Moscow. December 9. The January futures for oil of mark Brent on Wednesday 19:47 Moscow time has fallen in price on 0,7%, to $39,99 per barrel, and continues to stay below $40, according to AFP on London’s ICE Futures exchange.
The Minister also said that oil rose in price on the background of the publication of fresh data on commodity stocks of energy carriers in the USA.
According to the U.S. Department of energy, commercial oil reserves in the country decreased last week at 3,57 million barrels. According to the median forecast of experts, surveyed by Bloomberg was to bring forth the 11th week in a row – by 1.3 million barrels.
Reserves of gasoline in the U.S. rose by 786 thousand barrels and distillates – by 5 million barrels, the energy Ministry announced.
At the price of $40 per barrel, the Russian authorities expect options macroeconomic stress scenarios, even without revealing their details.
The head of the Ministry of economic development Alexei Ulyukayev on Monday made a forecast that the high volatility in the oil market will continue for another two to three quarters, but then prices will go up, and the results 2016 baseline forecast of the Ministry on the price of oil at $50 a barrel is quite real.
The Minister recalled that was calculated and the so-called pessimistic variant of the forecast, which assumes average annual oil prices at $40 per barrel in 2016. “In this version we do not go to positive GDP dynamics, industrial, investment and retail in 2016”, – he noted.
“But we don’t see (in conservative scenarios) principal risks-for example, risks to macroeconomic balance in General, risk of default of budget or undermine the banking system. The Russian economy as a whole is adapted. It passed the shock. We were able to considerably reduce costs, to improve manageability of the companies. And margin, as we understand, it’s big enough,” said the speaker, commenting on possible risks in the pessimistic scenario.
