Govt to examine energy strategy & measures to boost revenues

MOSCOW, August 27 (Itar-Tass) - The federal government will examine
the draft of a Russian energy strategy for the period of up to 2030 at its
meeting on Thursday and a set of measures to boost revenues of the federal
budget, the government press service reports.
Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko will deliver a report on the main item
of the agenda.
In compliance with the draft document, the implementation of the
strategy is subdivided into three stages. The task of the first one is to
ride out crisis aftermaths in the energy complex by 2013-2015 and to
create conditions for accelerated post-crisis development, qualitative
revitalisation and modernisation of the fuel and energy complex of the
country.
The second one sets the task (by 2020-2022) of "raising energy
efficiency of the energy complex throughout the nation and the economy as
a whole, based on the innovation development of the fuel and energy
complex". Energy projects in Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East will
start yielding practical returns during these periods.
Following the third stage, Russia is to switch over to "highly
efficient use of traditional energy resources and to create conditions for
turning over to non-fuel energy of the future".
The main aim of the energy strategy is "highly efficient use of
natural resources and the entire potential of the energy sector for a
stable economic growth, higher living standards of population in Russia
and consolidation of Russia's positions in the foreign policy arena".
For this purpose, it will be necessary to implement major
infrastructure projects, aimed at diversifying export routes and winning
footholds on new markets, such as oil pipeline systems East
Siberia-Pacific pipeline and a Baltic pipeline-2, a Burgas-Alexandroupolis
oil pipeline, a North European gas pipeline, a South Stream gas pipeline
and the Caspian gas pipeline.
To improve the balanced nature of the 2010-2912 federal budget, the
government will examine several innovations to the graft of the main
financial law which is to be approved by the legislature. For instance the
government plans to increase revenues of the federal budget thanks to
revenues of the Reserve Fund and the National Well-Being Fund as well as
to increase the share of incomes of the Central Bank, transferred to the
federal budget, from the present 50 percent to 75 percent.
Appropriate amendments to the Budget Code and the law on the Central
Bank will be considered before these moves.
Some other amendments to the Budget Code aim at full centralisation of
revenues to the federal budget from the tax on production of mineral
resources in the oil industry. The press service noted that this measure
was prompted by the reduction of oil and gas revenues to the federal
budget against the background of falling prices and the volume of export
of mineral resources.
Now, five percent of incomes from payment of the above tax are
received by budgets of 32 subjects of the Russian Federation. To minimise
their losses, a provision is made for partial compensation of lost incomes
by granting subsidies to back up measures on balancing budgets of regions.