Baltic route

Vladimir Putin promises a new pipeline and tax breaks for oil workers

The new Prime Minister Vladimir Putin decided to direct oil and gas export flows to the right path. “We must become guarantors of the energy security of the European continent,” said the head of government at a meeting in Ust-Luga, Leningrad Region. And at the same time he announced large-scale benefits for oil workers.

Yesterday, with an imperious hand, Vladimir Vladimirovich drew up the route of the Baltic Pipeline System (BPS-2) to Ust-Luga (there are a total of six options for this project) and announced a program of tax preferences for oil companies capable of increasing production and, accordingly, those same export flows.

Putin's plan for the oil industry included five incentive points. “Firstly, it is necessary to reduce the mineral extraction tax (mineral extraction tax. - - Ed. ),” he began. - The draft law has been prepared, and it needs to be submitted to parliament as quickly as possible. Secondly, to establish tax holidays for a period of seven years, this is normal practice for companies conducting geological exploration and development of new deposits. Thirdly, change the tax administration scheme for exhausted wells. Fourth, improve the procedure for depreciation of deposits. Fifthly, introduce a new system of duties and excise taxes on highly processed petroleum products.”

Some of these proposals have already been discussed earlier, and, for example, the reduction of the mineral extraction tax since 2009 was directly announced by the Ministry of Finance. However, the pressure with which the Prime Minister took up the diversification of export “raw materials” routes and stimulation of production, perhaps, suggests that the Russian energy sector remains the main industry priority of the authorities.

The direction of the possible "prime minister's amendments" seems to be primarily related to exports. He himself, while on a visit to the Gulf of Finland, in the ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga, emphasized this several times. “We are obliged to reduce transit risks for our energy resources in certain directions. We must adequately respond to attempts to take gas and inflate transit duties, and defend our interests,” the Prime Minister explained. It is with the diversification of export routes for raw materials, Mr. Putin assured, that “the overall increase in Russia’s economic potential is associated.”

It should be recalled that the BTS-2 project itself is a branch of the Druzhba oil export pipeline and arose in January last year - after conflicts with Alexander Lukashenko over the transit of Russian oil - as an alternative (or rather an addition) to the route through Belarus. However, until now it was believed that this political solution was not very attractive economically, and it was also unclear whether there would be enough oil to fill BPS-2.

However, the new prime minister, unlike some of his subordinates - officials of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as well as the Ministry of Energy, has no doubt that the construction of BTS-2 is necessary. Nevertheless, in Ust-Luga he specially held a meeting to find out the possibilities of the resource base for filling the new branch.

Transneft President Nikolai Tokarev presented a report in which the capabilities of BTS-2 were presented: the throughput capacity of the new oil pipeline could be 50 million tons per year.

Before the meeting, representatives of the Ministry of Industry could not answer the question of whether there really were enough resources to fill the new branch. Since recently calculations have been made for the construction of the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean oil pipeline, all previous calculations have been revised.

A Vremya Novostey correspondent asked the new Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who is entrusted with overseeing the energy sector, what he thinks about BTS-2. “I have my own position, but the decision will be made by the prime minister. And Sergei Shmatko (the new Minister of Energy - Ed. ), he is a very competent person, also has his own position. He is a system specialist. It seems to me that he will have a future. I don’t think that his position will be radically different from the previous position of the Ministry of Energy. These days he was actively conducting consultations on this issue.”

In any case, it is difficult to imagine that Mr. Putin will change his decision on BTS-2. Despite all the “buts”: the already calculated increase in the cost of the project, if only simply due to inflation, remaining doubts about the filling capacity of the pipe, the fact that the design capacity was recalculated downwards - from 75 million tons per year to 50 million. And This Putin decision can be considered political.

That is why, obviously, Vladimir Putin did not entrust anyone with summing up the results of the meeting, deciding to personally refute all the arguments against it. “There will be no problems with loading the oil pipeline,” the prime minister said and cited figures: with tax preferences, oil workers promised to produce an additional 60 million tons of oil by 2015, of which, according to the head of government, 30 million tons of crude oil will be produced for BTS-2 oil and 18-20 million tons of petroleum products.

True, despite these promises, Mr. Putin decided to play it safe. He reported on his conversations with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who expressed interest in the project. If a positive decision is made, this could mean, for example, that our neighbors would be ready to participate in the construction of BTS-2 and load the future pipeline with Kazakh oil.

A little earlier, the Russian prime minister launched another project to diversify exports. He “launched” the first stage of the Sever oil product pipeline. Its capacity will be 8.4 million tons of light oil products per year. In ten months, the second stage may be launched, which will expand export opportunities to 24 million tons. “This means that cargo traveling through the Baltic countries will be redirected (to Primorsk - Ed. ). I very much hope that this will be done in the near future,” Mr. Putin explained the meaning of his pipeline maneuver.

...And even before the start of the meeting in Ust-Luga, its participants were met by a man who sang in a hoarse voice to Vysotsky: “Our pipes are going to Europe. We believe, we believe in the Russian product.” So the people understood the prime minister’s message correctly.

Vera KUZNETSOVA, Primorsk - Ust-Luga