Medvedev probes energy prices

MOSCOW, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Russian oil companies Tuesday started dropping consumer prices following concerns from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Medvedev lent his voice to a growing chorus of top officials in Moscow who criticized soaring fuel prices amid current market conditions.

LUKoil, the largest oil company in Russia, said it would cut its prices by 9 percent, or about $11 per barrel, followed by a 5 percent cut, or roughly $8 per barrel of oil, Kommersant reported Tuesday.

Russian majors Rosneft, TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz said they could weigh a change in the pricing mechanisms as the price of oil on the world market continued its steady decline in the looming global recession. Crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange was plummeting toward $69 per barrel in morning trading Tuesday.

Igor Artemyev, the chief of the Russian Federal Anti-monopoly Service, had said he would launch investigations of the oil majors if they did not start to lower their prices. First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov Monday followed suit by calling for a new price formula, though no official agreements were reached.

The FAS hit energy giant Gazprom and LUKoil with collective fines of more than $730,000 in September for market manipulation.