Fuel prices should be transparent and available for agricultural producers

The fuel prices should be transparent and available for Russian agricultural producers – this is the opinion of the members of the Russian Federation Council, who were discussing this question today. The senators approved the statement concerning the state of fuel pricing in the Russian market, the news-service of the Federation Council reports.

In opinion of the Federation Council the existing order for fuel pricing in the country and the system of interrelations between the participants of the fuel products market don’t meet modern requirements of the country’s social-economic development.

The analysis of the activity of the largest vertically integrated oil companies in Russia, based on the data of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service and its territorial divisions, revealed the facts of numerous violations of the Russian anti-monopoly legislation, said in the document. The activity of these companies is the evidence of non-transparency of fuel pricing both for the key branches of Russian economics and the final consumers.

Besides, as the senators underscored in their document, the fuel pricing for agrarians remains the question of paramount importance, especially during the seasonal field works. The rise of fuel prices can directly lead to the serious consequences in Russian agriculture, to aggravation of the financial positions of the agrarians and to reduction of the competitive ability of the Russian agricultural output.

Taking all abovementioned into account the Federation Council recommends the Russian Government to undertake the following steps, enumerated in the statement. When working up the measures for development of the competition with the purpose of demonopolization of the fuel products market it is offered to take the necessity to create equal and free access to the circulation of oil products in the Russian market into account. Besides, the senators consider that it is necessary to determine the order of the non-discrimination access to the infrastructure for transportation of oil and oil products. The measures for toughening of the penalties for creating the artificial shortage of oil products in the market by its participants should be worked up too. The Russian Government should introduce the federal bill, regulating the relations in the oil branch to the State Duma, including the sphere of oil products trade in the commodity exchanges, the access of oil organizations to the services for oil transportations through the oil-trunk pipelines and development of small and medium business in the oil branch.

The senators turn the attention of the Government RF to the necessity to raise the power security of the country on the base of diversification of its fuel-energy balance and provision for the stable, predictable and economically reasonable oil products prices in the Russian market.