Belarus to introduce Russian tariffs on exported oil :: Charter'97 :: News

Russian tariffs on exported oil and petroleum products will be introduced in the country on March 1. Our export tariffs on oil will see a twofold increase. From March 1 export of a ton of raw oil will cost 48 euro, as compared to the previous 20 euro. Tariffs on diesel fuel will amount to 39 euro, oil fuel - 31 euro.

However, RIA "Novosti" reports from the State Committee for Energy of the Ministry of Economy that the growth of tariffs wouldn`t result in the reduction of oil export from Belarus. Under the existing Belarus-Russia agreements the oil exporters will get their losses compensated through the VAT, which they pay in Russia, when transporting the raw oil from there. Compensation will be carried out at the customs office on the basis of documents, confirming the VAT payment. The sum of the paid VAT will be taken into account during the calculation of customs duties.

In fact, Belarus` consumption of petroleum equals to 7-8 mln. tons a year.

The introduction of Russian export tariffs in Belarus was one of the chief conditions for unifying the customs legislation. Russian Ministry of Finance reports that due to the differences in customs duties the Russian budget was losing $70-100 mln. a year on oil transactions with Belarus.