No risk to Bashneft refinery modernization from tax maneuver
UFA. March 11 (Interfax) - The tax maneuver is not creating any risks to the modernization of refineries in the Bashneft group, President Alexander Korsik told journalists.
"The tax maneuver does not create any risks from the standpoint of refinery modernization. We effectively have just one project remaining: installation of the delayed coking unit, which does not require absurd amounts of money. There are also several smaller projects, but the tax maneuver will have no effect on the modernization program," Korsik said.
Bashneft is maintaining plans to produce about 19 million tonnes of oil in 2015, he said.
Asked about the company's possible assistance to agricultural producers in Bashkortostan, Korsik said: "We are discussing this with the administration of Bashkortostan. Bashneft is ready to provide some assistance to agricultural producers, in what form I am not prepared to say right now, because there is no final version yet. But this must all be carried out with the assistance of the market, rather than simply straight line assistance. You remember what happened in the years when there were direct discounts on gasoline: that gasoline immediately appeared on the market at a low price. For that reason we are currently discussing the mechanism."