MOSCOW, September 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is likely to raise Urals oil export duty from the current $238.6 to $240.7 per metric ton from October 1, following trends on global oil markets, a senior Finance Ministry official said on Tuesday.
"The average price of Russian oil was $69.58 per barrel from August 15 to September 14," Alexander Sakovich, deputy head of the Finance Ministry's customs department, said.
"Therefore, it is highly likely that from October 1 export duties will reach $240.7 per metric ton."
Duty on light petroleum products is expected to rise to $174.5 per ton from the current $173.1, and duty on heavy petroleum products is to increase from $93.2 to $94 per ton.
From March 1 this year, when the Russian oil price stood at $43 per barrel, oil export duty rose to $115.3 per metric ton, for the first time over four months, but from April it fell again to $110 per metric ton. During next five months, from May to September, oil export duty has risen.
Last year, the government abandoned its previously accepted bimonthly adjustments of export duties based on the price of the Urals blend on global oil markets, and from December 1 switched to setting duties for 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 declined from their peak of $147 per barrel in July 2008 to around $40 per barrel in early 2009, before climbing back to just above $70.
The final figure on oil and petroleum products export duty is to be announced in late September.
