MOSCOW, December 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is imposing an oil export duty for Belarus at $180.70 per metric ton as of January 2007, the government said Tuesday.
Russia has sought to prevent losses being inflicted on its budget from crude supplies to its ex-Soviet neighbor. Belarus, with which Russia is creating a union, refines oil and re-exports it to third countries, paying no taxes to the Russian budget.
Russian officials said the volume of crude supplied to Belarus significantly exceeds the country's domestic demand, encouraging re-exports.
Russia extended the duty, approved in a November 16 government resolution, to Belarus, where oil supplies are duty-free under a bilateral treaty to create a customs union.
The two countries have been working to create the Union State since 1997, which envisions a common economic, customs, and political space, but talks largely stalled recently over a host of issues, including energy prices.
Russia has recently moved to raise nearly four-fold the gas price for Belarus as of 2007. The country currently pays the lowest post-Soviet rate of about $50 per 1,000 cubic meters.
The move, which would affect the struggling economy, has triggered bitter remarks from President Alexander Lukashenko, who said Belarus and Russia should enjoy similar energy prices as members of the Union State.
Russian energy giant Gazprom has offered to partially compensate Minsk for the price hike if Belarus' Beltransgaz sold it its main gas pipelines pumping Russian gas to Europe.
The countries are reportedly mulling joint ventures to run the pipelines.
Speaking on the sidelines of a summit of post-Soviet leaders in Belarus' capital Minsk in November, Russian President Vladimir Putin said: "Gazprom and Beltransgaz will set up joint ventures on a parity basis."
Russia is Belarus' main energy supplier. It exported 19.3 million tons of crude (141.86 million bbl) and 20.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas to the country in 2005. Supplies this year are expected to exceed the 2005 figures.
