The government will support employees of the oil shale industry

Stenbock House, 7 May 2020 – At today’s cabinet session, the government decided to assign additional support for Ida-Viru County to improve the competitiveness of local businesses and help to maintain jobs in this difficult situation.

“The oil shale industry is the largest employer in Ida-Viru County, providing income for thousands of families. As a result of this pandemic, the demand for electricity and oil production has globally decreased, so it is important for the government to assign additional support until the situation stabilises,” said Prime Minister Jüri Ratas. He added that the sector must also make some adjustments and contribute into cleaner energy production.

The Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure Taavi Aas explained that the government developed a support package to help the industry. “We will be decreasing environmental charges for ash deposition and temporarily compensating the charge for water pumped out of quarries and mines. We will also temporarily allow the use of marked fuel for the technology and equipment used in oil shale quarries,” Aas said.

Based on respective studies, oil shale ash has been excluded from the list of hazardous waste as of this year. As a result, the charge rates for oil shale ash will be decreased to the same level as charges for oil shale waste rock. In the second half of the year, the Ministry of the Environment will be proposing amendments to establish a wider pollution charge system for the oil shale industry.

Aas stressed that companies can apply for a loan or surety from Kredex, if necessary.

The crisis aid will cost nearly 14 million euros from the state budget. At the same time, the country has collected approximately 60 million euros in labour taxes and 50 million euros in other fees and taxes a year from these companies. These amounts would be lost if business was to halt, so the support is self-financing.

Last year, income from the export of oil shale products was 390 million euros. The industry has been vital for a hundred years and employs approximately 7,600 people, not counting thousands of people from neighbouring areas who are otherwise involved.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of the Environment, and the Ministry of Justice will prepare specific amendment proposals for the support package and present them to the government meeting.