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.
