MOSCOW, December 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's economics minister said Wednesday the world's oil price will hover around $45-55 per barrel in the mid-term.
The average price of Urals crude was $61.30 per barrel in January-November, while the country's 2007 budget is based on a price of $61 per barrel. U.S. crude lost $0.01 Tuesday to settle at $62.43, and London's Brent crude lost $0.13 to stop at $63.32.
"Fluctuations are possible, but I see no reason for it [the price] to fall below $45 per barrel," German Gref said at a meeting with Latin American ambassadors.
He said if the price exceeds the $60 mark, it will be suppressed by "economic restrictions."
"A price of $60-70 is an extreme, and it is unlikely to be surpassed," the minister said. "But life is richer than any schemes."
Gref said Russia would use its energy resources to cover the world's needs. Russia is the world's second largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia. It supplies 25% of Europe's needs.
"It is not because we are such philanthropists, but because it is profitable to us," he said, adding that Russia must above all use its oil revenues to modernize and diversify its economy.
"Macroeconomic parameters today are no longer dominant," he said, adding that the country had reached macroeconomic stability.
The minister said unless new oil fields were discovered in Russia, it might have to cut oil exports 1% annually in the long-term after 2020.
"Long-term forecasts say that no substantial growth in Russian oil exports to world markets should be expected after 2020 unless new fields are found," Gref said.
Until then, he said, Russia can step up its oil exports, and the country will remain the world's largest oil supplier.
The minister also said Russia, the world's largest natural gas producer, still had vast gas resources. "We predict that Russia will continue to increase its gas production and deliveries until 2050," he said.
