PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, September 29 (Itar-Tass) — The Kamchatka regional government has concluded an agreement with local fuel traders to lower gasoline prices.
On October 1, the prices for AI-92 and AI-95 will be reduced by 50 and 40 kopecks to 32.9 and 34.5 roubles, the government press service told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
The regional authorities have taken the level of retail automobile fuel prices on the peninsula under special control, the press service noted.
Their talks with the major fuel supplier -- Kamchatnefteproduct -- and the Kamchatka Fuel Union, which unites owners of gasoline stations, resulted in the agreement to reduce the prices in two stages. The first was in mid-September.
The prices will go down 50 kopecks to one rouble on the average for gasoline and only 20 kopecks for diesel, Governor Vladimir Ilyukhin said, commenting on the situation. According to him, local filling stations reduce the prices at their expense by lowering their incomes.
Though the Russian suppliers' wholesale prices rose one rouble over the past month alone, the Kamchatka enterprises have found a possibility not only to hold in check but even lower retail prices, Ilyukhin noted.
The governor said the territory's government would raise the issue for the federal government’s consideration to have the wholesale fuel prices reduced for the region. The main wholesale supplier for Kamchatka is NK-Rosneft, which accounts for about 70 percent of the supplies for Kamchatka companies.
"We have already asked Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin to set a fixed price for fuel for the peninsula," he said.
"Kamchatka is a remote region with a complex energy system, and a sharp rise of fuel prices has a very negative impact on the entire process of the region's social and economic development. So, we will insist on settlement of the issue, and there is confidence that we will find understanding on the federal level," he added.