Page 103 - RusRPTNov22

Hungary will get a deferral of about 1.9bn euros ($1.9bn) on gas payments to Gazprom during the heating season Bloomberg reports. Hungary announced on October 4 that it had won a three-year reprieve from Gazprom on payments coming due in the six-month period, without disclosing the terms of the deal. In the first year, Hungary will pay 20% of the amount that will be rolled over and will pay 40% each in the subsequent two years, according to two people, who asked not to be identified because the terms of the deal are confidential. The amount to be rolled over carries an interest rate equivalent to Hungary’s three-year international sovereign debt in mid-September, which was about 3.5%, according to the people. Hungary will probably have to pay about €4bn or more for Russian gas during the European winter, not counting the deferred amount, which is estimated at €1.9bn, one of the people said. Gazprom’s press service didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the terms of the deal.
Russian gas giant Gazprom is technically ready to build gas transportation capacities in the Black Sea and consider creation of a gas trading platform at the Turkey–E.U. border, CEO Alexei Miller said at the Russian Energy Week forum on October 13.
Russia plans to raise natural gas pumping to China through the Sila Sibiri (Power of Siberia) pipeline to 22bn cubic metres (bcm) in 2023 from 15 bcm in 2021, and to 38 bcm in 2027, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday during the Russian Energy Week forum.
MinFin has abandoned the idea of a windfall export duty on gas when export prices are above $300/mcm in favour of a flat, Rb50bn/month severance tax for 2023-2025, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Sazanov confirmed to Interfax.
Gazprom’s tax status still in flux. Going into the annual ‘budget season’ of September, and following the Rb1.25trn one-off tax levied on 3Q22 back in mid-summer, we feared a permanent increase in Gazprom’s tax base could be forthcoming. It appears this will be the case, as a law has been working its way through the Duma for the last couple of weeks with just such a goal.
As far as Gazprom goes, the tax increases seemed to consist of three parts: 1) An increase in export duties for gas prices above $300/mcm from 30% to 50%; 2) A scaled increase in the mineral extraction tax for gas of Rb134/mcm from July 1, 2023, to Rb285/mcm from July 1, 2024, and to Rb305/mcm from July 1, 2025, but with additional 3% annual increases in Gazprom’s regulated gas prices planned to offset this bill; 3) A late addition of a Rb50bn/month simple tax from January, 2023 through December, 2025. Per Mr. Sazonov, the first of these is now off the table, apparently in exchange for the recently-added idea of a Rb50/month flat tax.
103 RUSSIA Country Report November 2022 www.intellinews.com