Russian govt implemented all necessary tax changes in Nov; no adjustments planned to fuel damper currently - Finance Ministry

MOSCOW. Dec 17 (Interfax) - The Russian government implemented all planned tax amendments in November, and there are currently no plans to adjust the fuel damper calculation for oil companies going forward, State Secretary and Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Sazanov told reporters.

"All the tax changes that the government wanted to make were already implemented in November. Therefore, we are not planning any new tax changes, including adjusting the fuel damper," Sazanov said in response to the oil industry's proposal to reinstate the maximum Urals/Brent discount in the fuel damper calculation.

"It is only mid-December, so it is too soon to draw any conclusions [about calculating the fuel damper for December]. In any case, the budget is also under great strain right now, so we are not planning any amendments to the fuel damper calculation," Sazanov said in response to whether a zero or even negative fuel damper would be possible amid falling prices for Russian oil.