Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on December 25 signed a decree lowering export duty on oil to $119.1 per tonne from January 1, 2009, Interfax reports.
The export duty on light oil products will be $92.6 a tonne, and that on dark products - $49.9 a tonne.
The duties have been $192.1 on crude, $141.8 on light products and $76.4 on dark products since December 1.
The January 1 duty is based on an average price of $43.966 per barrel of Russian crude in the period November 15-December 14.
Export duty on crude peaked at $495.9 a tonne in August-September this year. Plummeting oil prices since then have forced the government to base the export duty on average crude prices for one month instead of two months.