Energy Source

Russia will next month cut by 4.8 per cent its crude oil export duty, Viennese analyst firm JBC Energy quotes an official from the country’s finance ministry as saying. That drops the duty to $15.09 per barrel and is a stick in the eye for Opec. The move to try to stimulate Russian oil exports in order to help its struggling oil companies comes just days after Russian officials gave Opec a long lecture about cooperation. If it wasn’t clear on Sunday that Russia had no intention – depsite its hour-long speech – of voluntarily cutting its oil production to help Opec boost prices, it is now.