Damper on the barrel: oil companies ask to increase their fuel payments
The oil companies want to get more money from the damper. It is proposed to amend the formula for calculating it against the background of a large discount on Russian oil. The Urals discount to Brent has already reached $20 per barrel, which may lead to negative damping payments by the end of December — about 13 billion rubles in favor of the budget. In this regard, Lukoil has sent proposals to the Ministry of Energy to limit the discount to $10-15 per barrel. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak instructed relevant departments to work on this issue, Izvestia found out. The Ministry of Finance has already stated that they do not yet see the need to adjust the parameters of the damper. At the same time, experts note that for the sustainable stabilization of the fuel market, the return of export duties on petroleum products and the formation of market pricing mechanisms are required not only on the stock exchange, but also in retail.
What is the essence of the oil companies' proposals?
Lukoil has sent its proposals to the Ministry of Energy on changing the calculation formula for the damper in order to increase payments on it (a copy of the letter is available to Izvestia). Oil companies are concerned about the growing discount on Russian Urals to Brent, which, in their opinion, has led "to the transition of damping payments into the negative zone."
"In the context of increased sanctions pressure, there is again a sharp increase in the Brent—Urals differential to $20 per barrel, which leads to a reduction in the damper and a decrease in the efficiency of fuel production and supply to the domestic market," the oil company said in a letter to the agency.
Therefore, Lukoil proposed at the legislative level to set maximum limits on the difference in raw material prices when determining the coefficient for calculating the damper in the amount of $ 10-15 per barrel, which currently does not exist.
The damping mechanism was created in 2018 as a tool that protects the domestic market from the risk of fuel shortages. In order for its producers to be interested in selling gasoline and diesel domestically, even when world prices are significantly higher than domestic prices, the state compensates the oil companies for the price difference. So, if the export price of gasoline and diesel is higher than the nominal domestic price, then the state compensates companies for part of this difference so that they do not raise prices in the Russian Federation and vice versa. The damper is paid only if the average wholesale fuel price for the month has not increased more than the indicative (conditional domestic) 10% for gasoline and 20% for diesel fuel. The indicative price of gasoline in the domestic market for 2026 for calculating the damper is 67,300 rubles per 1 ton, diesel fuel — 58,950 rubles per 1 ton.
According to Yuri Stankevich, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Energy, "the industry's position on the need for another adjustment of the damper, reflected in the minutes of Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak's December meeting of the federal staff, was formed under pressure from the external environment."
A source in the industry told Izvestia that Alexander Novak instructed the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Energy to work on this issue and submit agreed proposals to the government on the expediency of such an adjustment.
Another source familiar with the discussion of the issue said that last Friday, January 23, a meeting was also held with Deputy Prime Minister Novak, at which this topic was discussed. According to him, the position of the Ministry of Finance was negative, and the Ministry of Energy proposed to introduce a moratorium on payments.
Izvestia sent inquiries to the office of the Deputy Prime Minister, as well as to Lukoil, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Finance.
The financial department stated that they did not see "the need to adjust the parameters of the damper due to its adoption of negative values only following the results of one month (December)."
— This situation has developed due to an increase in the discount on Russian oil, which has led to an excess of its values by the "Vspr" coefficient, which is used in the calculation of the damper. At the same time, in previous years, there was a situation when the discount on Russian oil exceeded the "Cpr" coefficient, and quite significantly. However, no changes were made to the dampener calculation formula in the interests of the budget during these periods, the Finance Ministry reminded Izvestia.
According to Yuri Stankevich, no decision has been made on this issue yet, and the position of the Ministry of Finance is dictated by the federal budget deficit.
"The steady downward trend in compensation received by companies is washing away a much—needed investment resource from the industry," the deputy noted.
How much will the oil companies pay by the end of December and January
In the fall of 2025, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on two Russian companies, Rosneft and Lukoil. According to Ekaterina Kosareva, managing partner of VMT Consult, this has reduced the attractiveness of Russian raw materials for buyers.
