No plans yet to switch to payments for oil supplies in rubles, more complicated than with gas - Novak

MOSCOW. June 16 (Interfax) - The Russian government does not have any plans thus far to switch to payments in rubles under contracts for supplying oil, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said during an interview with the RBC TV channel.

"Thus far, no. We have one exporter in the gas industry, though we have many exporters in the oil industry, where the market is rather liberalized, so it would be considerably more complicated to implement such a mechanism there. There is a mechanism by which all exporters already live, which is the mandatory sale of part of the forex earnings on the market," Novak said.

"Well, in principle, our oil companies supply to a very large number of different countries, and they have many contracts, including contracts sold at a tender, and there are fewer long-term contracts on an ongoing basis for each tanker position. Therefore, commercial organizations independently in each case determine which currency of payment suits them together with the purchasing companies," Novak said.