PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, Russia - Russia wants to influence global oil prices by publishing output forecasts and delaying the development of oilfields, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said on Thursday.
Shmatko said Moscow's policy would not involve coordinated action with OPEC states although Russia, the world's No. 2 oil exporter, admired OPEC's influence on prices and should do its part to smooth the oil price "roller coaster ride" of recent months.
"The Russian delegation was at an OPEC meeting recently... we were saying amongst ourselves that Russia needs to actively work on influencing the price of oil," Shmatko told reporters.
"We think that since we have such a significant position in the high society of world oil, a Russian factor should appear." We want to formulate our approach," he added.
Shmatko said the ministry would be ready to unveil its approach at the OPEC summit in Algeria in December this year.
"From the point of view of forecasts we could express our view, perhaps even actively engage in that in a practical way," Shmatko said.
"It's an interesting idea to mothball potential oilfields ... Prepare oilfields and not touch them, but have the option of launching them in fairly clear timeframes."
Russia, the world's second largest crude exporter, sent a high level delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, an ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, to a September OPEC meeting. It has promised to do the same when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meets in December.
Russia is keen to parlay its energy wealth into greater political influence.
The prospect of a resurgent Russia has deepened the concerns of consumer nations, which watched in alarm as Moscow invaded neighboring Georgia last month to put down Tbilisi's attempt to retake a separatist province.
GAS OPEC
In addition to boosting its observer role at OPEC meetings, Russia, which supplies a quarter of Europe's gas and holds the world's largest gas reserves, has discussed founding a "gas OPEC" to coordinate with other producers.
Russia's struggle to maintain crude output even at current levels means it cannot tweak the supply-demand balance on oil markets by fine-tuning production in the way that OPEC's largest producer, Saudi Arabia, often does.
"You are talking about 10 million barrels per day in production but you ask yourself, can Russia afford cutting it, because if they cut it they could lose market share," ING oil and gas analyst Igor Kurinnyy said.
"The Saudis can quite easily influence production because they have free capacity. In Russia if you try to really cut production it could be quite expensive to start it again. You could actually damage some fields."
Falling oil prices since July are of particular concern to Russia as its oil companies struggle to keep output growing and the government tries to balance its need for rising production with a policy of heavy taxation on the oil sector.
High taxes have discouraged capital expenditure to develop Russian oilfields. Shmatko said the decline in prices and tight global credit conditions had created fresh concern about investment in production.
"We are attentively analyzing the situation on markets from the point of view of the oil price and the financial problems that have recently appeared," Shmatko said.
"I have heard from several oil companies that it might be necessary to do some work on analyzing possible revisions to capex. The government has already taken unprecedented steps to support the companies, although they are temporary."
Following a liquidity crisis the government slashed oil export duties, which lag moves in crude markets and continued to reflect far higher prices, to try to return some cash to the industry and free up oil revenue for the economy.
Shmatko said Moscow's policy would not involve coordinated action with OPEC states although Russia, the world's No. 2 oil exporter, admired OPEC's influence on prices and should do its part to smooth the oil price "roller coaster ride" of recent months.
"The Russian delegation was at an OPEC meeting recently... we were saying amongst ourselves that Russia needs to actively work on influencing the price of oil," Shmatko told reporters.
"We think that since we have such a significant position in the high society of world oil, a Russian factor should appear." We want to formulate our approach," he added.
Shmatko said the ministry would be ready to unveil its approach at the OPEC summit in Algeria in December this year.
"From the point of view of forecasts we could express our view, perhaps even actively engage in that in a practical way," Shmatko said.
"It's an interesting idea to mothball potential oilfields ... Prepare oilfields and not touch them, but have the option of launching them in fairly clear timeframes."
Russia, the world's second largest crude exporter, sent a high level delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, an ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, to a September OPEC meeting. It has promised to do the same when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meets in December.
Russia is keen to parlay its energy wealth into greater political influence.
The prospect of a resurgent Russia has deepened the concerns of consumer nations, which watched in alarm as Moscow invaded neighboring Georgia last month to put down Tbilisi's attempt to retake a separatist province.
GAS OPEC
In addition to boosting its observer role at OPEC meetings, Russia, which supplies a quarter of Europe's gas and holds the world's largest gas reserves, has discussed founding a "gas OPEC" to coordinate with other producers.
Russia's struggle to maintain crude output even at current levels means it cannot tweak the supply-demand balance on oil markets by fine-tuning production in the way that OPEC's largest producer, Saudi Arabia, often does.
"You are talking about 10 million barrels per day in production but you ask yourself, can Russia afford cutting it, because if they cut it they could lose market share," ING oil and gas analyst Igor Kurinnyy said.
"The Saudis can quite easily influence production because they have free capacity. In Russia if you try to really cut production it could be quite expensive to start it again. You could actually damage some fields."
Falling oil prices since July are of particular concern to Russia as its oil companies struggle to keep output growing and the government tries to balance its need for rising production with a policy of heavy taxation on the oil sector.
High taxes have discouraged capital expenditure to develop Russian oilfields. Shmatko said the decline in prices and tight global credit conditions had created fresh concern about investment in production.
"We are attentively analyzing the situation on markets from the point of view of the oil price and the financial problems that have recently appeared," Shmatko said.
"I have heard from several oil companies that it might be necessary to do some work on analyzing possible revisions to capex. The government has already taken unprecedented steps to support the companies, although they are temporary."
Following a liquidity crisis the government slashed oil export duties, which lag moves in crude markets and continued to reflect far higher prices, to try to return some cash to the industry and free up oil revenue for the economy.
