Wednesday, June 2 2021 17:34

ArmInfo.There will be no reduction in the oil and gasoline prices for 4 years - all antimonopoly bodies of the EAEU were notified of this. This was stated on June 2 by  Chairman of the State Commission for the Protection of Economic  Competition of the Republic of Armenia  Gegham Gevorgyan in the  parliament during the preliminary discussion of the annual report "On  the execution of the state budget of the Republic of Armenia for  2020".

According to the head of the State Commission, at this stage, the  department is trying to understand how "cheaper gasoline appeared on  the Armenian market." "And if this is an import from another country  and it is actually cheaper, then you need to understand - it is sold  at a lower price, or at the same price, because they mix fuel of  different quality," he said.

At the same time, as Gevorgyan pointed out, quite serious changes are  taking place in the gasoline market.  Currently, as a result of the  elimination of artificial barriers, in addition to traditional  players, new ones have appeared. The head of the SCPEC found it  difficult to recall the names of the importing firms.

Touching upon the information that a new player has appeared on the  gasoline market in the person of the new owner of RAS-Oil, Gegham  Gevorgyan officially assured that there are no documents proving the  fact of the acquisition of the company by anyone.

Earlier in the media there were reports that  owner of the SIL  Concern Khachatur Sukiasyan acquired the RAN oil company, which is  engaged in the import and sale of petroleum products. The press  secretary of the SIL Concern owned by Sukiasyan Anna Mkrtchyan  confirmed the information.  There were also reports in the press that  importers buy very cheap Iranian gasoline and sell it in Armenia with  an almost tenfold mark-up. It was noted that in Iran gasoline costs  30 drams at gas stations, while in Armenia it is sold for 380-390  drams. At the end of March, this information was denied by the head  of the SCPEC. Among the documents that the State Commission receives  from importers of gasoline, there are no invoices where such a low  price would appear, Gevorgyan stressed. Nevertheless, Gevorgyan  admitted that since the beginning of 2021, the import of Iranian  gasoline and oil products has grown significantly: Iran has become  their main supplier to Armenia, while in the previous years 80% or  more of gasoline and diesel fuel were imported to Armenia from  Russia. Perhaps this was due to the low price of Iranian gasoline.  But this does not affect the quality in any way. "At least the Market  Inspection Body informs us that gasoline that does not meet the  quality standards of our country is not sold on the market," he said.