25 May 2010 18:07

Supreme Court upholds 1.1 bln rubles fine on TNK-BP

MOSCOW. May 25 (Interfax) - Russia's Supreme Arbitration Court has upheld a fine of 1.1 billion rubles against TNK-BP for abusing its commanding position in the petroleum product market.

The Supreme Court overturned rulings by lower courts that had reversed the fine, imposed by the Federal Antimonopoly Service.

An Interfax correspondent reports from the court room that the Supreme Court denied TNK-BP the opportunity to contest the FAS decision.

FAS chief Igor Artemiyev said this was a key ruling by the Supreme Court. "It is valuable from the point of view of general practice, a precedent," he said.

Consumers need to know that fuel prices will not only stop growing but should also start to come down in price. He said oil companies paid $5 billion-$10 billion in dividends for last year, but that he thought gasoline was overpriced by 15%-20%.

TNK-BP has a month to pay the fine.