Antitrust says rises Russia’s Transneft 2018 tariffs by 4%

MOSCOW, Dec 7 (PRIME) -- The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has approved a 4% increase of tariffs for Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft for 2018, a spokesperson told PRIME on Thursday.

“Yes, we approved it,” the spokesperson said.

Previously, Igor Dyomin, aide to the president of Transneft, said that the 4% increase takes into account the planned level of inflation, but does not include the necessity to pay 50% of the net profit in dividends, as suggested by the Finance Ministry. The dividend payout may amount to 88.18 billion rubles in 2018.

In 2017, the company paid 58 billion rubles in dividends, while the tariff increase encompassed payment of only 31 billion rubles. The 4% tariff increase for 2018 and the same level of dividends will mean a deficit of 87.9 billion rubles for the company. Transneft will be unable to cover the deficit with a simple cut of investment projects, and that is why the company asked for a 21% increase of the tariff, Dyomin said.

(58.9281 rubles – U.S. $1)

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