Russia’s Finance Ministry announced yesterday that it will lower its export duty for by USD 57/mt to USD 180.70/mt beginning Dec. 1. Finance Minister Aleksandr Sakovich also said, based on this decreased rate, the export duty for oil products will also be lowered: on light oil products to USD 134/mt (from USD 172.4/mt) and on heavy oil products to USD 72.2/mt (from USD 92.2/mt). Vladimir Nesterenko: As Russian duties primarily affect the margins of Russian exporters, we do not expect the decrease to push the prices of Ukrainian oil products down. Other factors like a seasonal decrease in demand and a decline in global oil prices have a larger impact.