Russian petroleum tax policy – Continuous maneuvering in rocky waters

Abstract

This article maps and analyses petroleum taxation policy in Russia to investigate the extent to which it reaches the goal of maximizing government revenue from new petroleum field developments. Expected cash flows from four real-world fields in Russia are modeled in four real-world tax regimes in an attempt to determine whether the so-called ‘tax maneuver’ of December 2014 helps the government to reach its goal. Russia's tax policy is further analyzed in terms of the desirable tax system design features of simplicity, flexibility, stability and competitiveness. The article concludes that the changes to the tax system introduced additional incentives for field developments but failed both to improve tax system design per se and to maximize government tax revenue.