MOSCOW, February 11 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will raise
export duty on oil to $114-117 per metric ton from the current
rate of $100.9 per ton following a stabilization of oil prices
on world markets, a Finance Ministry official said Wednesday.
"According to Finance Ministry monitoring, the average
price of the Urals blend from January 15 to February 10 totaled
$43.1 per barrel. Therefore, the export duty on oil will rise
from March 1, for the first time since October, to approach the
January 2009 level," said Alexander Sakovich, deputy director
of the ministry's customs department.
From January 1 to February 1, the export duty on oil stood
at $119.1 per metric ton. It was cut to $100.9 per ton from the
start of February.
"The final price of oil according to price monitoring for
the period between January 15 and February 14 will remain
within the range of $43-43.5 per barrel. Everything is
proceeding smoothly, without any fluctuation," Sakovich said.
Therefore, as of March 1, the duty on light petroleum
products will rise to $89-91 per ton from $80.3 per ton and on
heavy petroleum products to $48-49 per ton from $43.2 per ton.
Last year, the government abandoned its previously accepted
bimonthly practice of monitoring the price of the Urals blend
on global oil markets and from December 1 switched to setting
export duties on oil and oil products on a monthly basis to
respond more swiftly to changes in world oil prices.
The global financial crisis has forced Russia, which receives a
large part of its revenues from oil exports, to gradually
devalue the ruble amid capital flight and a fall in global oil
prices, which have declined from their peak of $147 per barrel
in July 2008 to around $40 per barrel.
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