Russian watchdog seeks to equalize export tax for LPG, naphtha
MOSCOW, (Reuters) - Russia’s antimonopoly watchdog is proposing to change the export duty for liquefied petroleum gas, a product used in the petrochemical industry and as a substitute for gasoline, making it equal to naphtha’s export duty, the watchdog’s official said.
The Federal Antimonopoly Service is seeking to stabilize prices for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which have risen by a third so far this year as companies preferred to export LPG given a low - or in some months zero - export duty.
Russia returned to an export duty on LPG from Aug. 1 after prices rose on world markets, to which domestic LPG taxation is linked. The export duty was zero for more than three years from early 2015.
Russia taxes LPG exports in two ways: propane-butane blend LPG-EXPDTY-RU is facing a tax of $8.6 per tonne in September while LPG clean fractions BUT-EXPDTY-RU are taxed at $3.4 per tonne this month.
Export duty for naphtha NPTH-EXPDTY-RU, a feedstock to produce ethylene and some other petrochemicals, among other types of its usage, is set at $71.5 per tonne in September.
Dmitry Makhonin, head of regulation department at the Federal Antimonopoly Service, did not say when the changes could take place, if at all.
Sibur, Russia’s top petrochemical producer, said in a statement to Reuters it hoped that changes would be implemented on a step-by-step basis if a decision is taken, with it and other LPG producers involved in the taxation change discussions. (Reporting by Damir Khalmetov Writing by Katya Golubkova; editing by David Evans)
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