Kazakhstan and Russia to abolish export duty on crude under the CIS free trade agreement

Kazakhstan and Russia have agreed to abolish export duty on oil upon the CIS free trade agreement coming into force, RIA Novosti reports, citing Ukraine’s Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov. “It is the first time Russia and Kazakhstan as oil-producing and processing nations have agreed to lift export duty on oil for a limited period”, he said. The free trade agreement was signed in St. Petersburg by Russia, Ukraine Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Tajikistan. Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan will be considering joining the agreement before the end of the year. The agreement seeks to abolish import and export duties on a number of products and commodities. According to Ukraine’s PM, Russia has set a very high export duty. “The duty at $450 per tons makes operations of Ukraine-based oil refineries unprofitable”, he said. Starting from January 1, exports duty on crude in Kazakhstan stands at $ 40 per ton. The previous rate stood at $ 20 per ton. According to Finance Ministry, in 2011 Kazakhstan expects to get KZT 421.4 billion ($ 2.8 billion) from introducing the exports duty. For the H1 2011 the state budget revenues paid in the form of export duty on crude made up $1.67 billion, Vice Finance Minister Ruslan Dalenov wrote in his Twitter account July 22.