MOSCOW, August 11 (RIA Novosti) - Russia may raise its oil export duty from the current $222 to $237-241 per metric ton from September 1, following trends on global oil markets, a senior Finance Ministry official said on Tuesday.
The average price of Urals blend was $68.55 per metric ton from July 15 to August 10, Alexander Sakovich, deputy head of the Finance Ministry's customs department, said.
As of July 1, the duty on light petroleum products could rise from the current $161.9 to $172-175 per ton and for heavy petroleum products from the current $87.2 to $93-94 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 to above $70 in recent weeks.
