Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom Neft, the crude oil arm of natural gas exporter OAO Gazprom, lowered prices for oil products sold by its refineries after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the authorities should ``wake up'' to the problem of high fuel prices.

The producer dropped the price of gasoline in the first half of August compared with July by 10 percent, the price of diesel by 15 percent, jet fuel by 4.2 percent and the price of fuel oil by 5 percent, the Moscow-based company said today in e- mailed statement. The decrease should eventually cause lower rates at gas stations for retail consumers, the company said.

Gazprom Neft became the second oil company in a month to cut prices. Putin on July 11 threatened a management shake-up at Russia's Federal Anti-Monopoly Service if it didn't help bring down the country's record high jet-fuel prices. The competition regulator said July 15 it had opened criminal cases against five oil producers, including Gazprom Neft and Lukoil, as part of a probe into ``monopolistically high prices'' on the domestic diesel and jet fuel market.

Lukoil, Russia's largest independent oil producer, said Aug. 14 it had lowered prices for diesel, fuel oil and jet fuel. In the first half of August, Lukoil cut diesel prices on average by 7 percent, fuel oil by 8 percent and jet fuel by 4 percent, the Moscow-based oil producer and refiner said. Crude futures fell 7.9 percent in New York during that time period.

To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Walters in Moscow gwalters1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 18, 2008 06:02 EDT