A certain anxiety is caused by the oil prices exceeding, since early December 2003, the upper limit of the price corridor, 28 dollars per barrel. "This is why we would welcome an OPEC decision to suppress the market and return the prices to a framework acceptable both for producers and consumers of oil", read the materials prepared for discussion at the forum.
In the opinion of the Russian side, it would be appropriate to unite the efforts of OPEC and independent producers in tackling the matter. "We cannot seek financial gain at the consumers' expense. This will lead to the growth of inflation and destabilisation of the world economy", the document reads.
For Russia the principally acceptable price level is the corridor fixed by OPEC in 1999 - between 22 and 28 dollars per barrel of the OPEC basket.
Starting in 1998, Russia has been participating in sessions of the OPEC conference and, since 2003, in conferences of the cartel's experts with representatives of the non-OPEC countries.
The Russian side notes that, making decisions on oil-export volumes, it proceeds from the domestic economic and political problems.
"At the same time, Russia will as before link these decisions to not only export obligations but also take into consideration the development tendencies of the world oil markets", the document reads.
