Belarus slashed export taxes by 8 percent for some petrochemical products – including base oils and lubricants – sold outside of the custom union this East European country shares with Russia and Kazakhstan.
The duty reduction was adopted in an Oct. 27 government decree and took effect five days later.
It lowers the export tax on crude oil from U.S. $345 per ton to $317 per ton. The export duty on light and medium distillates is set to be $209, down from $227. The same rate is applied to benzene, toluene, xylene and fuel oil, as well as base oils and lubricants, the decree states.
The same rate is also applicable to such products as paraffin, petroleum coke, and bitumen as well as waste oils. The export duty on liquefied hydrocarbon gases goes down to $126 per ton, from the current $145 per ton.
The new resolution amended a Dec. 31, 2010 decision that set export duty rates on crude oil and other petrochemical products.
These duties mirror the export tax rates for some oil products imposed in Russia recently.
Belarus state oil major Naftan operates a 198,000 tons per year Group I base oil plant in its Novopolotsk refinery. It also produces a line of Naftan-branded finished lubricants and additives produced under the LLK-Naftan Russo-Belarus joint venture.