ST. PETERSBURG, May 22 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Finance Ministry will consider the possibility of nullifying extraction taxes for gas deliveries to China based on the effectiveness of the contract, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Thursday.
“The government is developing separate elements for gas deliveries to China. There is an issue on taxes, including extraction taxes. We’ll work on that. We need to look at the figures, we just can’t say that we’ll support it or not,” Siluanov said.
Siluanov said the ministry needs to look at the effectiveness of Gazprom’s supplies so that both the interests of the company and the budget are taken into consideration.
“Everything needs to be weighed,” the minister said.
Russian Minister for Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev said Thursday gas deliveries to China under a 30-year contract will be profitable for Russia, but the issue of nullifying extraction taxes still needs to be discussed.
On Wednesday, Russian gas giant Gazprom and China’s CNPC struck a long-awaited contract worth $400 billion to supply 38 billion cubic meters of gas to China.
Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested nullifying the extraction tax for gas fields delivering fuel to China, while Chinese officials expressed their readiness to cancel import taxes on gas from Russia, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said Tuesday after talks in Shanghai.
