Russia's Lukoil admits to price fixing

Russian private oil company Lukoil said in a written statement that it vowed to eliminate price fixing, Russia's anti-monopoly agency announced.Russia's Federal Anti-monopoly Service announced in December it was considering a series of measures against domestic oil companies for manipulating prices on the domestic market. FAS officials said they wouldn't tolerate "unjustified" increases in price.Lukoil in a statement to the FAS confessed and vowed to eliminate the practice."Today we received a written statement on the issue, which says the company would seek to eliminate the violations and their consequences and admits having fixed the price," Deputy FAS Chairman Anatoly Golomolzin was quoted by Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti as saying.Lukoil and Russian energy company Gazprom and were fined by the FAS in 2008 for coordinating to fix the price of gasoline and diesel fuel. The companies had set identical prices for domestic fuel from the end of April to mid-June 2008.Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Gazprom, admitted to price fixing in July. Golomolzin indicated the FAS hadn't received statements from other energy companies under investigation.