"True, these companies are making huge profits-but even that money is far from enough to meet their long-term demands. So, as I see it, it is high time to streamline petroleum corporate taxation and ease off their fiscal burden," he said.
In particular, Russia is to U-turn its approach to oil taxation so as to encourage companies to develop new oilfields, and get more thrifty and efficient in working the fields that are nearing exhaustion.
It is no less essential to improve the government-owned petroleum infrastructure. "Our oil pipelines are government-owned-that's in the rules of the game, so we cannot build up oil exports unless the government infrastructure makes progress," Mr. Klepach went on.
He made apprehensive forecasts of export increase rates. "We used to build up petroleum exports by an annual 12 per cent-even 16 to 18, occasionally. The increase will now make 4-5 per cent a year, while conservative estimates say it will be 2 to 3 per cent," warned the ministerial spokesman.
Even this token increase will demand many problems to be solved. Prominent among them is infrastructural progress and streamlined taxation, he emphatically repeated.
