Non-economic factors, such as tension over Iran's nuclear activities are causing damaging instability on oil markets, Russian Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said in an interview.
"The situation on world markets is definitely made more tense by non-economic factors, for example in relation to Iran. We need to find a way out of this situation which is no good for anyone," Khristenko told German magazine Wirtschaftswoche.
Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, has come into conflict with the United States, the European Union and others over its efforts to enrich nuclear fuel, a potential first step towards producing nuclear weapons.
Khristenko denied Russia - the world's number two oil exporter after Saudi Arabia - wanted the tension to continue in order to boost its oil revenues. "We're not making that calculation. For us it's not about price levels, but stability," Khristenko said.
Russia wanted a price determined by market fundamentals, he said. "There's one thing everyone agrees on: the market must be stable and non-economic factors must be suppressed." More certain supply routes would boost price stability, Khristenko said.
Khristenko reiterated earlier comments that Europe need not fear Russia would use oil and gas as a political tool - a fear prompted after Russia's dispute over gas prices with Ukraine briefly disrupted European supplies at New Year.
"We Russians have always stuck to our commitments. That was true even in Soviet times. We've got no secrets on energy matters - we want to expand production fields and improve transport routes and co-operation with foreign partners."
Comments
Comments are closed.