Russia to Increase Crude Oil Export Duty from Dec. 1, 2011

Russia's crude oil export duty is set to increase from Dec. 1 by around 3.5 percent to $406.6 per tonne from $393 in November due to higher crude prices, finance ministry and Reuters calculations showed on Nov 15, 2011.

Crude oil duty to be increased from $393 per tonne in Nov.

Gasoline and naphtha duty to come in at $365.9/T.

Other refined products export fee to edge up to $268.3/T.

This is in line with the range calculated.

Russia introduced a new tax regime from Oct. 1, cutting export duty -- the largest tax imposed on domestic oil companies -- for crude oil and some light oil products in order to spur production of oil, a key source of revenues for the state budget, and high-grade refined products.

The final oil export duty for December is to be based on the seaborne Urals URL-E crude price from Oct. 15 to Nov. 14 inclusive.

Finance Ministry official Alexander Sakovich told Reuters the average oil price for this period stood at $111.17 per barrel, up from $108.06 in the previous time span. Urals closed at $112.76 per barrel on Nov 14, 2011.

The export rate is officially announced by the government at the end of each month.

The export duty on crude from some new fields in East Siberia -- apart from the Vankor, Talakan and Verkhechonskoye fields -- and the Caspian Sea, which enjoy a lower rate than Russian crude from other production areas, will be increased to $200.9 per tonne from $190.7 in November.

Exports of gasoline and naphtha, which are subject to a protective export duty to ease the domestic supply shortage, will carry a levy of $365.9 a tonne from Dec. 1, up from $353.7 in November.

The duty on other refined products, such as diesel and fuel oil, is to increase next month to $268.3 per tonne from $259.3 in November.