OREANDA-NEWS. October 02, 2009. TNK-BP is ready to sell at commodity exchanges and auctions all of its oil products intended for the internal market and its own subsidiaries, said Nikolai Gorelov, representative of the company. TNK-BP sent a letter on this to the Federal Antimonopoly Service, added he, reported the press-centre of TNK-BP.

By the end of 2009, TNK-BP will be selling up to 15% of its fuel through commodity exchanges, including up to 66,000 tons of gasoline, up to 44,000 tons of diesel fuel, and up to 10,000 tons of jet fuel a month, Mr. Gorelov explained. Since the beginning of trading at commodity exchanges, TNK-BP sold about 50,000 tons of oil products, and the volume of its sales on the internal market in the first half of 2009 amounted to approximately 5.05 million tons.

The letter to the Federal Antimonopoly Service does not specify when the company will be ready to sell 100% of its oil products through commodity exchanges, said Mr. Gorelov. This will require solving all the problems hampering the development of exchange trade, such as the limited number of buyers at commodity exchanges and attraction of state customers there, noted he.

The oilmen “are now offering measures that the Federal Antimonopoly Service recommended them earlier”, Anatoly Golomolzin, Deputy Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, commented on the proposal of TNK-BP.

Competitors of TNK-BP are not rushing to commodity exchanges. Rosneft will increase its supplies to commodity exchanges if this proves to be expedient for the company, said a representative of Rosneft. Lukoil is selling all the gasoline produced on the market and does not want to trade with itself through commodity exchanges, said Vagit Alekperov, President of Lukoil.

Even for larger volumes, exchange prices will remain at the same level as on the free market, but it will be more difficult for the Federal Antimonopoly Service to raise claims against high prices, holds an employee of one of the oil companies. Prices practically do not differ so far: the price of Ai—92 gasoline from the Komsomolsky Oil Refinery was 31,300 rubles per ton, whereas its average price in the Far East District was 31,450 rubles per ton (according to the data provided by the information center Kortes).