Russian MinFin proposes including fuel supplies under direct contracts in exchange sales threshold, damper on medium distillates for one year at request of farmers
MOSCOW. July 20 (Interfax) - The Russian Finance Ministry proposes to include fuel supplies under direct contracts in the threshold for sales on the exchange.
This Tax Code amendment is being tabled at the request of the agriculture sector, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Sazanov said, presenting this and other amendments at a meeting of the State Duma Budget and Tax Committee.
He said direct contracts were being discussed, under which authorized suppliers would be able to purchase fuel directly from refineries. "For them, the proposal is that the threshold for fuel sales on the exchange would include volumes that refineries will sell under direct contracts," Sazanov said, adding that this amendment was being proposed "primarily at the request of farmers."
The package also proposes paying a damper on medium distillates for one year, until July 2027. "This is a variety of diesel fuel that will be sold on the domestic market. This amendment was made at the request of farmers," Sazanov said.
He also confirmed that the government was proposing amendments to the Tax Code that would allow damper payments on imported diesel fuel along similar lines those for imported gasoline, but only if jet fuel and diesel fuel export bans are in effect simultaneously.
A source with knowledge of the amendments has told Interfax that the Finance Ministry proposed including fuel sales conducted off-exchange in the threshold for sales of petroleum products on the exchange in cases defined by the government. It is proposed to "adjust the condition for the minimum threshold of exchange sales below which the crude oil excise is zeroed out, so that the share of petroleum product sales on the exchange is defined taking into account specificities established by the Russian government."
As reported, the government has already taken the decision to lower the exchange sales threshold from 15% to 10% for gasoline - now effective, from July to October - and from 16% to 10% for diesel fuel as a measure to stabilize the fuel market. The threshold for diesel fuel is awaiting a decision and the dates are still unknown.
The amendments propose making fuel damper payments on medium distillates from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027.
The amendments propose raising the damper coefficient for diesel fuel imports from Belarus to 0.9 and calculating the damper for diesel fuel imports from third countries through calculating the export alternative from prices on the Indian market and the cost of transportation to Russian ports. The calculation method for the export parity price is to be determined by the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS). Payments would be made only for tax periods if there was a simultaneous ban on exporting diesel fuel and jet fuel simultaneously in the previous month.
