Duma Backs Oil Tax Breaks

The State Duma voted on Friday to approve the second of three readings of a law to give tax breaks to firms developing new oil deposits or trying to extract the last drops from old wells.

The law aims to increase exploration by setting a zero rate of mineral extraction tax on certain greenfield sites, giving oil companies an incentive to develop resources that have previously been too remote or complex to be economically viable.
Russia hopes production will hit 15 million tons per year (300,000 barrels per day) by 2015, far less than its oil heartland of Western Siberia but more than current Russian exports to China, for example.

Fields that are more than 80 percent depleted will also pay a lower rate. The zero rate will also apply to deposits of highly viscous oil, which is harder to extract.

Moscow Times