The antimonopoly service of Russia will force Gazprom to buy pipes from the manufacturer

On March 15, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia made a statement, which, in particular, states that it was completed by the investigation regarding the supply of large diameter pipes to OJSC Gazprom. The verification established that since 2005, Gazprom has purchased large quantities of steel pipes from a limited circle of enterprises that have not had their own production capacities and, in turn, purchased metal products from Russian pipe companies. It is reported by ITAR-TASS.

The pipeline plants of the Russian Federation did not take part in the competitions held by Gazprom mainly due to the fact that the declared volumes exceeded their technological capabilities, the report said. According to the antimonopoly service, the practice of Gazprom to order such amounts of steel pipes at a time, "in fact eliminated the possibility of manufacturers to supply products directly, bypassing the intermediary, thereby limited their ability to actively compete with each other."

As a result of the audit, the auditors of the FAS found out that Gazprom OJSC purchased steel pipes of large diameter mainly from three suppliers: Northern European Pipe Project LLC (STPP LLC), LLC Trading House Pipe and Stroypromadetal LLC. It was established that the companies developed pipe supplies to Gazprom facilities and then distributed their The quotas at the metallurgical plants of Russia.

"Given the positive socio-economic factors, the commission recognized the behavior of the market participants permissible in accordance with the requirements of Article 13 of the Law on Protection of Competition. However, further refusal to compete in the market or participation of pipes producers in a limiting competition of the agreement will be considered by the antimonopoly authority as a gross violation of Article 11 of the Law on Protection of Competition and if such violations will be imposed on the guilty fines"-"- The chairman of the commission, State Secretary of the FAS Russia Andrei Tsarikovsky commented on the decision.