There is an opinion that domestic prices for oil and gas in Russia are low, and therefore hydrocarbon producers are almost subsidizing the domestic economy. In fact, everything is the opposite, a study by Vitaly Manevich, professor, head of the research direction "Economic Policy" at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, shows ("Questions of Economics", No. 8, 2017).
“The real price paid by external buyers of Russian oil, expressed in rubles, is equal to the price in dollars multiplied by purchasing power parity (PPP). The difference between the export price converted into rubles at the exchange rate and the price converted into rubles at PPP represents the rent paid not by the outside world, but by the Russian economy itself.
In 2016, the average export price of oil, converted into rubles at the exchange rate, was 19.5 thousand rubles, and converted into rubles at PPP - 6.6 thousand rubles. The difference between these values (12.9 thousand rubles) is the rent, or the export premium for each ton of exported oil, paid to the exporter by the domestic economy.
The price at which a domestic buyer buys oil and gas is usually lower than the export price converted to rubles at the exchange rate, but significantly higher than the export price converted to rubles at PPP.
The export price of natural gas, converted into rubles at the exchange rate, in 2016 was approximately 10.5 thousand rubles. for 1000 cubic meters m. The internal gas price was 5 thousand rubles. One gets the impression that gas corporations are subsidizing the domestic economy by selling gas on the domestic market at artificially low prices.
In reality, this is not the case. The export price of gas, converted into rubles at PPP, was 3.5 thousand rubles in 2016. for 1000 cubic meters m. Consequently, the internal gas price was 1.5 thousand rubles. higher than the real export price paid by the rest of the world. The domestic economy paid rent equal to 1.5 thousand rubles to the gas monopolies. for every 1000 cubic meters m of gas sold on the domestic market. The rent contained in the price of 1000 cubic meters m of exported gas, expressed in rubles at the exchange rate (also paid by the domestic economy), amounted to 7 thousand rubles.
An even brighter picture of subsidizing the oil and gas complex at the expense of the domestic economy is provided by a comparison of export and domestic prices for oil products. The internal purchase price of diesel fuel in 2016 was approximately 40 thousand rubles. for 1 t; the price of the world market, converted into rubles at the exchange rate - 25.8 thousand, and converted into rubles at PPP - 8.7 thousand rubles. Thus, the domestic price for diesel fuel was significantly higher than the export price, converted into rubles not only at PPP, but also at the exchange rate ”.