The government continues to change the fiscal regime in the raw materials industry
The state intends to resume payments to oil companies in full as a fuel damper, allowing them to maintain stable fuel prices on the domestic market. True, Gazprom will have to compensate for budget losses, for which it is planned to raise taxes on the production of “blue fuel”. Experts believe that this will lead to a reduction in the investment program of the raw materials monopoly and possible production problems in the future.
Compensations for the damper mechanism, which the state pays to oil workers to support low prices at gas stations, were cut by half in September. Mining companies were dissatisfied with this move by officials. Now, by the end of October, government departments intend to return to the previous amounts of contributions. At the same time, the lion's share of the costs allocated for the damper may be borne by Gazprom — for the sake of the monopoly, officials are going to increase the tax on the production of «blue fuel» and gas condensate.
Obviously, this is another turn in relation to the fuel damper is not a very fair step by officials. As Alexey Grivach, Deputy General Director of the National Energy Security Fund, explains, Gazprom already pays 50 billion rubles in additional taxes every month. This practice is carried out not only this year, but will also be extended into the next year. “The export revenue of the Russian monopoly will be seriously reduced due to the fall in foreign supplies. Gazprom will no longer receive last year's excess profits. This time the state is trying to raise additional money not from the company’s income, but from working capital. Naturally, another tax burden will lead to a reduction in Gazprom’s payments as social obligations, as well as a significant reduction in investments, which may affect the gas holding’s production results in the future,” the expert warns.