Russian oil companies receive maximum payments under damper for 4.5 years in Sept 2026, totaling 305.5 bln rubles
MOSCOW. Oct 5 (Interfax) - Payments from the Russian budget to oil companies under the fuel damper amounted to 305.5 billion rubles in September 2026, according to materials on the formation and use of additional oil and gas revenues of the federal budget posted on the Finance Ministry's website.
In accordance with tax legislation, damper calculations are made for the preceding month; that is, in September the payments were executed for August.
In August, similar payments for July amounted to 197.3 billion rubles.
In total, oil companies received 1.204 trillion rubles in 8M 2026 (taking into account that they had to pay a combined 33.8 billion rubles to the treasury in the first two months of the year). If January payments made for December are taken into account, the total amount accrued to oil companies under the damper in 2026 is 1.221 trillion rubles.
Oil companies received more under the damper than in September only in April 2022. At that time, payments from the budget under the mechanism, made for the preceding month, amounted to 450.3 billion rubles.
After Russia began importing petroleum products, amendments were made to the Tax Code extending the damper mechanism to such supplies. It applies to gasoline from June 1 and to diesel fuel from July 1. Information on the size of the import fuel damper paid to oil companies will be integrated "as part of a single mechanism of the refundable (reverse) excise tax on petroleum raw materials under the corresponding budget classification code," the Finance Ministry's press service said.
At the same time, the import fuel damper mechanism may still be further adjusted. Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Sazanov said that the ministry is ready to discuss an adjustment regarding the costs of transporting petroleum products within Russia. The corresponding proposal was made by the Energy Ministry, Sazanov said. The Finance Ministry does not support another one (concerning the accounting of the premium formed in fuel sales markets).
The damper mechanism has been in effect in Russia since 2019. The damper is paid out of the budget as a subsidy to oil companies to help keep domestic fuel prices stable when export netbacks are high. If there is a positive difference between the export price of fuel and the indicative domestic price set by legislation - meaning exporting becomes more profitable than supplying the domestic market - the government pays oil companies, and if the difference is negative, oil companies make payments to the budget.
Amid deteriorating external conditions at the beginning of 2026, in particular a drop in oil prices and an increase in the discount on Russian grades, Russian oil companies were forced to pay the damper to the treasury for the first time in five years in the amount of 18.8 billion rubles for January and 15 billion rubles for February.
However the situation changed dramatically the following month, against the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. Global oil prices rose sharply due to supply shortages, and discounts on Russian raw materials decreased. This returned the damper to a positive zone for oil companies.
