PRESS: QIA, Glencore may receive tax preferences in Russia

MOSCOW, Dec 12 (PRIME) -- A consortium of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) fund and Swiss commodity trader Glencore may receive significant tax preferences in Russia, Kommersant business daily reported on Monday citing sources.

On December 10, state energy holding Rosneftegaz signed an agreement to sell a 19.5% government stake in oil major Rosneft to the consortium for 10.2 billion euros, or 692 billion rubles.

The sources told Kommersant that the investors also insisted on tax preferences under the deal besides an increase of Rosneft’s dividend payments to 35% of net profit under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The consortium wanted to halve the basic mineral extraction tax (MET) rate from 2018 for fields with remaining reserves of more than 150 million tonnes and water content of more than 90%.

No more than 10 Russian fields fall under the description, including the Samotlor and Priobskoye fields developed mainly by Rosneft. The similar Romashkinskoye field of oil company Tatneft already has a MET preference, while the Lyantorskoye field of Surgutneftegas may not meet the criterion for water content, the business daily said.

The preference for Samotlor alone will cost about 80 billion rubles per year for the Russian budget. But a source in Rosneft told Kommersant that the preference may be provided only on condition of a threefold increase of drilling, which will allow the budget to compensate shortfalls of revenue in three years.

A representative of the Finance Ministry told the business daily that the ministry is working on benefits for fields with a high level of water content.

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