FAS proposed to tighten the rules for trading fuel on the stock exchange – Kommersant

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia has proposed tightening the criteria for identifying unfair trade in petroleum products to combat trading robots. According to the department, if the wholesale price of fuel increases by 5% per week, the percentage in the application for the purchase of fuel should be proportionally reduced. Thus, unscrupulous traders will not be able to buy large volumes of fuel and create risks of excessive demand at exchange trading, the FAS press service told Kommersant.

“For example, now the indicator is set at 35% or more of the total sales volume for one trading session. If the stock price rises by 5%, then this percentage drops to 30%. Thus, this will not allow unscrupulous traders to buy large volumes of fuel and create risks of excessive demand at exchange trading,” explained the department’s press service.

In addition, the FAS proposed creating a working group to approve schedules for repair and maintenance work at oil refineries. The FAS initiative assumes that the events will be held with the participation of the Ministry of Energy, Rostechnadzor, the Ministry of Economic Development, oil companies and consumers.

As a solution to logistics issues, FAS suggested that market participants transport part of the petroleum products through pipe infrastructure, the throughput of which allows this to be done in an accelerated time frame. Draining and filling of fuel can be carried out at the stations of Transneft PJSC, the department indicated.

January 29, representatives of private gas stations wrote letter to the management of the Ministry of Energy, FAS and SPbMTSB. In it, they complained about the growing number of unfair practices in fuel exchange trading, due to which they are forced to purchase gasoline from resellers. As an example, they cited a case in January 2024, when a network of gas stations providing emergency services was unable to purchase gasoline at some bases in Central Russia.

January 31 SPbMTSB updated trading rules Submitting purchase orders within an extremely short period of time—less than 1 second—has become a violation, since this indicates the operation of a trading robot. Also, signs of violations included the conclusion of contracts where the application for the purchase of fuel is from 300 tons and 35% or more of the total sales volume in one trading session. At the beginning of February FAS reported about reducing unmet demand for gasoline.

Read more in the Kommersant article. “Only robots in the tank”.