State Duma approves oil tax maneuver bill in 2nd reading

MOSCOW, Jul 18 (PRIME) -- Russia’s State Duma, the parliament’s lower house, on Wednesday approved in a second out of three required readings a bill on finalization of the tax maneuver in the oil industry.

The bill envisages a final stage of the tax reform, which implies reduction of the oil export duty by 5 percentage points annually from the current 30% within six years starting from 2019. The mineral extraction tax (MET) on oil will be increased simultaneously within three years until 2021.

It also gives the government the authority to introduce an additional duty on exports of oil products in case of a drastic growth of fuel prices on the internal market.

To become a law, the bill must be further approved in one more reading by the State Duma and in one reading by the Federation Council, the parliament’s upper house, before being signed by the president. The State Duma scheduled the third reading of the bill for July 24.

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