Competition Committee rules against Lukoil for market manipulation in Uzbekistan, orders to return unjustified earnings

In this case, the Committee's special commission found that "Lukoil Overseas Supply and Trading Ltd" violated Uzbekistan's "Law on Competition" and the Cabinet of Ministers' regulations "On the Procedure for Selling Highly Liquid and (or) Monopoly Products in Exchange Trades."

The Competition Committee decided that the company must return the unjustified funds and issued a mandatory order to eliminate and prevent future violations.

It was noted that the party dissatisfied with this decision has the right to appeal to the Committee's Appeals Council or to court.

Earlier, the Competition Committee identified signs of manipulation by "Lukoil Overseas Supply and Trading Ltd" in the sale of technical sulfur products through exchange trades. These manipulations, including setting inappropriate volumes in exchange trades, led to an artificial increase in product prices. As a result, prices for technical sulfur products in exchange trades rose by an average of 10 to 50 percent.