No plans to raise gas export duty - Sazanov

MOSCOW. Oct 12 (Interfax) - The Russian Finance Ministry has abandoned the idea of differentiating the export duty on gas depending on export prices, previously discussed in the government, and decided to limit itself to an addition to the MET, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Sazanov told Interfax.

"Everything is correct," Sazanov said in response to a question on whether it was correct to assume that after the introduction of an addition to the MET for Gazprom totaling 50 billion rubles per month for 2023-2025, there are no plans for changing the export duty on gas.

In September, it was reported that the Finance Ministry was discussing the idea of introducing a differentiated export duty on gas. It was envisaged that if the price of gas exceeds $300 per 1,000 cubic meters, the export duty will be raised from the current level of 30% to 50%. However, this measure was not included in the amendments to the Tax Code which were submitted to the State Duma at the end of September. Instead, a mechanism for increasing the mineral extraction tax was proposed, whereby an additional amount of 50 billion rubles would be withdrawn rom Gazprom every month from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2025 inclusive.