Belarus reduces oil export duties

MINSK, 30 November (BelTA) – Belarus will reduce export duties on oil and oil products on 1 November 2012. The relevant decision is stipulated in Council of Ministers Resolution No.1095 as of 28 October 2012, according to the Belarusian government press service.

As of 1 December the export duty on crude oil stands at $396.5 per tonne, down from $404.5. The unified export duty on light and heavy petroleum products (apart from gasoline) was set at 66% of the oil duty on 1 October 2011. As of 1 December 2012 it will make up $$261.7 per tonne, as against $267 per tonne in October 2012. The same duty has been set for benzene, toluene, and xylene. The export duty on commercial gasoline and straight-run gasoline has been set at $356.8 (0.9 coefficient), instead of $364.1 per tonne in October. The export duty on propane, butane, ethylene, propylene, butylene, and butadiene, other liquefied gases has been raised from $192.4 to $197.4.

The new resolution has amended Council of Ministers resolution No. 1932 of 31 December 2010 “Export duties on crude oil and several oil product categories and the abolishment of several resolutions of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus.” The document was adopted in accordance with Belarus President decree No. 716 of 31 December 2010 “Rates of export customs duties”.

Following Russia, Belarus has been calculating export duties on oil and oil products using the 60/66 formula since 1 October 2011. The formula is applied to exports shipped beyond borders of the customs territory of the Customs Union. In line with the formula the rates of export duties on light and heavy oil products are unified and are calculated using the 0.66 coefficient - 66% of the oil duty. At the same time, as of 1 October the oil export duty has been reduced by reducing the percentage of the difference between the monitored oil price and the cut-off price from 65% to 60%. The oil export duty is calculated using the coefficient 0.90 (90%).

Since 2011 Belarus has been importing Russian oil without paying customs duties. However, Belarus has to transfer the export duties on the oil products made from this oil and sold to third countries to Russia’s budget. The export duties on selling Belarus-extracted oil (about 1.7 million tonnes per year) remain in Belarus’ budget. In January-August 2012 Russia received $2.7 billion in Belarus’ export duties on the oil products shipped to third countries. In 2011 the figure stood at $3.07 billion.