KRASNOYARSK (Sputnik) – The Russian Economic Development Ministry is not predicting that oil prices will drop to $10 per barrel in 2016, Deputy Minister Oleg Fomichev said Friday.
“The price of $10 is not realistic in our prognosis,” Fomichev told journalists on the sidelines of the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum.
Global oil prices plunged from $115 to less than $30 per barrel between June 2014 and January 2016, hitting their lowest levels since 2003, mostly because of prolonged global oversupply and weak demand.
16 February 2016, 18:15 GMT
Russia’s economy, heavily reliant on the oil prices, was affected by the drop. Russia's Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina said earlier this month that the institution was revising its oil price forecasts as they could remain low for a long time.
Last week, the energy ministers of Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Qatar met in Doha. The four agreed to keep their average monthly oil output throughout 2016 at January levels if other major oil producers followed suit.
