Russia's oil and gas revenue rises 32% y/y to $9.26 billion in May, data shows

MOSCOW, June 3 (Reuters) - Russia's oil and gas tax revenue, which accounts for around a fifth of total budget income, increased by 32.4% year-on-year in May to 678.9 billion roubles ($9.3 billion), Finance Ministry data showed on Wednesday, thanks to a global oil price rally fuelled by the Middle East war.

Revenue declined by 20.7% from April, when the budget received additional payments from profit-based tax, paid cyclically.

Russia, the world's third-largest oil producer and exporter after the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, has been one of the main beneficiaries of the rise in oil prices after the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran began at the end of February.

Oil and gas revenue is the main source of income for the Kremlin, whose finances have been strained by heavy defence and security spending since Russia began its military campaign in Ukraine in February 2022.

Revenue totalled almost 3 trillion roubles in the first five months of the year, down by around 30% from the same period in 2025.

Russia's 2026 budget forecasts oil and gas revenue of 8.92 trillion roubles. Total budget revenue this year is projected at 40.283 trillion roubles.

Last year, federal budget oil and gas revenue dropped 24% to 8.48 trillion roubles, the lowest level since 2020.

($1 = 73.3000 roubles)

(Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya Writing by Maxim Rodionov and Vladimir SoldatkinEditing by Bernadette Baum and Toby Chopra)