OREANDA-NEWS Against the background of a reduction in gasoline and diesel fuel production at Russian oil refineries and a record increase in stock prices, owners of gas station networks in the regions began receiving letters from the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). Izvestia writes about this with reference to market participants.

Pavel Bazhenov, President of the Independent Fuel Union (NTS), pointed out that in recent weeks the departments of the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the Ministry of Energy have regularly demanded to talk about fuel reserves or explain the increase in prices for it.

The press service of the antimonopoly authority confirmed that they are sending requests as part of monitoring compliance with legislation on the fuel market. After analyzing the information, the FAS can issue warnings to owners of gas station networks, as was the case in the Tver and Tyumen regions.

According to Bazhenov, the actions of regulators are understandable, however, due to the lack of safety reserves among fuel market operators, some of them cannot afford to trade at a loss. As a result, the lack of funds leads either to the suspension of gas station operations or to higher prices for them. And if small chains faced problems at the end of the summer, now the crisis has affected even large and backbone enterprises in the regions with dozens of gas stations.