Russia's urals oil price hits record $122.60 in March

The average price for Russia's main crude oil export blend, Urals, reached a record level of $122.60 per barrel in March 2012, Finance Ministry analyst Alexander Sakovich said on Monday. The price of Urals oil in the first quarter of this year amounted to $117.19 per barrel, a 14.3 percent increase year-on-year. Last year the average price for the country's core oil export blend stood at $109.35 per barrel. Oil prices have been rising for several months amid an EU states' boycott of oil supplies from Iran. Oil traders are also concerned about the possibility of war with Iran as well as wider political instability in the Middle East, including the crisis in Syria. Urals oil price is a basis for calculations of Russian export duties. Russia will raise the crude export duty to $460.70 per ton from $411.20 from April 1, while the gasoline export tax rose to $414.60 per ton, up from $370.10 in March. The Russian budget is based on a Urals price of $100 per barrel in 2012, $97 in 2013 and $101 in 2014.