Russia not ready for high oil prices

Russia is not ready for high oil prices, Yury Shafranik, the head of the council of the Russian Union of Oil and Gas Producers, declared at a news conference today. According to him, the Russian economy has not gotten used to the prices above $25 to $28 per barrel. This is why it is necessary to prevent increases in oil prices to about $30 to $32 per barrel, he said admitting that if oil prices fell to $20 per barrel it would be worse.

Shafranik also stressed that OPEC had lost its influence on oil prices as the organization used to have in the 1970s and 1980s.