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World oil prices

'Black swans’ affect oil market more than fundamental factors — Russian energy minister

The impact trade wars between countries have on oil consumption has risen over the past two years, the minister said

© Egor Aleev/TASS

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. The situation on the oil market is almost stable, though the pressure of geopolitical factors is becoming increasingly strong, which makes forecasting more difficult, Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak told a session of the Russian Energy Week on Wednesday.

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"Despite the fact that we witness a certain stable price movement around $60 (per barrel), we still witness no stability on the market. We feel that ‘black swans’ are floating around," he said.

"As of today ‘black swans’ are playing a fundamental role, and we should think how to offset the influence of those factors," Novak added.

The impact trade wars between countries have on oil consumption has risen over the past two years, the minister said. "That [decrease in consumption — TASS] surely offers little room for optimism about the current state and forecasts," he noted.

Oil demand is expected to rise by 1.4 mln barrels per day in 2020 compared with 2019, Novak said in an article in The Energy Policy magazine published on Wednesday. This year the demand was under the pressure of trade wars, with daily increase only equaling 1 mln barrels, he pointed out, adding that the growth in oil demand will recover next year.

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