Russian oil cos get 207.5 bln rubles of fuel damper payments in April after paying into treasury for two months

MOSCOW. May 6 (Interfax) - Russian oil companies received 207.5 billion rubles in fuel damper payments from the budget in April after themselves paying into the treasury for two months, according to information on the formation and use of the federal budget's windfall oil and gas revenues, posted on the Finance Ministry's website.

In accordance with tax legislation, the fuel damper is paid for the previous month, meaning that payments remitted in April were for the month of March.

Demand for Russian hydrocarbons and petroleum products increased sharply in March as the conflict in the Middle East escalated, and this affected the fuel damper. The Petromarket research group estimates the diesel damper for that at approximately 33,000 rubles per tonne, and that for gasoline at approximately 16,000 rubles per tonne.

"These figures look substantial, especially when compared with February's damper levels, which were negative 2,940 rubles per tonne for gasoline, and negative 277 rubles per tonne for diesel. This jump from March to February levels is primarily due to a sharp rise in petroleum product prices abroad amid the conflict between Iran, on the one hand, and the United States and Israel, on the other. The ruble's depreciation against the dollar in March compared to February also had a certain impact, which has had a positive effect on the damper," Petromarket said.

Oil companies paid 15 billion rubles to the treasury under the fuel damper in March for February and 18.8 billion rubles in February for January. This situation arose at the beginning of the year after sanctions on the Russian oil sector were toughened at the end of 2025, and discounts on Russian oil rose to $27-30 per barrel, which led to a deterioration in the "export alternative" price of Russian petroleum products for the purposes of calculating the damper.

The damper mechanism has been in effect in Russia since 2019. The damper is paid out of the budget as a subsidy to oil companies to help keep domestic fuel prices stable when export netbacks are high. If there is a positive difference between the export price of fuel and the indicative domestic price set by legislation - meaning exporting becomes more profitable than supplying the domestic market - the government pays oil companies, and if the difference is negative, oil companies make payments to the budget.