Russian Government to Lower Tariffs on Oil Exports, February 1

The Russian government has decided to lower the tariff on crude oil export from USD 29.9 to 25.9 per tonne as of February 1, 2003. As the government's press office announced yesterday, this decree was signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov on January 17. This same decree also sets a single tariff of USD 23.3 per tonne on the export of oil products to countries outside the CIS Customs Union (benzene, toluene, propylene, oil asphalt and others). The previous tariff on these products was USD 26.8 per tonne.

At a meeting of the state committee on protective measures for foreign trade and customs tariffs on December 30 2002, research in November and December 2002 showed that a barrel of Urals oil cost USD 24.92 or USD 181.92 per tonne.