Tatneft asks Economy Development Ministry to cancel export duty on super-viscous oil
MOSCOW. June 14 (Interfax) - OJSC Tatneft has gone to Russia's Economic Development Ministry with a proposal to set up a separate caterogy on super-viscous oil produced in Tatarstan in order to ensure the future cancellation of the export duty on this type of production, the ministry said.
The ministry is asking all interested parties to address their positions and proposals on this issue to the department for developmental d regulation of foreign economic activity by June 30, 2011.
Tatneft is carrying out test production of bituminous oil at the Mordovo-Karmalskoye and Ashalchinskoye fields. Since the start of operations at the latter field in 2006, a total of 65,000 tonnes has been produced. The production rate came to over 100 tonnes day by the end of 2010.
Tatneft's total production of super-viscous oil came to 27,000 tonnes for last year. The company plans to produce 35,000 tonnes this year.
Tatneft has been in discussions with sector ministries and agencies for a long time for cancelling the export duty of super-viscous oil production for the purposes of reducing production costs. The company earlier received a reduced NRET rate (Natural Resources Extraction Tax) for the production of super-viscous oil.
Natural bituminous oil has been discovered at 450 fields in Tatarstan, of which 150 are under Tatneft's zone of operation. Natural bituminous output in the republic comes to 1.5 billion and 7 billion tonnes at an average layer depth of between 80 and 250 meters.