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RF interested in stable, not max prices on resources, energy - Medvedev

Medvedev said in order to decide on volatility in energy prices it was necessary to increase the quality of data on production and store of energy resources

CANNES, November 3 (Itar-Tass) — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said his country “is interested in stable and predictable, but not maximum prices on resources and energy”.

Speaking at the G-20 summit on Thursday, Medvedev said in order to decide on volatility in energy prices it was necessary to increase the quality of data on production and store of energy resources.

Russia is also involved in this activity. In particular, it prepared a draft law, which would envision the collection, handling and analysis of data on key energy resources of the country. Medvedev stressed that Russia “showed interest in stable and predictable, but not maximum prices on resources and energy because the market fluctuations destabilise the situation and wreck the sustainable economic growth and the budget planning”.

The Russian president recalled that sometimes the market fluctuations were rather useful because they helped balance demand and supply. “But energy prices react to other macroeconomic factors, including foreign currencies and monetary politics of world countries, and primarily of the states, which issue reserve currencies. The so-called excessive volatility is rather dangerous. Now it is not clear where the limit between normal and excessive volatility is,” Medvedev stressed.

If volatility exists, it reflects the key factors of misbalance between demand and supply, the Russian president said. “If politicians want to fight this phenomenon, it is necessary to take measures in order to stimulate the demand. Business warns that any balanced action will be caused by inverted effects – price rise and consequently volatility rising,” Medvedev said.

He believes that in order to solve this problem “it is necessary to increase the quality of data on energy store and production”. So, “we uphold a proposal to expand the Joint Oil Data Initiative and spread it to other fields, primarily to the gas sector”, he pointed out.

In addition, Medvedev said the country’s energy policy was open for other states. Russia also hoped on the same openness by foreign partners.“Energy security is mutual responsibility by producers, consumers and transit participants for stability on the energy markets and interrupted energy supplies,” the Russian president stressed. He recalled that based on this initiative Russia had prepared proposals on adopting a concept on energy security. Russia hopes that other countries will support its initiative, he added.

“We hope for doing our work jointly. It should be open and mutually beneficial,” Medvedev pointed out.