The oil price on the world market should be fair and should take into account not only the interests of consumers but also significant growth in the oil companies' spending of late, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko told journalists before the opening of an OPEC Conference meeting in Vienna on Tuesday, Interfax reports.
""We have to invest significant money in new infrastructure projects and the development of new fields," said Shmatko, a member of a Russian delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, which is attending the meeting as an observer.
"A decline in oil prices could lead to the decline in the companies' investment appeal in terms of the development of the oil production infrastructure. This will inevitably affect the oil market in the future and will again lead to growth in prices," he said.
Russia wants "a healthy balance" in oil prices, which have stabilized at over $100 per barrel in the past several months, he said.
Touching on prospects of closer ties between Russian energy companies and OPEC, Shmatko pointed out that Russia has interacted with this organization as an observer over the past 10 years and intends to maintain more intensive dialogue with it in the future.
"We had negotiations with the OPEC secretary general today, and he acknowledged that there is some discomfort about the price trends on the oil market. We have great potential of joint work, and we have a lot in common with OPEC, including from the viewpoint of attaining some common ends related, in particular, to the improvement of the quality of analysis and forecasts on the oil market and understanding of trends in the development of the situation," he said.