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Russian Economy Ministry exploring transition to domestic oil price indicators

It is noted that the Finance Ministry also continues using Argus data to compute taxes and charges

MOSCOW, January 20. /TASS/. The Russian Ministry of Economic Development and other government authorities are considering transitioning to independent domestic sources for oil prices instead of the Argus data being used at present, the Ministry’s press service told TASS.

The Ministry is currently posting oil prices and oil and petroleum products’ export duty rates based on Argus data in line with the terms of the current contract, the press service informed.

"The Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, together with other government authorities, is proactively examining the issue of changing to independent domestic sources of price information. First of all, we are talking about oil, but plans in general are broader - to create an integrated system of national price indicators," the Ministry said.

The Finance Ministry also continues using Argus data to compute taxes and charges, the Ministry’s press service told TASS. At the same time, the Ministry is collaborating with other federal executive agencies in analyzing options for changing the procedure of determining Russian oil prices, taking into account changed export destinations. "It is premature to talk about details yet. The key objective for us is to provide an economically justified level of budget revenues from the oil sector," the Ministry noted.

In October 2022, Argus changed its methodology of computing Urals oil prices from a CIF-basis to an FOB-basis because of the redirection of its supplies from Europe to other regions. Its CIF-based price is computed considering the costs of insurance and transportation to European ports. Russian agencies continue using CIF-based Urals price data relying on Argus prices computed with the use of the new methodology.

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