Russian oil cos could pay 7 bln rubles into budget for Feb gasoline damper, get minimal diesel payments - Petromarket

MOSCOW. March 3 (Interfax) - Russian oil companies could pay 7 billion rubles in gasoline damper payments into the budget for February, the Petromarket research group told Interfax.

The diesel damper is around zero and any payments the companies receive for this will be minimal.

Petromarket estimates the February gasoline damper rose to negative 2,204 rubles/tonne, from a January figure of negative 4,540 rubles, and the diesel damper to positive 65 rubles from negative 2,384 rubles. Both gasoline and diesel prices rose more than $40 a tonne abroad, which was the only factor behind the growth.

The fuel damper has been in effect in Russia since 2019 and is the difference between the export price of fuel and the indicative domestic price, specified by law. The state pays oil companies if this difference is positive, and exports become more profitable than deliveries to the domestic market, while oil companies pay the state if the difference is negative. Damper payments are made for the previous month, in line with tax legislation.

Market and economic conditions have sent the fuel damper in Russia into negative territory for the third straight month. It was thought that for December 2025, oil companies would remit 13 billion rubles in damper payments to the budget in January but they actually received 16.9 billion rubles after the gasoline damper for January 2025 was recalculated, for which the Tax Code was amended in the autumn.

Petromarket estimates oil companies had to pay around 26 billion rubles into the budget in February for January. The Finance Ministry will publish official data on payments for January on March 4.

There have been situations with a negative damper, when oil producers pay into the budget, in the past: February 2021 was the last time oil companies paid into the budget rather than received form it, remitting 2.8 billion rubles.

Russia's Energy Ministry and Finance Ministry are continuing discussions on adjusting the fuel price damper, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters at the end of February. As previously reported, the possibility of reinstating the maximum discount on Russian oil, the special coefficient (VSPR), in the calculation of fuel export prices is under discussion at the suggestion of oil companies.