MOSCOW, May 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will increase oil export duty from the current $137.7 to $152.8 per metric ton from June 1, in line with trends on global oil markets, a Finance Ministry official said on Friday.
Alexander Sakovich, deputy director of the ministry's customs department, said the duty would be raised because the price of the Urals blend during the ministry's monitoring period from April 15 to May 14 increased to an average of $51.05 per barrel.
As of June 1, the duty on light petroleum products will rise to $115.2 from the current $105.1 per metric ton and on heavy petroleum products to $65.1 from the current $56.6 per ton, Sakovich added.
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, before climbing back in recent weeks to above $50.
