MOSCOW (AP) - The Russian government said Monday it will more than double its export duty on crude oil, seeking more revenue from Russia's young oil giants as world prices have rallied.
As of June 1, the export duty on crude oil will rise to dlrs 20.40 a metric ton (dlrs 2.79 a barrel) from the dlrs 9.20 (dlrs 1.26 a barrel) currently. The rise reflects a similar increase in the underlying price of crude oil so far this year.
The Russian federal government depends on oil alone for more than 20 percent of its fiscal revenues. The formula for fixing the export duty is fixed to oil prices.
With world prices sagging last fall, OPEC cut exports and persuaded Russia to reduce its oil exports by 150,000 barrels a day from January through June. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said last week that Russia - not a member of the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries - was not planning to continue withholding exports in the second half of the year.
OPEC secretary-general Ali Rodriguez visited Moscow on Saturday to discuss the state of the oil market and the cartel's future.