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Russia's Finance Ministry has revealed that the country's export duty on fuel oil is set to jump by approximately 22.5 percent, Reuters reports.

Starting August 1st, export tax on heavy products including fuel oil is expected to be increased from $151.1 per tonne to $185 per tonne. Duties on exports of light refined products, such as gasoline and gasoil, will rise to $345 per tonne from $280.5.

Meanwhile, export tax on crude oil is set to rise by 23 percent from current levels of $398.10 per tonne to around $490 to $495 per tonne according to government officials.

This is the eighth consecutive increase in Russia's crude export tax, which is revised on a two-monthly basis and based on the previous two-month average price for Urals, the country's benchmark export blend.

The Finance Ministry's previous revision of export duties in June resulted in a 16 percent increase on heavy and refined products. Crude export tax was increased by $46.40 a barrel, or 13.6 percent.

Over the last two months crude oil prices have continued to surge with the NYMEX light sweet crude contract reaching an all-time high of $139.89 on June 16th and London's Brent Crude contract peaking at $139.32 on the same day of trading.

Meanwhile, demand for Russian fuel oil has risen sharply in recent months with increased buying interest coming from Japanese refiners aiming to reduce production costs. Imports of Russian M100 fuel oil into Japan almost doubled in March compared to February, according to Japan's Ministry of Finance. The world's third largest oil consumer imported a total of 275,803 tonnes of M100 fuel oil during the month of March, an increase of 135,803 tonnes on the previous month and the highest monthly total in at least 16 months.

In April, exports of Russian fuel oil soared by more than 23 percent to 4.149 million barrels per day, buoyed in part by increased Japanese demand.

However, export tax revenues collected by the Russian Finance Ministry continue to be affacted by the drop in oil production. In April, Russia produced 9.72 million barrels of oil per day, the lowest level in 18 months. The country's oil production may decline this year for the first time in ten years as refiners are faced with high costs, aging oil fields and new deposits in increasingly remote areas.