Russia Reconsiders Gas Extraction Tax

Russia may revise a planned extraction tax to lower the proposed tax rates levied against Russian independents, Reuters reports Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich as saying.

The proposed tax hike, which is being implemented to help recoup some of the major spending of the recent presidential elections, was approved at the beginning of last month.

The original announcement proposed that the changes in tax would be implemented over time. This plan would see the tax for Gazprom doubling twice a year up to a shelf rate of 1,062 rubles per 1,000 cubic metres on the 1st of July 2015, Russian Deputy Minister for Finance Sergei Shatalov said in May. The tax take for independents was planned to reach 1,049 rubles per 1,000 cubic metres by the same date.

These increases, as planned, were set to hit Russian independents hardest, quadrupling the tax take for extraction from companies such as Novatek. Russian major Gazprom would have seen its tax take double as a result of the increases. 

Russian newspaper Vedemosti reports that a new rate will be discussed at a meeting of government today.

CEO Alexey Miller today said Gazprom would be unaffected by these planned revisions, Reuters reports. Minister Dvorkovich said today that the tax rate for Gazprom would be decided later this year.