Russian oil companies receive 185.9 bln rubles from federal budget for fuel damper in Aug, 110.4 bln rubles in July

MOSCOW. Sept 5 (Interfax) - Russian oil companies received 185.9 billion rubles from the federal budget for the fuel damper in August 2023 versus 110.4 billion rubles received in July, the Finance Ministry said in materials posted on its website on forming and utilizing additional oil and gas revenues from the federal budget.

Damper payments totaled 838.9 billion rubles in January-August 2023.

The August payments were the biggest since the latest damper adjustment: they came to 107.2 billion rubles in April, 103.5 billion rubles in May and 78.6 billion rubles in July.

The price differential used to calculate the gasoline damper rose from $20 to $25 per barrel on April 1, when a price differential was also introduced for calculating the diesel fuel damper, setting a limit of $10 per barrel.

But oil companies continued to receive more from the budget than before the damper was adjusted - damper payments were 96.7 billion rubles in March 2023.

The fact that the April damper adjustment did not result in big savings for the budget prompted a discussion about a more radical change to the mechanism. The Finance Ministry ultimately proposed to have the damper payments, introducing the relevant amendments to the Tax Code in July. These are in effect from September 1, 2023 until the end of 2026.

It emerged this week that oil companies and ministries have been discussing another fuel damper adjustment, which would reconfigure this mechanism to pay the sort of amounts from the budget that oil companies have been receiving of late. Industry sources told Interfax that it was currently damper payments that are capable of stabilizing the domestic fuel market, lowering wholesale prices and preventing further rises in retail prices.