MOSCOW, June 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will increase oil export duty from the current $152.8 to $212.6 per metric ton from July 1, following trends on global oil markets, a senior official of the Finance Ministry said on Monday.
The average price of oil totaled $63.66 per barrel from May 15 to June 14, said Alexander Sakovich, deputy head of the ministry's customs department.
As of July 1, the duty on light petroleum products will rise to $155.5 from the current $115.2 per ton and for heavy petroleum products to $83.8 from the current $62.1 per ton, Sakovich said.
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 in recent weeks to above $70.
