Tax breaks will allow profitability of Russian oil reserves to double - ministry
MOSCOW. Dec 17 (Interfax) - New tax breaks for the oil and gas sector will make it possible to double the amount of oil reserves that can be developed at a profit, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said during an interview broadcast on Russia 24 television.
"According to evaluations by experts, the adoption of such decisions will pave the way to increasing the volume of profitable reserves two-fold. For the development of the oil sector, to ensure its further growth, that is a very important indicator," Novak said.
For Russia, this is a chance not only to increase oil production, but also to develop other associated sectors like machine-building and servicing processes, he said. "We should make use of this historic chance to introduce modern technology, in order to ensure the development of new technologies, research work, so that there will appear companies that would be service-providers on our market, so that we are not buying equipment abroad, but producing it in Russia," the minister said.
The ministry is working up terms for the introduction of breaks for highly viscous oil, tight oil, new projects in Eastern Siberia and other regions that are hard to access, and also for continental shelf projects.
