ST. PETERSBURG/MOSCOW, June 5 (RIA Novosti) - Oil prices should reach $85 per barrel by the end of 2009, the head of Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Friday.
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, underway in Russia's second-largest city, hosted on Friday discussions on oil prices.
"Evidently, the oil price will reach $85 per barrel by the end of 2009," Alexei Miller said, adding that the market had settled on $100 per barrel as a benchmark price for 2010.
The businessman said current prices of $70 per barrel over the past few weeks pointed to "a return to pre-crisis trends."
Addressing the forum, President Dmitry Medvedev said he expected oil prices to settle at a reasonable level.
"We all are striving to have fair energy prices... I hope a balance of oil prices will soon be attained," the Russian leader said.
Earlier in the day, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who is responsible for the energy sector within the Russian government, called $75 per barrel a reasonable minimum price for oil.
Oil prices plummeted from a record $140 a barrel last July to around $35 over shrinking demand amid the global financial crisis. Prices have strengthened in the past three months, along with stock markets, briefly topping $70 a barrel on Friday, fueling expectations that crude will continue its rally.
