Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on limiting the discount on Russian Urals oil in relation to Brent. This is stated in a document published on February 23 on the official Internet portal official information.
The measure was taken to calculate oil taxes. It will take effect from April 1st.
The law changes the procedure for determining the quotations of Russian oil used to calculate the mineral extraction tax (MET) for oil production, the tax on additional income from the extraction of hydrocarbons and the excise tax on petroleum raw materials.
If Urals is cheaper than benchmark Brent oil (North Sea Dated quote) by more than $34 per barrel in April, then the price of the Russian mark will be fixed as the cost of Brent minus $34 for tax purposes.
In May, the cost of Urals for tax purposes will be determined at a discount to Brent of $31 per barrel, in June this amount will be $28. From July, it is proposed to take the amount of $25 as a basis.
If discounts on Russian oil are below these amounts, then taxes will be calculated based on the actual cost of Urals.
Now the price of Urals oil is calculated based on data from the Argus pricing agency. The Ministry of Finance relies on these quotes when calculating export duties and oil taxes.
Earlier, on February 16, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted in the third reading a law on limiting the discount on Russian Urals oil in relation to Brent for calculating oil taxes. The law was introduced by the government.
Earlier, on February 1, it was reported that the average cost of a barrel of Urals oil in January fell by 1.7 times. In the first month of 2023, oil of this brand cost an average of $49.48 per barrel, while in January 2022 its average price was $85.64 per barrel.
