MOSCOW - Russia should play a bigger role in influencing global oil prices but it will take some time before the country can become a swing producer, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said on Thursday.
Shmatko was speaking a day after OPEC called on Russia and other non-member states to join the group in cutting production to stop a steep fall in oil prices.
"We believe global oil market instability has created a threat to the investment plans of our companies. This is why Russia should take a more active position on the market from the point of view of price formation," Shmatko told reporters.
"But our approach differs from OPEC. We have different technologies. We are working on technology to create an oil reserve so we can quickly raise and cut production. But this is a mid-term, long-term forecast," he said.
The idea of an oil reserve was first made known by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin on Wednesday, who said it would allow Russia "to work more efficiently in the oil market."
Shmatko did not say how big the reserve could be.
"We are studying international experience and oil storage possibilities. In the United States for example it exceeds 100 million tonnes," he said.
Russia, the biggest non-OPEC oil producer and the world's second-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, has said it enjoyed constructive dialogue with OPEC but would rather keep its policies independent.
On Wednesday OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri met with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow for the first ever meeting between OPEC and the head of the Russian state. Both sides said they exchanged information.
Oil prices have more than halved from record July levels to under $70 per barrel now, and OPEC is widely expected to agree to cut production at its emergency meeting in Vienna on Friday.
CHINA CONTRACT
Shmatko, who was speaking after his meeting with the head of China's National Energy Administration, Zhang Guobao, said Russian state-controlled oil company Rosneft (ROSN.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) was likely in a month or in six weeks' time to sign a new long-term oil supply agreement with China's CNPC.
"It is a contract for at least 15 years," Shmatko said.
He declined to say what price is being discussed, saying only that Russia "agreed with the price formula."
Rosneft said last year that it was not going to extend its current oil supply contract with CNPC, valid until 2010, as the discount price written into the agreement no longer suited Russia.
The agreement on delivery of 48.4 million tonnes of oil to China was used as collateral under the $6 billion loan facility which Rosneft used to finance the purchase of a major production unit, formerly belonged to bankrupt former rival Yukos.
Shmatko was speaking a day after OPEC called on Russia and other non-member states to join the group in cutting production to stop a steep fall in oil prices.
"We believe global oil market instability has created a threat to the investment plans of our companies. This is why Russia should take a more active position on the market from the point of view of price formation," Shmatko told reporters.
"But our approach differs from OPEC. We have different technologies. We are working on technology to create an oil reserve so we can quickly raise and cut production. But this is a mid-term, long-term forecast," he said.
The idea of an oil reserve was first made known by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin on Wednesday, who said it would allow Russia "to work more efficiently in the oil market."
Shmatko did not say how big the reserve could be.
"We are studying international experience and oil storage possibilities. In the United States for example it exceeds 100 million tonnes," he said.
Russia, the biggest non-OPEC oil producer and the world's second-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, has said it enjoyed constructive dialogue with OPEC but would rather keep its policies independent.
On Wednesday OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri met with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow for the first ever meeting between OPEC and the head of the Russian state. Both sides said they exchanged information.
Oil prices have more than halved from record July levels to under $70 per barrel now, and OPEC is widely expected to agree to cut production at its emergency meeting in Vienna on Friday.
CHINA CONTRACT
Shmatko, who was speaking after his meeting with the head of China's National Energy Administration, Zhang Guobao, said Russian state-controlled oil company Rosneft (ROSN.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) was likely in a month or in six weeks' time to sign a new long-term oil supply agreement with China's CNPC.
"It is a contract for at least 15 years," Shmatko said.
He declined to say what price is being discussed, saying only that Russia "agreed with the price formula."
Rosneft said last year that it was not going to extend its current oil supply contract with CNPC, valid until 2010, as the discount price written into the agreement no longer suited Russia.
The agreement on delivery of 48.4 million tonnes of oil to China was used as collateral under the $6 billion loan facility which Rosneft used to finance the purchase of a major production unit, formerly belonged to bankrupt former rival Yukos.
