MOSCOW: Proceeds from oil and gas sales for Russia’s federal budget jumped 40% in February from the previous month to 945.6 billion roubles ($10.36 billion), finance ministry data showed on Tuesday, as revenue from a mineral extraction tax (MET) rose.

Oil and gas revenue, which accounts for around a third of total budget proceeds, jumped 81.4% from February 2023.

MET proceeds rose to 1.2 trillion roubles from 878.4 billion in January when they touched the lowest since August.

Damper payments - a form of subsidy to oil refineries to encourage them to sell on the domestic market instead of exporting at a higher price - declined in February to 127.9 billion roubles from 146.6 billion roubles in January.

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Export duties on Russia’s crude oil and oil products were scrapped at the start of 2024 in accordance with changes to the tariff law, with the MET rate raised to compensate for the shortfall.

For 2024 as a whole, the government has budgeted for federal revenue of 11.5 trillion roubles from oil and gas sales, a 30% increase from the 8.82 trillion roubles in 2023, reversing the 24% decline that year caused by weaker oil prices and plummeting gas sales due to Western sanctions.