- OPEC meeting
As a major oil exporter, last week markets in Russia were closely following the results of the OPEC meeting on Thursday.
While there was no agreement on freezing production levels, oil prices kept an upward trend, and as of June 7, a barrel of oil costs $51 per barrel, a level not seen since October.
Speaking after his meeting with the energy minister from Qatar, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that the decision from OPEC’s meeting was unsurprising, which probably reflects the perspective of most of the major oil producers in the world as oil prices continue to increase.
- New data
Meanwhile, data on Russian exports, imports and inflation rates were the most anticipated figures of this week.
Russian revenue from oil exports during the January – April period of this year dropped by 35.8 percent to $19.7 billion and gas revenues decreased by 28.9 percent to $10.7 billion, compared to a year earlier.
The inflation rate in May this year stood at 0.4 percent, unchanged from April. The yearly inflation rate was announced by the country’s Federal Statistics Service as 7.3 percent.
Russian Ministry of Economic Development predicts that the inflation rate in the country at the end of the year will be 6.5 percent.
- Ukraine wants Russian gas again
Andrey Kobolev, CEO of Naftogaz, said on Monday that gas from Russia to Ukraine could be bought at discounted prices.
CEO of Gazprom Alexei Miller announced that they have received an official request from Ukraine's Naftogaz for natural gas supplies for the second half of this year and the first quarter of 2017.