CEO says Russia’s Irkutsk Oil Company opposes MET raise

IRKUTSK, Oct 12 (PRIME) -- Irkutsk Oil Company has asked the government not to introduce an extra mineral extraction tax (MET) in order to hold down fuel prices, Deputy CEO for Economy and Finance Yakov Ginzburg said at a roundtable talk on Friday.

Fuel prices grew rapidly in April and May. The government had to cut excise duties on gasoline and diesel fuel, and agreed with the largest oil companies to fix prices at the level as of May 30 while the government works on measures to support the industry.

The government later discussed introduction of compensations for refineries for domestic sales, and according to media reports, an increase of the MET is to cover 50% of state expenses.

Ginzburg said, “For companies, which are in the upstream business, we’ve calculated this for ourselves, this would amount to 2 billion rubles a year… This is about a half of our expenditures on geological exploration this year… We offer to elaborate mechanisms of compensation that are unrelated to growth of the burden on the upstream sector.”

(66.7727 rubles – U.S. $1)

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