Energy Ministry creating development strategy based on oil price of $80-$90 per barrel
MOSCOW. Nov 19 (Interfax) - The Russian Energy Ministry is creating a development strategy for the fuel and energy sector based on an oil price of $80-$90 per barrel, Deputy Energy Minister Kirill Molodtsov told journalists.
"In anticipation of additional supplies on this market, we believe that the parity price is still at the level of $80-$90, and we are formulating our strategy based on this parity price," he said.
Molodtsov added that the general outline the ministry has been working on since May has undergone significant changes, including due to changes in global oil prices.
He said the International Energy Agency (IEA) believes this situation is at a peak, and the reason for lower oil prices is connected with the fact that supply began exceeding demand in June.
Molodtsov also said that the volumes of oil refining in Russia in 2014 will amount to, according to preliminary data, 290 million tonnes against 278 million tonnes a year earlier.
The deputy minister called attention to the fact that despite the 4% growth in the volume of refining in the country, the efficiency of refining is not growing. He expressed hope that with the introduction of the tax maneuver, oil refining efficiency may be increased to more than 80% already in 2015-2016.
"It should be noted that it's not that small refiners are not increasing refining efficiency, but they are actually using algorithms in every possible way that allow them to increase their marginal income, but with that destroy the stability of the system. The governmental authorities will pay great attention to this. And within two or three years we are planning for the system to operate more stably and more sustainably," Molodtsov said.
