Komsomolskaya Pravda: "Putin: “Oil company shareholders should think about ordinary customers”
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has raised customs duties on petrol exports from Russia and delayed the conversion to Euro-3 grade fuel.
Russia is the world's biggest oil producer, and a shortage of petrol at home is unacceptable," Putin said with indignation at yesterday's government meeting. He then demanded an explanation.
A representative of the Energy Ministry started his report. The main reason for the shortage is that now oil companies find it more profitable to sell fuel abroad. Naturally some oil companies are trying to profit from the situation. The most calculating approach is to stockpile petrol and then wait for a shortage to lead to price hikes.
Another reason is that far from all refineries are ready to produce Euro-3 petrol, a new gasoline based on a more eco-friendly emissions standard. These plants are now being re-equipped to be able to produce it; besides, Russia's Customs Union partners – Kazakhstan and Belarus – are not ready, either...
"We have to switch to Euro-3 and we won't deviate from this goal. As for the schedule, we need to work within our agreements with Kazakhstan and Belarus and coordinate it with the upgrades at the largest oil refineries," Putin said.
But everyone was expecting the prime minister to announce a radical measure to do away with fuel shortages once and for all. Their expectations came true.
"Prepare the documents to raise export customs duties starting on May 1. Last year we were the world's largest oil producer, and we cannot tolerate a shortage of oil products in our country," Putin said.
Higher export duties mean a bigger corporate tax burden. Therefore Putin asked the Energy Ministry to consider other corporate tax breaks for the oil companies. For instance, it would be possible to cut oil production taxes or excise duties.
"Despite any restrictions, the foreign market remains very promising for oil companies. Recently one company decided to pay two billion dollars in dividends to its shareholders. That's not bad. We won't count the money in the pockets of shareholders, but they must think about ordinary customers," Putin said.
At this point the discussion moved on to agriculture. The Minister of Agriculture, Yelena Skrynnik, made a report on the government's support for rural growers during the past year.
Putin observed that this year the land area being used for crop cultivation was only half of what it was during this time last year. "There is nothing extraordinary in this – they will simply have to catch up," Putin said.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said that the IMF has conducted a test of economic sustainability for 25 countries, including Russia. International analysts believe that the Russian government preserved stability during the global financial crisis.
By Nigina Beroyeva
