RusEnergy

18.03.2005 10:54 [Neftegaz.ru] - The head of Russian Antimonopoly Service Igor Artemiyev in a panel session of the Russian Cabinet, held on Thursday, accused the national oil and gas majors LUKoil and Sibneft of arranging with other companies, what had led to simultaneous rise of petroleum prices in several regions at a time. According to the antimonopoly officer, the oil firms might be fined for the violation of antimonopoly legislation, investment company Unicom Partner informs. By the way, beleaguered oil firm Yukos paid such a fine of $2.5 mln worth in February. Pavel Danilov, the head of Analytical Department of Unicom Partner, noted that oil producers need severely to prove the feasibility of price increase and not to allow similar precedents to occur again. Otherwise, those companies, who have a significant petroleum market share, might face new fines. Now all the companies are rejecting to admit guilt.