The Baltic Course: Lithuanian PM: government will approve shale gas taxation

Prime Minister of Lithuania Algirdas Butkevicius is positive that draft laws prepared by the Ministry of Environment over taxation of shale gas exploration and extraction will meet no hurdles and will be adopted, reports LETA/ELTA.

Talking to the national radio LRT Butkevicius informed that the Ministry of Environment has submitted for deliberations of the Government the draft law on Taxation of Shale Gas Exploration and Extraction, and it will be considered on Wednesday.

According to the prime minister, the specialists have analysed shale gas exploration activities in Romania, Great Britain and Poland. In the nearest future the Government should approve the base shale gas extraction tax rate – 12% for conventional hydrocarbons with no differentiation based on extraction site or annual extraction volume; whereas 15% would apply to unconventional hydrocarbon shale.

According to the head of the Government, in order to attract investment into shale gas exploration and extraction it has been proposed to apply zero base tax rate on shale gas for three years since the authorisation date to use these resources but no longer than 1 January 2020.
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