Speaking at a RIA Novosti news conference, Anatoly Yanovsky, the head of the fuel and energy department of the Industry and Energy Ministry, said the proposals were designed to create the right macroeconomic conditions for reducing the dependence of domestic oil prices on world oil prices.
Russian oil companies have to pay severance tax amounting to 50% of the cost of their products, Yanovsky said. "It means that growing oil prices on the world market push up domestic oil prices." A ton of oil in Russia costs 8,000 rubles (about $282), "which equals world oil prices, minus transport costs," he said.
Severance tax would be differentiated according to the geological, economic, and technological conditions at oil fields, and also taking into account the terms of oil delivery to the domestic and foreign markets, he said.
Yanovsky said one of the ministry's goals was to stabilize oil prices on the domestic market. In particular, he cited the federal law that provided for stabilizing the 2006 excises at the 2005 level. Yanovsky also said the interagency commission for protective measures had established a new procedure for setting export customs duties on oil products.
