OGARYOVO: Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Friday that the Russian government may increase mineral extraction tax (MET) on gas gradually over three years, rather than raise it substantially next year.
Shares in Gazprom rallied by 3.7 percent on the news as Kudrin's comments eased fears the state-controlled gas export monopoly, which accounts for 80 percent of Russian output, would be tapped to finance election spending.
The Finance Ministry had proposed more than doubling MET on in 2012 to 536 roubles ($19) per thousand cubic metres (TCM) for Gazprom, but not for independent gas producers, in a move that would raise $5 billion a year for the government.
Kudrin said the budget was still set to receive more money from selling gas, which is poised to get more expensive next year on the back of rising oil prices.
"Next year we will calculate MET on the basis of a higher gas price. We will adjust MET in 2012, maybe less (than previously proposed), and thus the budget will take more due to the higher gas price," Kudrin told reporters after gas industry representatives met Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
"This way in three years we will get a more gradual MET rise."
He also said no final decision on taxation had been taken yet, but one was expected next week.
Kudrin has said that the government eyes 150 billion roubles ($5.33 billion) from raising gas taxes nest year. He reiterated on Friday that the Finance Ministry still aimed to receive this amount of money.
The Energy Ministry has opposed the idea of a sharp MET rise, offering alternative sources to cover budget expenses, including the possibility of introducing export duties, ministry sources told Reuters.
The government hiked the MET on gas last year by 61 percent, but the levy is much lower in effective terms than taxation on Russia's oil industry.
Copyright Reuters, 2011
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