Fin Minister: Russian govt can reduce oil discount for taxes

ST. PETERSBURG, Jun 16 (PRIME) – The Russian authorities see the possibility of reducing the oil discount of U.S. $25 per barrel fixed for taxation, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters on Friday on the sidelines of St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

“We now have a discount of minus $25. We see that there is an opportunity to look at it again in the future. Still, $25 is a big discount,” he said.

Since April, Russia has had a mechanism that limits the discount for the Urals oil against Brent price (North Sea Dated quotation) to calculate oil taxes.

If the Urals oil is cheaper than the Brent by more than $28 a barrel in June, then the Urals price will be fixed as the Brent price less $28 for calculation of taxes. Since July the discount limit will amount to $25.

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