‘We found these two retail gasoline traders guilty of violating the current legislation,’ Head of Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Federal Antimonopoly Service Tatiana Kolotova said at a recent press conference in Yekaterinburg.

Yekaterinburgnefteprodukt and LukoilPermnefteprodukt have been sued for a price collusion that involved AI 76 (80), AI 95 (96), and diesel fuel. The collusion lasted from January 1, 2007 to March 27, 2008.

‘We demanded that both companies must stop colliding. The Service will have to initiate administrative suits and impose some fines on the offenders. The decision regarding Yekaterinburgnefteprodukt and LukoilPermnefteprodukt has not been taken officially yet, but it will probably have been ready by Monday; then the companies will be able to appeal against our decision in court. This is what they might want to do, in fact,’ Tatiana Kolotova observed.

‘As far as the market on the whole is concerned, gas prices are not higher in Yekaterinburg than they are in other Russian cities with the comparable level of economic development.’