Energy Committee of the State Duma proposes new preferences for hydrocarbon projects in the Arctic

The State Duma Committee on Energy, following the results of a round table held on April 19 and dedicated to the issues of sustainable development of the fuel and energy complex under sanctions, prepared proposals to the government and relevant departments, including on projects in the Arctic. Interfax has reviewed the text of the recommendations.

For Arctic projects, in particular, it is proposed: to provide the taxpayer with the opportunity to include expenses for geological exploration work on the shelf in the general tax base for profits of organizations with a coefficient of 3.5; provide for a multiplying factor of 2.4 to the costs of prospecting and evaluating hydrocarbon deposits in the onshore part; establish a multiplying factor of 3 to the depreciation rate in relation to fixed assets of hydrocarbon production projects; exempt from property tax onshore technological complexes and facilities for ensuring the shipment of hydrocarbons during the development of offshore fields.

In addition, it is proposed to extend to Arctic projects the preference provided for by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation in terms of applying a zero rate for the severance tax on gas and gas condensate produced jointly with natural gas, which are used exclusively for the production of LNG. The same preference is proposed to be extended to gas produced in similar geographical/climatic zones used for LNG production and gas condensate (produced jointly with combustible natural gas) in proportion to the volume of gas used for LNG production (regardless of whether the entire volume of gas produced at subsoil plot is used for LNG production or only a part of it).

Also, in order to increase the economic attractiveness of projects developed in hard-to-reach geographical conditions, characterized by a lack of necessary infrastructure, difficult natural, climatic and geological conditions, it is proposed to establish the Kgp = 1 coefficient in the MET formula for gas in relation to the fields of the Gazprom group developed in the Arctic zone .

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