Page 18 - RusRPTJune18

A Sberbank analyst report claims president Vladimir Putin friends have won $93bn worth of Gazprom gas pipeline contracts that benefit no one.
2.9 Oil may fall to $60 if OPEC+ deal ends
The OPEC+ countries will try to keep the deal on limiting production until the end of the year , despite the stated intentions to ease the current restrictions. The market has already partially played up statements about the upcoming production growth, according to analysts. However, they do not rule out that oil this year may still drop to $60 per barrel.
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak discussed the question of how much production can be raised at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, although they did not name the figures. According to sources of Reuters and TASS, the ministers discussed a gradual increase in production by 1mn barrels per day.
As of April, OPEC+ countries cut production by 2.7mn barrels per day
with a quota of 1.8mn barrels against the level of October 2016. The deal is overfulfilled in large part due to a strong decline of production in Venezuela, which instead of the promised 100,000 barrels cut production due to the economic crisis by 650,000 per day.
Softening the restrictions has yet to be discussed with other OPEC+ countries , the issue will be considered at a scheduled meeting in Vienna on June 22-23. So far, the leaders of the agreement only promised that the softening of quotas will be smooth, in order "not to cause shocks in the market." Immediately after the statements oil prices reacted by losing 2.5% and dropping below $77 per barrel. During the trading session opened on Monday on the Moscow Exchange, Brent oil fell below $75 per barrel.
Full withdrawal from the agreement is out of the question, according to analysts. Russia and Saudi Arabia will be able to increase production in two to three months. During this period, OPEC's capacity of 3.4mn barrels per day, freed from the agreement, can be filled. At the time the agreement started, it were estimated at 2.2mn barrels per day.
Iran, according to Marinchenko, will not be able to block OPEC+ decision
to increase production, Marinchenko said. Saudi Arabia and Russia want to preserve formal agreements and, most likely, try to persuade Iran, he said. "In particular, they can promise assistance in circumventing American restrictions," Marinchenko added.
2.10 New Russian ministers get jobs
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev distributed responsibilities between the 10 vice-premiers of the new government on May 28.
Medvedev's spokeswoman Natalia Timakova reminded that the main task of the government is to achieve the indicators set out in the new May decree of President Vladimir Putin. "Accordingly, the main task of the vice-premiers in the new government will be to achieve these fundamentally new goals," she said.
From the document quoted by TASS, it follows that First Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov will oversee "the whole complex of issues of financial and economic policy," including the national
18 RUSSIA Country Report June 2018 www.intellinews.com