The current system of the oil industry's taxation should not change a lot, as it provides for the sector's stability, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin told the Gaidar Forum on Jan. 15.
"From the point of view of investments under the conditions of frozen production, it means aggressive investments are not to be made either," he said. "It means we do not have to make any changes in the taxation system, it is stable in the form it has now."
"We should consider, where we should go gradually," he continued, "in order to have a long-term development of the sector, understanding, the current taxation system does not bear short- or long-term threats."
On Dec. 10, 2016, OPEC and non-OPEC countries signed an agreement on joint reduction of oil output at a meeting in Vienna. Also, 11 non-cartel countries (Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, the Republic of Sudan and South Sudan) will join the cut announced by OPEC members of 1.164 mln barrels per day in the first half of this year, and reduce production by another 558,000 barrels per day.
Thus, the total crude oil production cut will amount to 1.7-1.8 mln barrels per day. Russia plans to cut its oil production by 300,000 barrels per day in the first half of this year.