MOSCOW: The Russian oil sector next year should return to a previously agreed tax plan, with oil export duty going down and mineral extraction tax (MET) rising further, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told Reuters in an interview. Facing low oil prices and western sanctions that left holes in the state budget, the Russian government opted this year to postpone a plan to cut oil export duty.
The postponement was designed to increase budget revenues, but it distorted incentives for producers, stimulating exports of oil and high-quality oil products where the margin is higher, while making exports of heavy products almost prohibitive. In the interview, which was cleared for publication on Wednesday, Novak said the planned changes would get back on track next year.
He said the coefficient used to calculate oil export duty, which was kept at 42 percent this year, will come down to 30 percent from Jan. 1 2017. He also said that the mineral extraction tax, which did rise this year in line with the government’s plan to 857 rubles per tonne, would go up again next year, to 919 rubles per tonne.
