PRESS: Russian oil majors ask for transport tariff below inflation

MOSCOW, Oct 25 (PRIME) -- Russian oil majors Lukoil and Gazprom Neft have asked the government not to increase tariffs for transportation of oil cargoes above inflation, business daily Vedomosti reported Tuesday citing a letter by the companies’ CEOs to Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.

A representative of Dvorkovich said the letter was being studied.

In 2016, Russian Railways’ tariffs were raised by 7.5%. In September, the company said it could post a 142.4 billion ruble loss in 2017 and to avoid this, it proposed to extend mark-ups to tariffs for export cargoes or raise certain tariffs. Russian Railways also seeks to tariff all oil cargoes as cargoes of the second class, which would bring the company extra 80 billion rubles.

But Lukoil and Gazprom Neft believe that Russian Railways’ proposals will significantly increase a burden on oil refining facilities. The companies have called for abolishing differentiating cargoes by classes, avoiding tariff growth above inflation, and expanding infrastructure.

In January–June, Lukoil’s transport expenditures increased 11.7% on the year to 147.2 billion rubles, while those of Gazprom Neft rose 1.4% to 66.7 billion rubles due to higher tariffs, among other reasons, the daily said.

(62.2349 rubles – U.S. $1)

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