REUTERS
Head of Russia's Rosneft Igor Sechin says the price of oil per barrel in 2018 will remain at the level of 2016 and will fluctuate within US$40-43, according to the Russian news agency RBC.
"According to the preliminary analysis, we will see prices within $40-43 per barrel next year," he said in an interview with Rossiya 24, RBC reports.
Sechin believes that the U.S. financial instruments will have a big impact on the price of oil besides the pressure of oil shale producers.
"One of the most significant factors, along with the producers of shale oil, is the large impact on prices made by the U.S financial instruments. Devaluation of the dollar now accounted for about 20%. If you quote the appropriate coefficients, you will see that the actual price [of oil] in the United States is about $40 per barrel," Rosneft's head noted.
Read alsoReuters: Crude falls as flooding from Harvey roils U.S. oil industryThe price for Brent crude oil last dropped to $40 per barrel and below in early 2016, while in August of the same year the quotes fell to $41.51 per barrel. Following that, oil was trading at above $43 per barrel.
In November 2016, OPEC countries agreed to reduce daily oil production by 1.2 million barrels under an agreement with a number of other oil-producing countries. At the same time, the countries that are not part of OPEC pledged to cut production by 558,000 barrels per day. Russia agreed to reduce production by 300,000 barrels. In May 2017, the agreement was extended for another nine months.
The lowest level of prices for Brent crude oil in 2017 was $44.3 per barrel, while the maximum price of $58.37 per barrel was reported in January 2017.