By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said Moscow must develop a set of measures to influence world oil prices.
“As a major exporter and producer of crude and oil products, Russia cannot remain on the sidelines with regard to the formulation of world pricing for crude,” Putin said Monday while meeting heads of Russia’s top oil companies to discuss crude export duty cuts amid the ongoing global financial crisis.
“We must develop an entire range of measures that would allow us to actively influence the market situation,” Putin said.
World oil prices have fallen more than 50 percent from a record high of $147 per barrel in July, as the global credit crunch has brought fuel demand down in most oil-consuming economies.
On Monday, Putin met executives from state-run Rosneft, Gazprom Neft, the country’s largest independent crude producer LUKoil, the Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP, and Surgutneftegaz, as well as the national pipeline monopoly Transneft.