framework of the antimonopoly law is possible in such forms as FAS determinations or recommendations, decisions on the outcome of considering notifications on draft long-term agreements by economic entities, as well as amendments to the Law on protection of competition that give the Government of the Russian Federation the right to adopt the rules of non-discriminatory access to the goods sold by dominant economic entities – natural monopolies operating under limited competition.

Having discussed possible ways of resolving the problems, the meeting participants agreed to discuss the issue in a month, with each party presenting their substantiated positions.