MOSCOW, July 1 (RIA Novosti) - The average price of Russian oil in the first six months of 2009 was less than half what it was for the same period a year ago, a senior Finance Ministry official said on Wednesday.

Alexander Sakovich, deputy head of the ministry's customs department, said the average price fell from $105.31 per barrel in the first half of 2008 to $50.82 per barrel in the first half of 2009

In June, the price of Russia's Urals crude stood at $68.32 per barrel as compared with $127.76 per barrel a year ago.

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 declined from their peak of $147 per barrel in July 2008 to around $40 per barrel in early 2009, before climbing back to about $70.

Russia will increase oil export duty from the current $152.8 to $212.6 per metric ton from July 1, following upward price trends on global oil markets, the Russian government said on its website on Monday.