MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/. The energy market recovery is not going to be quick and it will take a long time for it to regain the pre-crisis dynamics, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Sunday at a meeting of the Group of Twenty energy ministers.
"It is obvious that the structure of the energy sector will be transformed both from the point of view of demand and from the point of view of supply. Recovery will not be quick and it will take quite a long time to reach the pre-crisis indices," he said.
He stressed that as a driving force of the global economy the energy sector should be an outrider in terms of effective crisis overcoming and subsequent recovery. According to Novak, oil demand in 2020 will be down by ten percent on the previous year.
"Demand for oil products has dropped by about 28-30%, mostly due to the decrease trucking operations. Investments in oil production have shrunk by 25% This year, we expect a drop in demand at about ten percent," he said.
He stressed that Russia had undertaken unprecedented liabilities to balance the energy market and will spare no effort to prevent a collapse in the global economy.
"Russia has undertaken unprecedented liabilities on market balancing (under the OPEC+ oil production cut deal - TASS), as a responsible energy market participant. We are doing our best to prevent a collapse on the energy market and, hence, in the global economy," he said.
"We can say that despite all the problems the energy sector has demonstrated sustainability. All services concerning electricity, heal, oil products supplies are being provided non-stop and the energy sector is among those sectors that have been most affected because of a dramatic slump in demand," Novak added.