DUSHANBE, August 17, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- Tajikistan and Russia are expected to continue negotiations on restoration of the tax-free status for the Russia oil products exported to Tajikistan in the fall, an official source at the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI) of Tajikistan told Asia-Plus today.

According to him, this round of negotiations will be conducted at the level of the first or the second persons of the states.

We will recall that Tajikistan was exempted from paying Russian tariffs on oil and gas exports from 1995-2010.

When Russia cancelled Tajikistan''s tax exemption on May 1, 2010, Tajik prime minister sent a letter to his Russian counterpart asking for the tax-free status to be restored.  Afterward, working groups from the two sides held several rounds of negotiations on the issue over tariffs.

The Russian government has regulated the export duty on light oil for Tajikistan since the beginning of last year.  A sudden spike was reported in May 2011, when export duty for Russian gasoline rose 44 percent as compared with April.

According to Russian media sources, the export duty on the Russian oil may be set at US$393.8 per ton in September, which is US$57.2 higher than the August indicator.  The unified rate of the export duty on oil products may also be raised in September – from US$221.1 per ton in August to US$259.9.  Besides, the export duty on the Russian gasoline is also expected to be raised in September from US$302.9 to US$354.4.