Tax Maneuver and Crude Oil Supplied to Belorussia

Andrey S. Kaukin – Head of Department for System Analysis of Sectoral Markets of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; Head of Sectoral Markets and Infrastructure Department of the Gaidar Institute, Candidate of Economic Sciences (Moscow, Russia). Е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Eugenia M. Miller – Senior Researcher of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (Moscow, Russia). Е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Development of crude oil supplies between Russia and Belorussia in the context of gradual reduction in customs duties to zero-rate tariff on crude oil depends on further specification of current arrangements. In the event of fixed volumes of crude oil supplies to Belorussia, the oil companies will bear financial losses by getting a reduced premium paid to them by Belorussian oil refineries for the duty-free oil supplies. The Russian economy would prefer quite a different option envisaging moderate decrease of crude oil supplies to Belorussia while increasing their own oil-refining capacities which would be in response to the implementation of tax maneuver in Russia.

Key words: Belorussia, tax maneuver, oil, export duties on oil and petroleum products, MET.