Efficiency of tax mechanisms of introducing feasible techniques in oil and gas industry

Abstract

The need to solve strategic problems related to the ESG agenda and the technological independence of the Russian economy, the key mechanism to tackle which is the introduction of the best available technologies, have updated the need for this study of the effectiveness of an integrated approach to stimulate their implementation in the production processes of oil and gas companies. The integrated approach to the introduction of the best available technologies in the Russian practice and the effectiveness of existing financial and tax incentive mechanisms were analyzed. Empirical and economic-statistical methods were used. The results of the study show that financial and tax benefits (such as fines for excessive combustion of associated petroleum gas, subsidizing the cost recovery on loans and coupon income from the federal budget on issued bonds in order to implement projects with the introduction of the best available technologies increasing the coefficient to the depreciation rate for purchased equipment, investment tax deduction) have a positive effect. They form a complex interconnected system of state influence on economic entities in accordance with national interests and strategic objectives, which is based on the carrot and stick principle. The current system of financial and tax incentives is an indirect trigger for mergers and acquisitions in the oil and gas industry and its further oligopolization, since it has a differentiated character conditioned by the advantage of large companies in the possibility of using preferences due to the established conditions for their application. Therefore, further adjustment is necessary taking into account the possibility of application for small and medium-sized independent oil and gas companies. The provisions of tax legislation were adopted under the influence of strategic objectives taking into account two main factors: the utilization of production capacities after the downtime of the post-Soviet decade and the solution of problems resulted from the ratification of international agreements, in particular the Kyoto Protocol of 1996, which did not put the country’s technological independence as an absolute priority. Currently, the Russian economy should be precisely based on technological independency as the basis for sustainable long-term socio-economic development and the need to achieve tougher global international imperatives in terms of environmental protection under sanctions pressure. As a result, there is a need to review the existing preferences in order to adjust them and strengthen their interconnection taking into account the results of further research in terms of the cumulative effect of the implemented organizational and economic mechanisms that contribute to achieving carbon neutrality.