Novak: lifting of sanctions against Iran shouldn't hit oil prices

The Russian Energy Ministry does not expect a big impact from lifting the sanctions against Iran on oil prices, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said.

"There won’t be a strong influence, the market has already evaluated it long ago. The prices will be formed from the cost of shale oil," he said.

He said that at the current oil price of $60 per barrel the decline in the number of drilling rigs slowed down. At a price above $60 rig count will increase. "We see today that the decrease in the number of drilling rigs slowed down and remains at 650 units of shale oil in the United States. It went down from 1600 to 650 and is no longer falling. Actually, this is the criteria," Novak said.

The Minister noted that Iran entering the global market would require a redistribution of quotas by OPEC. "If Iranian oil enters the market it will create an additional supply. We should understand what OPEC is going to do. OPEC has to react somehow, they allocated quotas without taking into account Iranian oil, and they will have to reallocate it," he stressed.