Minister: Russia not to impose oilfield profit tax from Jan 1

MOSCOW, Nov 27 (PRIME) -- The Russian government will not expand the oilfield profit tax on the whole sector from January 1, 2016, and the Energy and Finance ministries are discussing expansion of the additional income tax, Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters Friday.

“Legislation stipulates that a law must be adopted before December 1 and come in force from January 1. It is evident that now there is no discussion about adoption and expansion (of the oilfield profit tax) before January 1 (2016),” he said.

The ministries are now discussing parameters of the additional income tax which would satisfy both sides and which may cover the whole oil industry, and the tax itself is an “interesting” suggestion as it is similar to the oilfield profit tax, he said.

Previously, the ministry offered a replacement of the mineral extraction tax for brown fields with the oilfield profit tax to make oil production more profitable and suggested testing the tax on several pilot fields. The Finance Ministry rejected the idea and instead developed its additional income tax and insisted on its introduction for the whole sector, not just on pilot fields.

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