Belarus Raises Export Oil Duties

April 1, 2012, Belarus raises the export duty on crude oil and petroleum products. According to the decree No. 273 of the Council of Ministers of Belarus of March 27, 2012, oil export duties will be increased from $411.2 to $460.7 per ton.

The flat rate of export duty on light and heavy oil products (except gasoline) is going to be raised to $304 per ton from April 1 ($271.4 currently).

The export duty on commercial gasoline and naphtha will rise from $370.1 to $414.6 per ton. Tax on propane, butanes, ethylene, propylene, butylene and butadiene, as well as other liquefied gases will be raised from $157.3 to $158.6.

As the Council of Ministers told to Telegraf, the adopted resolution also makes appropriate changes to Decree No. 1932 of the Council of Ministers "On establishing the rates of export customs duties on crude oil and certain types of goods produced from crude oil, as well as repeal of certain provisions of the Council Ministers of the Republic of Belarus" of December 31, 2010.

As Telegraf previously reported, in October 2011, Russia and Belarus signed an agreement on the order of payment and transfer of export customs duties on the export of crude oil and petroleum products from the territory of Belarus outside the customs territory of the Customs Union. As a result, Belarus is now calculating the export duties on oil and oil products according to the formula "60/66": the rate of export duties on light and heavy oil has been standardized and is now calculated with a coefficient of 0.66 (66%) of the rate of oil duty. At the same time, October 1, the margin between the price of oil monitoring and cut-off costs was reduced from 65% to 60%.

According to a source in the state administration, in 2011, Belarus listed more than $3 billion to the Russian budget as export duties on oil products, said a source in the state administration. According to official figures, Belarus exported about 15.6 million tons of oil products for the year, the average price of which amounted to $805 per ton (up to 35% more than in 2010).