Russia May Cut Exports of Crude, Oil Products

Russia may cut exports of crude oil and oil products in December as traders expect lower export duties to be enforced from the start of the next year, trading sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Russia will calculate export duties for January based on prices from the period between Nov.15 and Dec.14. and Moscow is expected to introduce tax amendments as of Jan.1.

Yet to be approved by President Vladimir Putin, the so-called "tax manoeuvre" would lower export duty for oil and light oil products.

"(Export project plan for December) Is short due to provisions which are being allocated for the next month, moved to January from December. The tax manoeuvre is giving an $11 per barrel difference in tax," one trading source said.

Oil export duty may fall by around a third to $197.5 per tonne in January from $277.5 per tonne set for December if prices remain in the range of around $83 per barrel in the period for January calculations, Reuters calculations show.

Export duty for diesel may fall as much as 47 percent to $94.80 per tonne, calculations show. Brent was trading at around $79 per barrel on Wednesday.

One of the traders estimated that Russia may ship around one million tonnes of oil less in December.

"Preliminary, (export plan) for the whole month will be shorter. The question is by how much (shorter)," another source at a Russian oil firm said.

(Reporting by Gleb Gorodyankin, writing by Katya Golubkova, Editing by Gabriela Baczynska)