The average price of Russia's benchmark Urals crude blend was $96.5 per barrel in the first four months of 2008, up $40.08 year-on-year, a senior Finance Ministry official said on Sunday according to RIA Novosti.
Alexander Sakovich, deputy head of the ministry's customs department, said the Urals average price in April 2008 was $105.32 per barrel, compared to $63.77 per barrel in the same month last year.
On March 24, Russia's economics ministry raised its 2008 forecast for the annual average price of Urals by 16% to $86 per barrel.
The ministry raised its Urals forecast for the year in late January from $56 to $74 per barrel.