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Russia's oil export duty on fuel oil is due to skyrocket $39.90 per tonne, or 32.7 percent, from February 1st, according to a decree signed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The duty on fuel oil is set to rise to $161.80 per tonne, up from the current $121.90 per tonne, which became effective on January 1st 2011. The tax charge in December had been US$116.9 per tonne.

The export tax on light oil products will increase by $6.00 per tonne, or 2.7 percent, to $232.20 per tonne, up from $226.20 per tonne. In December the figure was $217 per tonne.

Under Russian port regulations, vessels taking on bunker fuel without carrying out cargo operations are forced to pay either the fuel oil export duty for purchases of intermediate fuel oil such as 380-centistoke (cst) and 180-cst, or the duty on light refined fuels for refuelling with distillate grades such as marine diesel oil (MDO) and marine gas oil (MGO).

Russia's export duty on crude oil shipments will rise in February by $29.10 per tonne, or 9.2 percent, to $346.60 per tonne, up from $317.50 per tonne.

The decree signed by Prime Minister Putin uses a new formula to set export duties for oil products, which is designed to equalize export duties for light and heavy products at 60 percent of the duty for crude oil by 2013.

Under the new formula, the export duty for heavy products in 2011 is set at 46.7 percent of the duty for Urals, the country's benchmark export crude oil blend, and 67 percent for light products.

Russia's crude export tax is based on the average price for Urals from the 15th day of one month to the 14th day of the next.