MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian state tax revenue from the oil and gas sector fell 47% to 3.380 billion rubles (34.2 billion euros) in the first half from the same period in 2022, according to data from the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday, a drop in revenue linked to lower prices and lower export volumes.
These revenues are crucial for the Russian economy, based on raw materials, and for the financing of the “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Oil and gas revenue fell 26.4 percent in June year on year to 528.6 billion rubles, compared with a 36 percent drop in May.
The capping of oil prices by the West and the destruction last September of the Nord Stream gas pipelines to Europe have limited revenues.
Russia’s budget deficit reached $42 billion in the first five months of the year, 17% higher than forecast for the whole of 2023.
In June, revenue from the oil and gas budget fell 7.4% month on month, as the tax on the extraction of raw materials and the taxes levied on the export of natural gas fell.
Extraction tax revenue fell to 631.6 billion rubles in June from 703.6 billion rubles in May, while export duties fell to 57.7 billion rubles from 66.1 billion rubles in May.
Subsidies to refiners fell to 73.9 billion rubles from 91 billion rubles in May.
Payments to refineries under the ‘damping mechanism’, which helps limit fuel price hikes in the Russian domestic market, fell to 78.6 billion rubles from 103.5 billion rubles in May .
The Ministry of Finance predicts that oil and gas revenues this year will fall by 23% to 8.94 trillion rubles, while the budget deficit is expected to amount to almost 3 trillion rubles, or 2% of gross domestic product .
(Report Darya Korsunskaya, writing Vladimir Soldatkin, French version Corentin Chapron, edited by Kate Entringer)
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