OAO Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin, a long-time associate of President Vladimir Putin, discussed the tax regime with Russia’s president last week. Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — Russia, where energy production provides more than half of state revenue, is preparing for a battle with oil producers over taxing the country’s most vital industry. Oil’s rout has made an agreement last year, which reduced export taxes in return for higher levies on extraction, unworkable because the plan was based on $100 a barrel crude. Producers led by state-controlled OAO Rosneft have proposed changes to the tax regime, Deputy Energy Minister Kirill Molodtsov said in an interview. On the brink of its first recession since 2009, Russia’s state coffers are being depleted by lower energy revenue as sanctions and a plunging ruble put further pressure on the economy. While the government must maintain funds from oil, it can’t afford to […]