OREANDA-NEWS. November 16, 2009. Deputy Head of the Ministry for Economic Development Andrey Slepnev told yesterday that the government was considering an addition to the list of Eastern Siberian oil fields selected for the export duty exemption due to come into force at year’s end, reported the press-centre of OTKRITIE Financial Corporation.

According to Mr Slepnev, the decision on the thirteen fields earlier slated for the export duty exemption has been already approved, and the government is now pondering the inclusion of additional fields to the list.

View: In our view, the news is positive for the Russian oil sector, a further indication that the duty exemption is unlikely to be postponed. That said, we do not expect the government to extend the export duty exemption to other greenfield regions (such as Timan Pechora and the Caspian Sea) at this stage.

Therefore, we maintain our view that the key beneficiaries from the pending inception of the export duty exemption will be Rosneft, TNK-BP, and Surgutneftegaz.