Russia cuts extraction tax

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree reducing to zero the mineral resource extraction tax for shelf deposits on the Black and Okhotsk seas and northern Yamalo-Nenets region, Igor Sechin, Deputy Prime Minister responsible for energy, said on Thursday. "According to our data, the measures will certainly help us considerably increase investment in the resource base of the new regions, including new shelf projects. This is an important law which allows us to attract investors," Sechin said. Under the new legislation, a zero oil duty will apply to deposit shelves on the Black and Okhotsk Seas and the Yamalo-Nenets region starting from an accumulated oil production volume of 20, 30 and 25 million tons, respectively. The gas production duty in the Yamalo-Nenets region will also be abolished, starting from an accumulated production of 250 billion cubic meters of gas and 20 million tons of gas condensate. The new rules also cut the mineral extraction tax for small oil deposits with initial resources standing at 5 million tons and envisages concessions for amenable iron production and peloid.