PM: Russia may introduce prohibitive duties on oil, oil products

MOSCOW, Oct 29 (PRIME) -- The Russian government may introduce prohibitive duties on oil and oil products to settle the situation with fuel prices, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday.

“Despite the taken measures, growth of gasoline prices is still seen in a number of cases,” Medvedev said, ordering Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, who is in charge of the fuel and energy complex, to hold consultations with oil companies over the next two days to settle the issue.

“I would like the Energy Ministry, the supervising deputy prime minister to hold consultations with our oil companies over the next few days to agree on preparing and adopting a plan of work and a regime agreement to maintain existing prices for oil products on the domestic market. Otherwise, I will be forced to sign a decision to introduce prohibitive duties on oil products just in the coming days to make the market situation more stable,” Medvedev said.

Fuel prices grew rapidly in Russia in April and May. The government had to cut the excise duties on gasoline and diesel fuel, and agreed with the largest oil companies to fix prices at the level of May 30. The government plans to raise the excise duties for gasoline from January 1, 2019.

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