Shafranik: Doha meeting won't produce radical decisions for oil market
MOSCOW. April 15 (Interfax) - The meeting of oil producers to be held in Doha on April 17 is necessary, but there is no reason to expect any decisions that will have a serious impact on the market, Yury Shafranik, who was Russia's fuel and energy minister from 1993 until 1996, said in an interview with Interfax.
"I do not expect any decisions from the Doha meeting that radically affect the market," said Shafranik, the current board chairman of the Union of Oil and Gas Producers of Russia and the board chairman of Soyuzneftegaz.
"The goal of raising the price of oil of course exists, but it is secondary. Today, the main question for all the main exporters is how to preserve market share. Russia can't afford to lose its market and accordingly, cut production," Shafranik said.
Russia must cooperate with OPEC in order to clearly define its interests. "There is a need to cooperate and be understood: to show where interests coincide and where they don't," he said.
"I am in favor not of negotiations, but of today's dialog on oil prices, oil production volumes. Namely dialog plays a positive role. But it must be understood precisely, that analysis across all the world's leading companies and the main producing countries (OPEC members and Russia) shows that several countries may have reduced production, but only insignificantly. Overall, in total, the leading companies and leading hydrocarbon producing countries are producing more oil: 2 million barrels per day above demand, according to the International Energy Agency," Shafranik said.
"For 2016 I would recommend that the government assume in its calculations oil no higher than $40 per barrel, between $35 and $40, although forecasting the price is almost impossible, because there are numerous factors influencing it," he said.
In 2017, there is no reason to assume a price of oil above $45 per barrel, he said.