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Investment cuts, but production levels to stay — Russian deputy energy minister

This can be considered an advantage in some sense because companies will have to improve performance, Deputy Minister of Energy Alexey Teksler told TASS

ABU-DHABI, January 22. /TASS/. Russia's fuel and energy sector will cut investment in view of the collapsed oil price but hydrocarbon production plans will not be hit, Deputy Minister of Energy Alexey Teksler said on Thursday.

"It is even good in some sense because companies will have to improve performance,” he said in an interview with TASS. Government would support Russian companies and had all the resources to do so.

"The ministry is developing a crisis response package covering all sectors," Teksler went on. "Energy companies will be supported on a priority basis in view of the mounting domestic electricity debt burden they have to shoulder. The oil and gas sector will also be closely monitored.”

No production cut was planned because markets could be lost, he said, predicting that the oil price would return to the $60 per barrel level in the second half of 2015.

"Price will stabilize at $60 on average in the second half of 2015, starting gradual growth next year," the minister said. "Global investments will be $1-2 billion lower this year. We have done a thorough analysis and are confident that costly projects will gradually leave the market against low crude prices, contributing to stabilisation,” he added.