1 june 2011

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin holds a meeting on gas industry taxation

This meeting was attended by Vyacheslav Volodin, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Chief of Staff of the Government Executive Office, Alexei Kudrin, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, and Finance Minister, Igor Sechin, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina, Head of the Federal Customs Service Andrei Belyaninov, Head of the Federal Tariff Service Sergei Novikov, Deputy Natural Resources and Ecology Minister Sergei Donskoi, Deputy Energy Minister Sergei Kudryashov, Head of the Federal Taxation Service Mikhail Mishustin, Deputy Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Anatoly Golomolzin, GAZPROM Deputy CEO Andrei Kruglov, GAZPROM Deputy CEO and general director of Gazprom Export Alexander Medvedev,

Alexei Kudrin said meeting attendees discussed revenue sources for budget execution and deficit reduction for the coming years, the settling of defence order problems, as well as problems connected with money, salaries, modernisation in healthcare and education. The Deputy Prime Minister stressed the need for revenue sources to balance the budget.

Alexei Kudrin said the gas industry will face a 150 billion rouble tax hit in 2012, which will be 170 billion in 2013, and about 185 billion in 2014. The revenue will come from various sources. Partly, from a severance tax that will comprise 80-90% of the total sum. Other sources will include the pre-term canceling of tax breaks at some deposits and minefields, as well as the canceling of tax breaks for gas exports. As a result, the ministry expects to achieve the needed budget revenue.

Alexei Kudrin said the severance tax would increase for Gazprom as it is a gas exporter. The severance tax will not be increased for independent producers, the Deputy Prime Minister concluded.