LUKOIL and TNK appealed to the presidential administration with a request to cancel or reduce export customs duties on oil supplies to Ukrainian refineries owned by Russian oil companies. In addition, the leaders of LUKOIL and TNK propose to include in the balance of supplies of crude oil to Russia as a separate line the volumes of oil necessary to load the Ukrainian refineries they own. According to the companies controlling the Odessa and Lisichansky refineries, a corresponding agreement could be concluded between the governments of the two countries. As a LUKOIL representative explained to the Vremya Novostei newspaper, then the oil products produced by Ukrainian refineries will become competitive in the local market. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko told Interfax that the government is not yet considering the introduction of benefits; the current tax regime in relation to Ukraine and a number of CIS countries when exporting oil and gas from Russia to these countries “will be preserved.”
