Page 9 - FSUOGM Week 34 2019
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FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM
Russia to make oil sector pay for Rosneft’s tax benefits
RUSSIA
Russia’s nance ministry has often clashed with Rosneft over tax breaks.
THE struggle between Russia’s Finance Min- istry and largest crude oil producer Rosneft continues, as the ministry plans to compensate RUB600bn ($9bn) worth of tax cuts granted to state-controlled major by increasing the tax burden on all of the oil and gas industry, Kom- mersant daily said on August 22 citing unnamed government sources.
As reported by bne IntelliNews, Rosne ’s out- put has been impaired in 2Q19, and the company has been pressing the government and Kremlin hard for compensation for the Druzhba pipeline troubles, Opec+ output cuts, and for state sup- port for Arctic development.
One of the support means requested was 10 years of tax breaks for RUB600bn for Priob- sky eld developed by Rosne and Gazprom Ne . Earlier this year President Vladimir Putin excluded Priobsky from the tax break morato- rium he imposed on the oil sector, and the tax
breaks for the eld were reportedly approved this week.
Now the Finance Ministry considers increasing the Mineral Extraction Tax (MET) for all the sector, or introducing a tax on asso- ciated petroleum gas (APG, by-product of oil extraction) to compensate the support pledged by Kremlin to Rosne . Analysts surveyed by Kommersant see the proposals as dangerous for the industry.
“The government’s attempts to offset the budgetary loss of Rosne and Gazprom Ne ’s tax exemptions represents a key risk for the sec- tor,” BCS Global Markets commented on August 22, adding that “even a slight increase in taxation will have a negative impact.”
As reported by bne IntelliNews, the Finance Ministry is also reportedly trying to block Ros- ne ’s attempts to gather state support for Arctic development.
Antipinsky plant’s ex-head placed on international wanted list
UKRAINE
The Antipinsky re nery was formerly Russia’s largest independent oil processing plant.
THE former head of Russia’s embattled Antip- insky oil re nery, Gennady Lisovichenko, has reportedly been placed on an international wanted list for crimes of embezzlement and abuse of power.
e move follows the arrest last month of Dmitry Mazurov, whose New Stream Group was the Western Siberian plant’s ex-owner. Mazurov also stands accused of gra , and was detained in July. Antipinsky, once Russia’s larg- est independent oil re nery with a 180,000 barrel per day throughput capacity, was taken over by state-owned Sberbank in June a er failing to pay its debts.
A court in Tyumen ordered Lisovichenko to be placed on the wanted list on August 22, sources told Russia’s Tass and Vedomosti news agencies. Investigators launched a case against him in July, claiming the ex-CEO had caused Antipinsky to incur RUB35mn in damages by agreeing a sale of its property. According to ura. ru, investigators believe the wanted man ed to Bulgaria on June 6.
New Stream began to struggle financially a er the 2014 oil crash and Russia’s subsequent economic recession, which made it hard for the company to service its debts. Antipinsky peti- tioned for bankruptcy in May and was subse- quently acquired by its main creditor Sberbank and a group of investors. It resumed operations a er a more than two-month hiatus in mid-Au- gust, and is reportedly running on crude sup- plied by Surgutne egaz, a secretive oil company based in Surgut whose owners are unknown.
Sberbank said in early June it had bought 80% of the Antipinsky plant through a joint venture with investors called SOCAR Energoresurs, named after Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR. But the Russian bank stated SOCAR was still considering whether to join the project, raising questions about the identity of the cur- rent investors.
e remaining 20% of the Antipinsky is held by Nikolai Yegorov, a close friend of President Vladimir Putin, according to a report by Kom- mersant last year.
Week 34 28•August•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P9