— If in September the discount on Urals was about $10 per barrel, by the end of the year it rose to $20 per barrel of oil. Buyers often demand large discounts due to the uncertainty of supplies and possible secondary sanctions," she recalled.
Dmitry Kasatkin, Managing Partner of Kasatkin Consulting, noted that the damper works symmetrically in both directions: when the export alternative is higher than the conditional domestic price, the budget pays the refinery extra so that the fuel remains on the domestic market. And when the export alternative falls below the nominal price, the budget gets the money.
According to the Ministry of Finance, by the end of 2025, damping payments to oil companies amounted to 881.8 billion rubles against 1.815 trillion by the end of 2024. At the same time, if they received 64.7 billion rubles in October, then 57.8 billion rubles in November.
According to Dmitry Kasatkin, under the existing calculation formula, by the end of December and January, oil companies will have to pay to the budget. If the formula is not changed, about 47 billion rubles will be allocated to the budget.
He noted that due to falling prices for oil and petroleum products on foreign markets, as well as a decrease in the discount on Russian Urals, the settlement damper has gone into negative territory and now oil companies will have to pay about 13 billion rubles to the budget by the end of December.
— In January, this disadvantage will increase further for two reasons, which are embedded in the damper formula: firstly, the "Vspr" parameter (a special coefficient that allows reducing payments to oil companies from the state budget for the fuel damper) has increased, it actually reduces the estimated export alternative in rubles with the expansion of the discount, and secondly, the conditional prices in the formula. Therefore, with the current ruble exchange rate and quotations for gasoline and diesel in total, payments from oil companies to the budget may amount to about 34 billion rubles in January," the source notes.
Do I need to change the parameters of the damper
Tamara Safonova, General Director of the Independent Analytical Agency for the Oil and Gas Sector, LLC, recalled that by the end of December 2025, there was a significant "drawdown" not only in the revenues of Russian oil and gas companies, but also in the oil and gas budget revenues.
According to the Ministry of Finance, this figure for 2025 amounted to 8.476 trillion rubles against 11.131 trillion a year earlier. The drop was 23.8%.
— Additional payments of the damper would increase the negative result for the budget. In this regard, in order to balance the interests of the state and oil and gas companies, it is important to reverse the trend of unjustified discounting of Russian energy resources," Tamara Safonova believes.
In her opinion, for these purposes, it is possible to set an ultimatum discount limit at the state level, exceeding which companies would not have the right to trade on the foreign market.
Alexander Frolov, Deputy Director General of the National Energy Institute, believes that additional payments from oil companies to the budget will only please the general public. But, in his opinion, there is another side to the coin.
— Our pricing system in the domestic market of motor fuels is partially regulated. As part of it, retail prices may be lower than wholesale prices for a long period of time. That is, gasoline can be sold at a disadvantage. The same is true for diesel fuel. This situation is hitting the economy of gas stations, but it protects the average consumer from price spikes of 10-20 rubles within a few weeks," the source notes.
In this vein, according to Alexander Frolov, the damper can be considered as one of the means by which partial price regulation can work, as it provides a financial safety cushion.
"In this sense, any additional adjustments to the damping allowance that compensate for adverse external impacts should be considered as strengthening measures to protect consumers of petroleum products in the domestic market," he believes.
According to Ekaterina Kosareva, in the current situation, damping disputes will not have an impact on the domestic fuel market.
— Of course, the peculiarities of the fiscal system have an impact on the investment attractiveness of our oil refining. But in the near future, the damping disputes will not have an impact on the domestic market. There is a fuel supply, and there are talks about lifting the export ban a month earlier," the expert noted.
In her opinion, in order to stabilize the fuel market in Russia, it is necessary to return export duties on petroleum products and establish market relations not only on the stock exchange, but also in retail.
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