The Russian government has officially adopted price assessments published by commodity price reporting agency Argus as the basis for calculating the basic rates of mineral extraction tax for all crude exported beyond the customs union of Russia and Belarus, with effect from 1 February 2016. Argus price assessments for Urals and ESPO Blend have been used to define the mineral extraction tax on crude produced from new offshore fields and exported outside the customs union since October 2014.
The Russian government's official newspaper of record, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, on 15 February published the average Urals price in the European market for January, based on Argus monthly northwest Europe and Mediterranean price assessments. This value will be used in the formula for calculating the basic mineral extraction tax rate for January 2016.
The basic rate of mineral extraction tax is calculated on the basis of Urals northwest Europe and Mediterranean price assessments, for 80,000t cargoes. In addition to mineral extraction tax, the Russian government is now using exclusively Argus prices to calculate export duties on crude, oil products and LPG, and as a benchmark to control transactions within the framework of its transfer pricing law.
Argus Media executive chairman and publisher Adrian Binks said, "We are pleased that the Russian government has chosen to extend its use of Argus price assessments in this manner. Argus opened its office in Moscow over 20 years ago and, with more than 90 staff and 23 Russian language publications, we offer deep, accurate and insightful price reporting and analysis to and about this crucial market."
About Argus Media
Argus is an independent media organisation with 750 full time staff. It is headquartered in London and has offices in each of the world's principal commodity centres. Its main activities comprise publishing market reports containing price assessments, market commentary and news, and business intelligence reports that analyse market and industry trends.
Half of Argus employees are commodity journalists who specialise in reporting news and price information relating to physical energy and related commodity markets. They operate according to a rigorous Editorial Code of Conduct and a compliance and ethics policy that align with best journalistic practice, including the avoidance of conflicts of interest.
Argus is a leading provider of data on prices and fundamentals, news, analysis, consultancy services and conferences for the global crude, oil products, natural gas, electricity, coal, emissions, bioenergy, fertilizer, petrochemical, metals and transportation industries. Data provided by Argus are widely used for indexation of physical trade. Companies, governments and international agencies use Argus information for analysis and planning purposes.
Argus has 20 offices globally, including London, Houston, Washington, New York, Calgary, Rio de Janeiro, Singapore, Dubai, Beijing, Tokyo, Sydney, Moscow, Astana and other key centres of the commodity industries. Argus was founded in 1970 and is a privately held UK-registered company.