Moscow - Russia's export duties for natural gas to be exported to Ukraine from Nov. 1, 2014, to March 31, 2015, will be set at zero or heavily reduced, depending on the price of the gas, under a directive signed by prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Nov. 1.
“This directive establishes a special temporary – until March 31, 2015, – mechanism for the calculation of export duty rates depending on the level of the contract price for natural gas to be delivered from the territory of the Russian Federation to the territory of Ukraine,” an explanatory note to the directive says.
If the contractual price remains in effect there will be a zero duty.
“If the price per 1,000 cubic meters of gas is $333.3 or higher there will be a reduction of $100, and if the price is below $333.3 the reduction will be 30 percent of the price,” the note said.
It says that, under the Commonwealth of Independent States free trade treaty of Oct. 18, 2011, a country cannot levy customs duties on goods to be exported to another country in the free trade area but that, “under Supplement 1 to the treaty, a special formula must be used for calculating the natural gas export duty rate for Ukraine.”
“The Russian government is authorized to set export duty rates. Under the terms of an agreement reached on Oct. 30, 2014, a special mechanism for pricing natural gas to be delivered from the territory of the Russian Federation to the territory of Ukraine, will be in effect from Nov. 1, 2014, to March 31, 2015,” the note says.
The directive took effect on Nov. 1.
