OREANDA-NEWS. October 22, 2009. The Vologda dismissed the claim of Regional Arbitration Court "LUKOIL-Volganefteproduct" Ltd. and "Enticom-Invest" Ltd. on invalidating the decision and determination of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia), that established that the companies fixed and maintained the same level of prices for petrol and diesel fuel in the region in a concerted manner, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

On 11th March 2009, the Vologda OFAS Russia found that "LUKOIL-Volganefteproduct" Ltd. and "Enticom-Invest" Ltd. violated Clause 1 Part 1 Article 11 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition". The companies violated the law by engaging in January-October 2008 in concerted actions in the local retail markets of oil products in the Vologda region, which led to fixing (maintaining) the same prices for oil products: petrol grade А(80), А92, А95,and diesel fuel.

The antimonopoly body issued determinations to eliminate the antimonopoly violations and fined these companies the total sum 179,591,892Rubles.

"Only "LUKOIL" and "Enticom" sell petrol in seven local markets. This means that in seven districts of the Vologda region people come to buy petro only to their service stations because there are no other service stations available. Instead of competing with each other, these two companies acted in a concerted manner to fix and maintain their prices. Another important fact - those companies in the Vologda region are led by a mother and her son. Abroad they would not understand such a situation, as it's contrary to the nature of competition", said Vyacheslav Khlevchuk, the Deputy Head of the Vologda OFAS Russia.