Novak predicts 2018 average oil price

The average oil price for the year would exceed Russia’s forecast of $60 per barrel, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said.

"In the current price, as it breaks through $80, there are a number of different factors that need to be discussed in the future," he said. “Then we’ll see how the price will be formed."

“I think that prices will be higher given that they are keeping at a fairly high level lately, but it’s been four more months and it will be necessary to watch how the events develop in the second half of the year, in the summer, when there will be an increase in demand, on average the price will be higher," the FT cited Novak as saying.