Belarus hikes export duties on several petroleum products

MINSK. Dec 3 (Interfax) - Belarus' government has hiked export duties on several petroleum products exported beyond the customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

The government decree, as published on the national legal internet portal, stipulates that the rate has jumped to $61.70 per tonne for liquefied petroleum gas from $49.70 per tonne, and to $55.50 per tonne for ethane, butane and isobutene from $44.70 per tonne, respectively, as of December 1.

Zero rates have been retained for oil, straight-run gasoline, trimers and tetramers of propylene, light and medium distillates, diesel fuel, commercial gasoline, benzene, benzol, toluene, xylenes, fuel oil, lubricating oils, waste petroleum products, petroleum jelly and paraffin, petroleum coke, and petroleum bitumen.

As of this February, the Belarusian government has slashed export duties on oil, bitumen, fuel oil, and a number of other petroleum products to zero. However, export duties have been set on liquefied petroleum gases, as well as on ethane, butane and isobutene, as of September 1.

Minsk has been unifying the rates of export duties on oil and petroleum products with those in effect in Russia since 2010, accounting for duty-free imports of oil from Russia. All export duties on oil and petroleum products have remained in Belarus' budget since 2015 in line with the agreements in the EAEU.