Russia raises duties on oil and oil products

Russia's oil export duty was increased by $14.6 to $80.6 per ton from June 1, the Ministry of Economic Development said.

Reduced custom fees for oil from Eastern Siberia, Northern Caspian and the Prirazlomnoye Field were still set at zero due to a new formula for the calculation, operating under the tax maneuver in the oil industry.

An export duty on heavy oil increased from $ 7.7 to $ 9.6 from June 1. The duty on light oil products is $ 32.2 per tonne ($ 26.4 in May), on dark oil products is $ 66 per ton ($ 54.1 in May), Interfax reports.

The gasoline export duty rose from 1 June to $ 49.1 per tonne ($ 40.2 in May), the duty on straight-run gasoline (NAFTA) rose to $ 57.2 per tonne ($ 46.8 in May). The export duty on liquefied petroleum gas was also set at zero.

A leading analyst of the National Energy Security, a lecturer at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Igor Yushkov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, explained that the increase in fees is due to the increase in oil prices.

"The Russian Ministry of Finance's formula takes into account average quotations for a certain period, per quarter or per month. Accordingly, when the oil price increased from $25 per barrel to $50 per barrel, the average price also increased, as well as the export duty rate," he noted.

In general, according to the expert, the increase in fees should favorably affect the Russian budget. "However, it is early to say how much the budget will receive under the new duty, because it will depend on the oil export volume. Because exporters process a part of volumes on the domestic market and export it as oil products, or sell these oil products on the Russian market," Yushkov said.

Speaking about the possibility of cancellation of zero duty for a number of projects, a leading analyst of the National Energy Security said that "our government understands, if we increase the tax burden on the projects, we can lose these projects in the future," the expert pointed out.

"It is possible that if oil prices don't increase according to our government's plan, the authorities can continue freezing and either save the high duty and the high mineral extraction tax (MET), or continue raising MET and don't reduce export duty, which is worse," Igor Yushkov added.

A senior analyst of 'Uralsib Capital', Alexei Kokin, also reminded that the change of export duties is automatic, according to a previously known formula, so it will have no impact on the sales structure of Russian oil and oil products. "The formula for the current year is fixed in advance and all the companies have already prepared for this addition, the formula applies not only crude oil, but also of petroleum products through the reduction factors," the expert noted.

Speaking about the possibility of cancellation of zero duties on a number of projects, he said that such a mechanism is valid for all the fields. "When a field operates for a while and reaches a certain rate of return, a duty is usually canceled. But the question is when this will happen. For example, the zero duty for the Filanovsky field will remain for a few years," Alexei Kokin concluded.