Russia May Lower January Crude Export Tax 2.2% After Urals Drops

Russia, the world’s biggest oil producer, may lower its export duty on most crude shipments by 2.2 percent on Jan. 1 after prices fell.

The standard duty will probably drop to $397.50 a metric ton ($54.23 a barrel), according to Bloomberg calculations based on Finance Ministry data. That compares with $406.60 a ton in December.

The discounted rate on some Eastern Siberian and offshore oil may fall to $194.10 a ton, compared with $200.90 this month.

Russia bases the export duties on the average Urals crude price from the 15th day of one month to the 14th of the next. Urals, Russia’s benchmark export blend, averaged $109.09 a barrel during the most recent monitoring period, Alexander Sakovich, a Finance Ministry adviser, said by phone today.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin must sign off on the taxes for them to come into effect. Starting in October, the government lowered the crude export duty by applying a coefficient of 60 percent, down from 65 percent, and unified the tax on most refined products at 66 percent of that levy.

The duty for middle distillates and heavy products will probably be set at $262.30 a ton next month, from $268.30 in December.

A special gasoline tax that Putin imposed from May 1 to fight domestic shortages may fall to $357.70 a ton, from $365.90 this month. That is 90 percent of the crude duty.

The government may set the duty on liquefied petroleum gases, such as butane and propane, at $201 a ton, down from $221.80.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jake Rudnitsky in Moscow at jrudnitsky@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net