Rosneft asks to facilitate tax regime on shelf

Rosneft has asked to reduce the tax burden on the production of hydrocarbons in the most difficult areas of the Arctic shelf forever, although it can’t work there because of the sanctions. The Ministry of Economy promises to study the proposal of the state-owned company. Experts believe that Rosneft prepares for a possible lifting of the sanctions and needs the incentives to facilitate the search for partners.

Rosneft has asked for additional benefits from severance tax for offshore projects: a letter, signed by the first vice-president of the company Pavel Fedorov was sent to the Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich in early June, the Interfax reported yesterday and source of the Kommersant in the industry confirmed. The company proposes to reduce the severance tax rate to 1% from 5% for sites in the most challenging offshore areas, and make this tax regime of indefinite duration. Areas of this difficulty level are projects in the Kara, Chukchi, Bering Seas, the East Siberian Sea, in the northern part of the Barents Sea and in the Laptev Sea. The graduation of the offshore projects was introduced in 2012: depending on the study and working conditions, they were divided into four groups, where the fourth group has the greatest benefits. One of the main creators of this tax system was Pavel Fedorov, who was then the Deputy Minister of Energy for about a year after the departure from Rosneft, and a few months ago returned to the oil company after three years in Norilsk Nickel.