PRESS: Government to send oil tax amendments to Duma in July

MOSCOW, Jul 6 (PRIME) -- The Russian government plans to submit amendments to the oil industry taxation bill to the State Duma, parliament's lower chamber, in July for a second reading, business daily Kommersant reported on Thursday citing a Finance Ministry document.

"The government’s commission on legislative activity will most likely approve the amendments to the bill on the key areas of tax policy on July 10, and later they will be approved by the State Duma urgently," Kommersant said, adding that the first reading of the bill was held on June 20.

The bill would halve the subsidies to oil producers on to keep the fuel prices until 2027. The indicative gasoline and diesel fuel prices will rise by 3% in 2026, the excise duties by 4% annually until 2027, while an elevated mineral extraction tax (MET) on oil will be prolonged until 2027. A 20% MET tax refund on brownfields with highly viscous oil will be postponed to 2027 from 2024.

The MET, the added oilfield income tax and the export duty will be based on a maximum discount of the Urals oil blend to the Brent one at U.S. $20 per barrel.

End