TNK-BP plans no new oil refineries in Siberia

Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP has no plans to build oil refineries in Eastern Siberia or the Russian Far East despite Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's call on oil companies to build refineries in the region to reduce fuel prices, Deputy CEO Maxim Barsky said on Monday. "We have no such plans in Eastern Siberia. As for refineries, we are well represented in the central region. Our oil refinery in Khabarovsk in the Far East is being modernized, Rosneft plans to build a refinery there. I think the market will be saturated in the next five years," Barsky said. The government boosted gasoline export tariffs to  44 percent from May 1 to fight local shortages which started in April in some regions. Russian oil companies preferred selling gasoline abroad where prices are higher than in Russia, where the state has capped prices. The Federal Antimonopoly Service has accused large oil companies of price collusion. It has ordered them to bring wholesale fuel prices down in line with market prices and warned that it may launch new investigations into price fixing.