Translated material
Gone are the “times of Beria”
Ukrainian antimonopoly authorities acquitted Russian oil workers
Ukraine has officially announced that it has no claims against Russian oil companies selling fuel in the republic. According to the head of the Antimonopoly Committee (AMC) of Ukraine, Alexey Kostusev, his department closed the case against Russian companies on suspicion of cartel agreement in the oil products market. At the same time, he assured that he would continue to monitor the activities of the holdings, and would also “strongly support the efforts of Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko aimed at establishing order in the country’s oil products market.”“We are not enemies of entrepreneurs, but allies. If we do not have evidence, for example, of collusion, we will not pull it out of thin air and, as they say, sew the case. I believe that the times of Lavrenty Beria are over, and we firmly stand on the position of legality, objectivity and impartiality,” Mr. Kostusev convinced journalists yesterday. “There was no evidence or documentary evidence of the conclusion of agreements (on collusion. - Ed. ) by enterprises in any form or evidence of the implementation of an agreed competition policy when setting prices for gasoline and diesel fuel,” echoed the representative of the department.
However, the committee continues to clarify the share of the companies Ukrtatnafta, LINOS and LUKOIL - Odessa Oil Refinery in the wholesale market, which can reach 50% and indicate a monopoly position of the companies. In addition, AMK fined the TNK-Ukraine Trading House approximately 60 thousand dollars for incomplete information provided as part of the investigation, and another 10 thousand dollars for inaccurate data on the business trips of its employees.
Russian oil companies occupy two thirds of the Ukrainian oil products market and supply about 90% of oil to the country. LUKOIL owns the Odessa oil refinery, TNK-BP - Lisichansky, Ukrtatnafta (a subsidiary of Tatneft) - Kremenchug, the Alliance group together with Kazakhoil - Kherson. In April, the Lisichansky and Kherson plants were closed for repairs.
The keen interest of the Ukrainian antimonopoly authorities in Russian oil companies arose in early April, after the price of automobile fuel rose in the country (by the way, a similar situation has developed in Russia). Then Mr. Kostusev stated: “If the companies do not provide justification that there is real competition between them, the committee will recognize them as monopolists. If signs of abuse of its monopoly position are detected, AMK may even resort to introducing state regulation of prices for gasoline and diesel fuel.”
True, the Ukrainian authorities did not wait for the end of the investigation. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko accused gasoline traders of planning to “make extra money on the population of Ukraine and the agricultural complex” by raising prices for fuel and lubricants on the eve of the sowing season. In her opinion, the Russian owners of Ukrainian refineries have “gathered into a monopoly cartel.” Already in mid-April, the government established a maximum cost of fuel for gas stations. Oil workers said that at such prices they would trade at a loss. Businessmen even complained to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. “At a high government level, the possibility of reprivatizing oil refineries owned by Russian companies, in particular the Lisichansk Oil Refinery, is being discussed, and the planned shutdown for repairs of the Lisichansk and Kherson Oil Refineries has been announced as almost the main reason for the rise in prices,” their appeal said.
TNK-BP and LUKOIL nevertheless agreed to freeze prices until the end of May. Although this did not bring relief to the Ukrainian government: in the middle of the month, gasoline shortages began, and in addition, oil exports to the republic decreased significantly. President Viktor Yushchenko, who had previously practically not intervened in this conflict, criticized the government and invited Russian companies to start relations with a “clean slate.”