Court overturns 4.675-bln ruble fine against Gazprom Neft
MOSCOW. Nov 12 (Interfax) - The St Petersburg and Leningrad Region Arbitration Court Thursday invalidated a ruling by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) that Gazprom Neft abused its commanding position in the wholesale fuel market and a fine of 4.675 billion imposed for abusing that position in the first half of 2009, the oil producer's press office said.
The FAS imposed the fine in August.
The FAS has also imposed fines of 6.54 billion rubles on Lukoil , 5.28 billion rubles on Rosneft and 4.197 billion rubles on TNK-BP in its second wave of action against oil companies for fuel market violations.
The FAS told Interfax that it would challenge the court ruling in favor of Gazprom Neft. It said courts had earlier validated its decisions with respect to Gazprom Neft subsidiaries, and that two of them, Gazprom Neft Urals and Gazprom Neft Kuzbass, had already paid their fines as they had not been able to contest decisions handed down by the FAS regional branches.