State Duma to consider draft law on tax on financial results in oil industry in spring

The State Duma may consider a controversial bill to replace the tax on mineral extraction (MET) on oil by the tax on financial result (FRT) for at least several pilot fields this spring, the Kommersant writes.

The document was submitted to the Duma at the end of 2014 after the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance couldn’t agree on approaches to the similar government act during three months. The Finance Ministry finds the approach of the Ministry of Energy and oil companies conceptually wrong. But the Ministry of Energy was able to achieve an advantage, shifted the debate from the Government into the State Duma and received the support of the largest oil-producing region. On Friday, March 13, Governor of the Khanty-Mansiisk autonomous district Natalia Komarova stressed that without a quick change in the tax system, the production in the region would fall from 249 million to 196 million tons by 2030, and the tax revenues - from 3.2 trillion to 2.5 trillion rubles.