MOSCOW, July 4: Russia’s parliament on Friday approved a tax cut that would save Russian oil majors billions of dollars as part of measures to boost production amid record prices, news agencies reported.

Deputies in the lower house voted in the third and final reading to raise the tax-free threshold on oil production from $9 to $15 per barrel from 2009, Interfax reported. The cut was part of a larger package of measures to help the country’s oil producers.

Together they will save Russian oil producers 130 billion rubles ($5.5 billion) and help to boost production, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said during a visit to Turkmenistan.—AFP