It has already been almost two years since the EU imposed an embargo on maritime supplies of petroleum products from Russia, yet the government continues to use Rotterdam hub quotes to calculate subsidies for the damper mechanism. If the Rotterdam quotes exceed the threshold set in the Tax Code for AI-92 gasoline and diesel fuel, oil companies receive payments from the budget. Otherwise, the oil companies contribute to the budget.

The last time oil companies contributed to the budget was in February 2021, after which payments have only been made in favor of the oil companies. This was influenced by the recovery of petroleum product prices after the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the devaluation of the ruble, which made external prices in ruble terms higher than domestic prices.

However, this raises a question: if the damper is meant to cover the costs incurred by oil companies due to shortfalls in exports, why are European market prices used for calculating payments, when that market is no longer accessible to the oil companies?

A second question follows: how logical is it to use export alternatives as a benchmark when the regulator periodically imposes export bans?

For instance, diesel export restrictions were introduced after last year's fuel crisis caused by the Ministry of Finance's attempts to "halve" the damper. Meanwhile, the ban on gasoline exports was imposed twice this year: from March 1 to May 17, and from August 1 to December 31, with the current ban not yet officially lifted.

In this context, wouldn't it be simpler to tie damper payments to the cost of fuel on the St. Petersburg International Commodity Exchange (SPbMTSB)? For example, to the upper price limits under the existing "10-20" rule, according to which oil companies lose damper payments if the average monthly exchange price of AI-92 gasoline exceeds the internal threshold by 10%, and the exchange price of diesel fuel exceeds the internal threshold by 20%. The threshold for AI-92 gasoline is 64,515 rubles per ton, and for diesel fuel, it is 66,000 rubles per ton.

Switching to the use of only domestic prices for calculating the damper would eliminate ambiguity in the regulation of the industry: there is no access to the European market, but European prices are still used for calculating subsidies in Russia. Most importantly, this move would acknowledge that the damper is not compensation for export shortfalls, but rather a formula for calculating subsidies for refineries that incur significant costs due to forced downtime. It would be better if this formula were tied to real-life conditions, rather than the European market.

Translated using ChatGPT.

Source: https://companies.rbc.ru/news/8RM1JlEHpd/kak-povyisit-effektivnost-dempfernogo-mehanizma/