OREANDA-NEWS  The expected volume of oil and gas revenues of the federal budget by the end of December will be 137.6 billion rubles below the base level. This forecast is contained in the message of the Ministry of Finance of Russia.

In November, revenues from oil and gas sales totaled 530.9 billion rubles, which is 14.1 billion better than the previous forecast, but a third less than in the same month a year earlier, and 30.1 billion below the baseline.

Separately, for gas, revenues from the mineral extraction tax (MET) for November showed the best result (74.8 billion rubles) since April of this year, and for oil (530.8 billion) — the worst since June.

The main reason for the decline in oil revenues remains the US sanctions against major exporters, which came into force on November 21. Due to the refusal of many large buyers to cooperate, discounts on the main export grade of Urals oil have reached a multi-year high.

At the same time, a good result on gas may be associated with the onset of the heating season and the start of supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Arctic LNG-2 project to China.

Nevertheless, it is impossible to count on the continuation of shipments from it in December due to the completion of navigation and the lack of Arc7 ice-class tankers that allow for year-round deliveries.