COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF RETAIL PRICE FORMATION FOR OIL PRODUCTS OF RUSSIA AND EU COUNTRIES

Abstract

The article discusses the issue of various approaches to the regulation of retail pricing in the markets of motor fuels. The author conducted a comparative analysis of retail pricing systems for petroleum products in Russia and in the European Union countries. The pricing system in the Russian fuel retail sector has mostly failed and now it’s facing a crisis situation. Its main disadvantages are opacity, incompatibility with the wholesale market, high level of regulations’ impact and a low level of adaptability to various external shocks. As counterweight, the article proposes positive examples of soft regulations in Austria and in Germany – the countries with the liberal pricing regimes. In the world of Big Data the fundamentally new opportunities could be opened up, which allow to overcome many typical economic problems. IT platforms reduce the level of information asymmetry, increase market competitiveness and pricing transparency. In the context of the attitude towards increasing digitalization and the crisis situation in the Russian fuel industry, it is extremely important to analyze the systems, built on the above described principles and start actively usage of the of Big Data capabilities.