The Ministry of Finance has prepared a draft law for submission to the State Duma that will allow for the continued use of quotes from the international agency Argus for the calculation of oil taxes. RBC has reviewed a copy of the document. The draft law permits authorities to utilize these indices until September 1, 2028. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has instructed that amendments be presented for consideration by the State Duma. An RBC source close to the government confirmed that the draft law has been approved by the legislative activity commission of the government.
According to the current law, from March 1, 2026, foreign companies and Russian legal entities with over 20% foreign ownership will not be able to study commodity markets in Russia. The new amendments provide exceptions for foreign organizations whose data is utilized in tax legislation. The changes are proposed to apply to relationships that arose from March 1.
The primary beneficiary of the changes remains the UK-registered Argus. The proposal to retain the quotes from this agency for oil tax calculations came from the Ministry of Finance, as noted by Deputy Minister of Finance Alexey Sazanov on March 19 of this year reported. As early as the autumn of 2025, Argus notified the ministry about the risks of reducing its operations in Russia and requested adjustments to the regulations.
The agency's quotes are used by the Ministry of Finance for calculating mineral extraction taxes and the fuel dampener (the budget compensation for the difference between export and domestic prices). The Ministry of Economic Development also employs this data when forming export duties.
Substitution of Indicators
It was originally planned that from 2024, Russia would transition to its own index for calculating oil taxes. The amendments to the Tax Code proposed the use of pricing based on oil prices in OTC trades at the St. Petersburg Exchange. However, the Ministry of Finance raised concerns regarding its representativeness and postponed the transition to exchange indices until 2025.
The St. Petersburg Exchange has been promoting the idea of an alternative to global pricing indicators for tax calculations in the oil industry for the past few years. In January 2025, the National Exchange Pricing Agency (NEPA) was established at the exchange. It generates price indices and indicators based on data obtained from exchange trading and the registration of OTC deals, as well as information from market participants. At that time, the exchange proposed using its indices for oil tax calculations but received a refusal from the Ministry of Finance.
Currently, the St. Petersburg Exchange is not engaged in any discussions with the government or the Ministry of Finance regarding the use of exchange pricing data for taxation of oil extraction, a representative of the trading platform informed RBC.
In the conclusion of the draft law from the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the government, the necessity of the amendments is explained by the reduction of risks to budget revenues. It notes that the changes are targeted and ensure the continuity of administrative procedures for calculating export duties and tax bases, as well as maintaining predictability in regulation for all market participants by preserving existing payment calculation methodologies.
RBC has sent inquiries to Argus, the press service of the government, and the Ministry of Finance.
Why Argus Indices Are Important to the Ministry of Finance
The Ministry of Finance faces the task of minimizing risks of losses in oil and gas revenues during pricing calculations. As noted by Sergey Tereshkin, CEO of the oil products marketplace Open Oil Market, the Argus methodology is the most recognized in the industry and, importantly for the Ministry of Finance, is neutral with respect to the influence of oil producers, traders, and any other market participants. Additionally, Argus data is based on a large number of spot market transactions, reflecting the real market situation.
Regarding the Urals delivery futures on the St. Petersburg Exchange, Tereshkin adds that the trading liquidity for this instrument is insufficient for this indicator to be considered a reliable source of market data.
In the absence of the proposed amendments, the Ministry of Economic Development will lack official data for calculating payments to the budget, explained Vladimir Gruzdev, chairman of the Association of Lawyers of Russia. "The exemption that the legislator makes regarding the start of the ban allows state authorities time to prepare national monitoring indicators for the commodity market. It is expected that after September 1, 2028, government agencies will be able to utilize research conducted without the participation of foreign organizations," he indicated.
Since 2023, the Center for Price Indices (CPI) has also been operational in Russia. It publishes indices based on similar specifications used in Russian legislation for taxes, informed CPI Director Natalia Porokhova. The Center operates in accordance with the practices of international agencies and is undergoing accreditation with the Bank of Russia. The CPI methodologies have been reviewed by federal authorities at State Duma committees.
According to Porokhova, the main obstacle to substituting quotes from the UK agency is the legislative norms that have entrenched its monopoly in Russia. "Russia has already gone through a process of import substitution in similar sectors where the inertia of global payment, rating, and reinsurance infrastructure complicates the development of national players. There will, evidently, be changes here as, since 2022 and especially in the last month, a system of global price benchmarks is undergoing destruction," she adds.
At the same time, challenges remain in forming the main price benchmark in Asia—Dubai. The Urals crude is becoming less dependent on Brent as it is supplied to Asian markets. This will inevitably lead to changes in price oil benchmarks, and it is essential to avoid perpetuating the inertia of linkage in Russian legislation, Porokhova believes. She also emphasizes that the Argus agency emerged precisely during the oil shocks of the 1970s when oil trading fundamentally changed. The oil shocks of 2026 are similarly transforming trade and give Russia the opportunity to create its own price benchmarks.
Source: RBC
