Russia's export duty on crude oil will increase by 6 US$/bbl to 27.4 US$/bbl from June, Finance Ministry official told Interfax yesterday.
Our view: Increased export tax is likely to put pressure on the profitability of companies with upstream activities in the country.
MOL is seen to produce some 9m barrel a year in Russia but sell this amount on the domestic market. Although it is hard to assess how much the level of domestic crude price will fall on the increased export duty, the measure can cut into upstream profits of
MOL by US$ 10-20m, we believe.