MOSCOW - The export duty on oil may be set at a record level of approximately $102 per ton, Alexander Sakovich, deputy chief of the finance ministry's customs duties department, has told RBC. He noted that the average price of Urals oil had reached $40.2 per barrel over the period since January of this year. This price corresponds to an export duty rate of $101.3 per ton. If the oil price remained above $43 per barrel for the two days left before the end of the monitoring period, the export duty rate would not be lower than $102 per ton. The interagency commission for protective measures in foreign trade will discuss the question of revising the export duty rate on March 2, 2005. The respective resolution of the government should be published no later than on March 20, 2005 for the new export duty rate to take effect on April 1.

As reported earlier, a record oil export duty rate of $101 per ton was introduced on December 1, 2004. However, it has been decreased to $83 per ton since February 1, 2005, with regard to oil price monitoring data for November-December, 2004.