Russian Finance Ministry will not propose introducing damper payments on jet fuel imports due to budget constraints
MOSCOW. Oct 30 (Interfax) - The Russian Finance Ministry will not propose introducing damper payments on jet fuel imports due to budget constraints, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Sazanov told journalists.
"No decisions are being discussed currently - we will not make any proposals for the second reading. We have limited revenues, and we are not going to offer any additional dampers right now," he said.
In mid-September, Interfax sources familiar with the situation told Interfax that the Russian government was looking into possibilities for extending the jet fuel import damper in order to supply the fuel market with a sufficient volume of winter diesel fuel in the cold period.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak confirmed this possibility in early October. "We have a damper in effect that is not for producers when supplying 'into-plane'," he said. "In our view, this mechanism is entirely workable. We need to analyze it once again; we are waiting for proposals, if there are any, from the Energy Ministry and the Finance Ministry," he said.
The Interfax sources said that jet fuel was used in several cases for the production of cold-resistant diesel by blending it with summer or transitional-grade diesel fuel. However, this diverts the fuel from the aviation market, thus potentially spiking prices for jet fuel and air travel. Consequently, it has been proposed to extend the damper process to jet fuel imports, similar to the arrangements for gasoline and diesel, to incentivize companies to import kerosene into the country in order to ensure the availability of both winter diesel and jet fuel. As reported, the damper process for imported gasoline has been valid since June 1, 2026, and for imported diesel since July 1, 2026.
There is also a ban on jet fuel exports from Russia in place until November 30.
The domestic jet fuel damper came into effect for Russian airlines in September 2021. The mechanism allows airlines to receive 65% of the difference between the export price of jet fuel and its fixed wholesale price in Russia as compensation from the government.
Transport Minister Andrei Nikitin said at the start of September that the current situation with jet fuel in Russia was not ideal, but that all the difficulties in supplying fuel to carriers were being resolved swiftly. "It has not, let's say, been ideal, but this is a working situation. We can see jet fuel reserves, and these reserves are getting to airports on time," Nikitin told journalists. "That is, of course there are and can be difficulties. But I would like to reiterate that thanks to our coordinated joint efforts [with the Energy Ministry], these problems are being resolved in a swift manner. Airlines are being supplied with fuel," the minister said.
