Export duty on Russian oil to continue inching up, will again rise $0.1 from May

MOSCOW. April 17 (Interfax) - The export duty on Russian oil will rise $0.1 from $14.3 to $14.4 per tonne from May 1, according to Russian Finance Ministry projections.

A month earlier there was also an increase of $0.1, and the duty has risen $1.4 since March 1, so this is the third straight month of growth. Prior to that, the duty had been declining for two months, including by as much 61.5% from January.

The average price of Urals crude for the monitoring period from March 15 to April 14 was $51.15 per barrel, or $373.4 per tonne, the Finance Ministry said.

This means that the Urals discount has continued to decline from record levels to just under 36.5% against Brent (its average price for the period was $80.4). A month earlier, it was about 38.8%; at the end of the period from December 15 to January 14, the spread reached 43%, and the last time it was lower than the current one was from mid-November to mid-December 2022 - about 32%.