The Finance Ministry is not planning any changes in the fuel damper, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters.

“We have made adjustments to the damper, bearing in mind that it will be calculated not from the Brent price, but from the Urals price, such adjustments have been extended for the next three years. It is probably wrong to just say now that we will not pay the damper to the oil companies. This is a measure aimed at stabilizing prices and supply of petroleum products on the domestic market,” he reminded.

“You can say that foreign markets are limited, where can they go, but agreements are more important here. If the wind blows in one direction, we cannot make one decision and another in the other. Refiners’ margins have grown now. We do not plan any innovations for the calculation of the damper compared to those that have been adopted, which I have just said about the clarification of the price bar,” he emphasized.

As reported, from September 1, 2022 the adjusted damper on gasoline began to operate. The adjustment brings the indicative export price of gasoline in the damper formula closer to the real cost of Russian gasoline in Europe. Now, the average monthly discount in the price of Urals versus Brent will be subtracted from the average cost of gasoline in Europe. As a result, the indicative export price in the damper formula will take into account not only the price of the product in Europe and the cost of its delivery from Russia to the European market, but also the real discount with which it is sold there.

This gasoline damper formula will also be in effect for the next 3 years. No adjustment of the diesel fuel damper has been made.

Fuel dampener adjustment is a traditional decision for the agencies during crisis periods. In previous years, in connection with the growth of prices for petroleum products on the stock exchange, due to which the margins of filling station chains fell to a critical level, regulators took measures to stabilize the fuel market, which again included adjustment of fuel damper parameters. The previous revision of the fuel dampener was dated spring 2021.

The damping mechanism for petroleum products has been in effect in Russia since 2019. It is calculated by the difference between the export value of fuel and the indicative domestic price (designated by law). If this difference is positive and exports become more profitable than supplies to the domestic market, the state pays oil companies, if the difference is negative – oil companies pay to the budget.