PRESS: Govt may oblige oil cos to send 17.5% output to refineries

MOSCOW, Aug 15 (PRIME) -- The Russian government has ordered the ministries for energy, finance and economic development to consider obliging oil companies to send at least 17.5% of their annual production to domestic oil refineries, Kommersant business daily reported Wednesday citing a protocol of a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak.

Andrei Polishchuk from Raiffeisenbank said there are no requirements for supplies to domestic refineries now and large oil companies already supply a big part of their production.

In 2017, Russia’s oil production stood at 546.8 million tonnes of oil and gas condensate and primary oil refining amounted to 279.9 million tonnes.

A representative of Kozak told the daily there were no decisions on requirements yet. The Energy Ministry said the issue is being studied. Major oil companies declined to comment.

If implemented, the initiative will mostly affect independent oil producers, which do not have own refineries and do not sell their oil to other companies’ refineries, but for exports, Kommersant said.

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