DUSHANBE, December 28, 2011, Asia-Plus — The Russian authorities have offered the Tajik government to discuss issues related to indicative balance of Russian oil product deliveries to Tajikistan in Moscow this monh.
According to the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI), this proposal was voiced during Tajik President Emomali Rahmon’s visit to Moscow to attend the informal summits of the CIS, the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
“Our government is currently considering this proposal and a Tajik delegation will probably depart for Moscow within the next few days,” the source in a MoEI said.
Meanwhile, a well-known source in the government told Asia-Plus today that it is still unknown who will head the delegation and when it will be sent to Moscow.
“The Tajik side has prepared a draft government-to-government agreement, which specifies the indicative balance of Russian oil product deliveries to Tajikistan and it is precisely this document that will be discussed in Moscow,” said the MoEI source. “The meeting is not supposed to discuss the export duty issues, though these issues are interrelated and it cannot be ruled out that these issues will be considered as well.”
“The draft document specifies a certain volume of oil products that will be exported to Tajikistan free of tariffs,” said the source in the government. “However, it is not yet known, whether the Russian side will second this point in the agreement.”
According to the MoEI, the indicative balance was prepared by the Tajik side in summer 2011, but the Russian authorities did not agree with the volume of duty-free oil products stated in the document. “In summer, we mentioned the figure of some 2 million tons. We then reduced this figure to little more than 1 million tons,” the MoEI source said.
We will recall that Tajikistan was exempted from paying Russian tariffs on oil and gas exports from 1995-2010. On May 1, 2010, Russia cancelled Tajikistan”s tax exemption and the Russian government has regulated the export duty on light oil since the beginning of this year. A sudden spike was reported in May 2011, when export duty for Russian gasoline rose 44 percent as compared with April.
By Russian government’s decree export duty on light oil was decreased from US$271.50 per ton to US$259.30 beginning on November 1, 2011. The export duty for gasoline was decreased from US$370.20 to US$353.70.
It is to be noted that it was the fourth decrease in export duty for Russian oil products this year. The first decrease in export duty for Russian oil products was reported on July 1 this year, when the export duty on light oil decreased from US$309.60 to US$298.20 per ton and the export duty for gasoline was decreased from US$415.80 to US$400.50, the second decrease was reported on August 1, when Russia decreased export duty on light oil from US$298.20 per ton to US$293.60 and the export duty for gasoline from US$400.50 to US$394.40, and the third decrease was reported on October 1, when Russia decreased export duty on light oil was from US$297.00 per ton to US$271.50 and the export duty for gasoline was decreased from US$399.00 to US$370.20.
In September, Russia, however, raised export duty on light oil is raised from US$293.60 per ton to US$297.50 and the export duty for gasoline from US$394.40 to US$399.70.
Russia now accounts for some 90 percent of Tajikistan’s fuel imports and an average gasoline price in Tajikistan has reportedly risen 59 percent since the beginning of this year.
