Friday, December 27 2019 18:30

ArmInfo. Compared to the oil and sugar market, where a slight decrease is observed in the share of households holding a dominant share, the situation in the  gasoline and diesel fuel market has not changed for decades - CPS,  Flash and Max Petrol continue to hold monopoly positions among  traders. Gegham Gevorgyan, Chairman of the State Commission for the  Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC), announced this during a  press conference on December 27.

The main importer of gasoline to Armenia is a subsidiary of the  Russian "Rosneft" company - "Rosneft Armenia", from which all three  of the above companies purchase gasoline, covering about 1/3 of the  market. In this vein, Gevorgyan added that Russia continues to be the  main import market for gasoline for Armenia, whose share is growing  from year to year.

In the diesel market in 2019, there are 18 companies in the Armenian  market, the shares of which, according to him, are insignificant and  have no significant impact on the market. <The number has increased,  but there are no significant changes in terms of volumes. That is,  the main players continue to be CPS, Flash and Max Petrol. We hope  that with the growth of investments, the shares of the various small  companies will gradually begin to grow>, the head of the SCPEC said.

Gevorgyan also drew attention to a number of problems registered in  gas stations. According to him, part of the gas stations conduct  activities that do not comply with legislative requirements,  including those related to location, sanitary standards, quality,  etc. <Failure to comply with legislative standards by one or another  company, ultimately leads to unequal competition>, he emphasized.

At the same time, according to him, according to a SCPEC study, it  was revealed that the actual cost of gas at certain gas stations is  much lower than the average cost of gas obtained as a result of  calculations by the corresponding department of the SCPEC. At the  same time, Gevorgyan ruled out dumping, since we are talking about  small companies. "We will be following this trend for several months  to understand what's the matter - either the companies are trying to  adapt to the market, or here the issue is related to shadow  turnover," the head of the State Committee for Protection of Natural  Resources said.

Regarding domestic services, Gevorgyan reminded that the "  AEG-SERVICE"  company which was selected by Gazprom Armenia, is  engaged in this.  In addition, "AEG-SERVICE" is dominant in servicing  gas filling stations (47.6%) and companies located in non-apartment  buildings (47%). The dominant share in terms of servicing gas  distribution stations falls on "TRANSGAS" Co.Ltd. In this regard,  Gevorgyan noted that the SCPEC submitted its proposals to the  government with the aim of holding discussions on the current  situation in order to find solutions.

Recently, gas supplies from Iran to Armenia have increased, and an  agreement is being prepared on the start of deliveries from  Kazakhstan.

In 2019, under the new indicative balance, it was planned to supply  183 thousand tons of gasoline to the republic, of which 155 thousand  tons are of Russian production. In addition, 191 thousand tons of  diesel fuel (155 thousand tons - Russian production), 48.2 thousand  tons of jet fuel (10.2 thousand tons of Russian production), as well  as 2.2 thousand tons of paraffin (completely Russian production).

It should be noted that, according to the RA Customs Service, in the  first half of 2019, Armenia increased the supply of natural gas from  Russia by 8.1% to 1 016 109 thousand cubic meters, against a decline  of 13.6% a year earlier for the same period. In value terms, imports  respectively increased by 18.8% to $ 167.7 million. Import of  liquefied natural gas from Russia increased by 31.6% to 4,598.6 tons,  while the cost increased by 30.3% to $ 1.9 million