OREANDA-NEWS. April 16, 2014. “Today the Federal Antimonopoly Service rivets attention to retail and small wholesale market of oil and oil products. In September 2014 we plan to present a comprehensive analysis of those markets”, stated the Head of FAS Department for Control over Fuel-and-Energy Complex, Dmitry Makhonin, at the XI International Conference – Exhibition on “Modern Gasoline Filling Station and Petroleum-Storage Depot: Oil Products Market in Russia”.

Dmitry Makhonin discussed further steps in the monitoring carried out by FAS. In the near future it will be possible to see fuel prices on an on-line map of Russia, which will be accessible at FAS official web-site. The data on the map shall be updated weekly. “In our opinion, such information will be important for both consumers and market participants. The map will reflect the real price situation based on monitoring carried out by FAS regional Offices”, emphasized the speaker.

“In the recent years the number of antimonopoly violations exposed by regional FAS Offices on the markets of oil and oil products has considerably decreased due to the normative legal acts adopted under the “third antimonopoly package” as well as the “three waves” of cases initiated against vertically-integrated companies”, pointed out Dmitry Makhonin. “Thanks to all those changes relations on the market of oil and oil products became more civilized”.

Next the speaker drew the audience’s attention on the issues of exchange trading. He presented the results of exchange trading with oil products in 2013, and specified the conditions when sales through exchange trading are recognized as regular and uniform. “Today over 10% of the oil products on the domestic market are sold through exchange. There are all necessary preconditions for developing exchange trading with oil. In FAS opinion, the optimal amount of oil sales through exchange shall be 5% of oil production. Such amount must secure real access of consumers to raw materials”, said Dmitry Makhonin.

“Recently, oil companies have been actively coordinating their trading policies with FAS”, reminded the speaker. “These documents and their enforcement practice shall be an important step in shaping more transparent, non-discriminatory relations on the markets of oil and oil products in the Russian Federation”.

In conclusion, Dmitry Makhonin announced a recent decision of the Presidium of FAS Russia that information towers of gasoline-filling stations placed in close vicinity to the roads do not constitute advertising. It resolves numerous disputes between local self-government bodies and oil companies.