Russian oil companies guaranteed damper payment for gasoline in Sept if cutoff price increased by 10 p.p
MOSCOW. Sept 30 (Interfax) - The average exchange price for AI-92 gasoline according to the territorial index of the European part of Russia amounted to 72,302 rubles per tonne in September, according to data from the SPB Exchange.
This allows oil companies to count on budget payments for the damper for the outgoing month, provided the cutoff in its calculation formula is increased by 10 percentage points (p.p.).
The average price level for AI-92 gasoline in September is a record for the entire history of trading and is significantly higher than the current maximum level for receiving the damper of 66,495 rubles per tonne.
However, in the middle of last week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak announced that the price deviation indicator for zeroing out the fuel damper would be increased from September by 10 p.p. The corresponding draft law was submitted to the State Duma the day before. As follows from the document, while currently the price for gasoline can deviate 10% from that established in the Tax Code for the fuel damper, if the draft law is approved it will be able to deviate 20%. The same applies to diesel fuel: currently, it is 20%, and it is proposed that the indicator be increased to 30%.
If lawmakers support the initiative, the changes will be introduced from September, and the new cutoff for gasoline will be 72,540 rubles per tonne, which is slightly above the average price for the outgoing month. For diesel fuel, it will be 74,360 rubles per tonne.
Given that there was no threat of zeroing out payments for diesel fuel (its average price for the month is below both the current and potential cutoffs), oil companies will receive the full damper payment for September. These payments are to be made in November.
However, the damper payment for August will be delivered to oil companies in October, and it will be reduced. For its calculation, the current cutoffs will be used in the formula, and in particular for gasoline it is lower than the average price of AI-92 for the reporting month, which was 69,340 rubles per tonne. Damper payments for August will thus be made only for diesel fuel, although the government considered the option of increasing the indicator by 5 p.p. retroactively from August, so that oil companies could receive budget payments within the framework of the fuel damper. Oil companies' losses from the zeroing out of the gasoline part of the damper are estimated at 30 billion rubles.
The authorities pay the damper as a subsidy to oil companies so that they restrain domestic fuel prices amid high export netbacks.
