Oil prices could plunge below $40 per barrel and beyond, but such falls are expected to be shortlived, said Russian presidential aide Andrey Belousov at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
The Russian budget in 2016 will be based on oil price at $50 per barrel, but various forecasts expect next year’s crude price to be $60, Belousov was quoted as saying by RT.
Speaking at the forum in the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok at the weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he sees nothing dramatic in the high volatility in energy prices.
“These are processes that occur in the economy as a whole, in the Asian markets,” Putin said, adding that the prices are affected by Iran’s return to the crude market as well. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak announced that the share of Asia-Pacific region in the structure of Russian oil exports will grow 3.5 times by 2020 and will reach up to 28-30% of overall crude sales abroad.
Putin has also supported the transition of the national budget from the current three-year period to an annual one, saying it is now “impossible to forecast how world markets will behave under current conditions and how it will affect the budget revenue”.
