Russian lawmakers pile on oil taxes

[dArKeR]

Moscow - Russian lawmakers on Friday overwhelmingly approved government proposals to levy several billion dollars in extra taxes on the oil sector, which has been reaping hefty profits from soaring world oil prices.

However, analysts said that the increase was smaller than originally feared by the companies and would raise the tax burden on Russian oil majors by $2.5 billion (R16.97 billion) based on a projected global oil price of $27 a barrel.

The State Duma lower house of parliament passed the legislative amendments in three successive readings by 395 votes to 12 with three abstentions, well above the majority of 226 votes required.

"The government was forced to seek a compromise as the oil companies were not happy and it wanted to maintain the dynamic growth in the oil sector of the past four years," commented Valery Nesterov, an analyst at Moscow-based brokerage Troika Dialog.

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