Thursday, June 01, 2006
Russian Government Sets Record $200 Per Ton Oil Export Tariff
01.06.2006 MosNews - On Thursday, June 1, Russian government introduced a new, record high oil export duty for Russian crude. The duty is set at $199.8 per ton, an increase of from the previous duty of $186.4 per ton of crude and bituminous crude petroleum products. The export duty on light petroleum products will amount to $146.9 per ton, and that on dark petroleum products to $79.2 per ton. As MosNews has reported on previous occasions, export tariffs for Russian oil are determined once every two months as a result of bimonthly monitoring of world oil prices. The export tariff in effect on June 1 is based on March-April monitoring. In those months the world price of Urals blend of oil remained stable at around $67 per barrel. Export tariffs for crude oil still exceed those for light and dark oil products, although they have been brought more in line recently, and Russian oil companies are trying to make a transition to oil products which bring them more profit. Windfall revenues from oil export duties are poured into the country's Stabilization Fund, which currently holds almost 2 trillion rubles ($74 billion). Russia is using the money from Stabilization Fund to pay off its external debts early. Later in the year the Russian government plans to invest part of Stabilization Fund money into foreign governments' bonds and blue-chip stocks.