OREANDA-NEWS. June 09, 2008. "Tatneft" OJSC named after V.D. Shashin (Tatneft OJSC) paid 4 896 150 Rubles turnover penalty (Article 14.31 of the Code of Administrative Violations) for breaching the antimonopoly legislation, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia. 

On 26th May 2008, the Federal Arbitration Court of the Moscow District (the Cassation Instance) confirmed validity of the position of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) regarding "Tatneft" OJSC named after V.D. Shashin ("Tatneft" OJSC).

To the history of the case: on 13th August 2007 FAS Russia recognized that "Tatneft" OJSC named after V.D. Shashin ("Tatneft" OJSC) violated Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition" (abusing dominant market position).

The case was initiated upon a petition of "VUMN" Ltd.

"Tatneft" OJSC violated the law by refusing to sing a contract with "VUMN" Ltd. for works and services and creating discriminating conditions for "VUMN" Ltd.

The Antimonopoly Service established that "VUMN" Ltd. exploits mineral resources in the areas of the Makarovskoye and Verkhne-Urat'minskoye oil fields in the Tatarstan Republic.

"Tatneft" OJSC has dominant position on the market of services for processing oil in the Tatarstan Republic and offers services to "VUMN" Ltd. at the Aktashsky station for producing sour oil.

Having considered the case, FAS Russia recognized that "Tatneft" OJSC violated the antimonopoly legislation and issued a determination to eliminate the violations by entering into a contract with "VUMN" Ltd. for the second half of 2007. In addition, FAS Russia decided to impose administrative charges upon the company in the form of fines.

"Tatneft" OJSC disagreed with the decision and appealed to the Arbitration Court.

However, the Moscow Arbitration Court and the 9th Arbitration Appeal Court confirmed the position of the antimonopoly body that "Tatneft" OJSC violated the antimonopoly legislation. The Arbitration Court of the Tatarstan Republic also did not find any grounds to allow the appeal of "Tatneft" OJSC and, therefore, confirmed validity of the FAS Russia's resolution on imposing fines.