MOSCOW, April 14. /TASS/. Russia’s Economic Development Ministry has upgraded its outlook on Brent oil price to $80.7 per barrel for 2023. The ministry projects the oil price at $75.7 per barrel in 2024, $71.9 in 2025, and $70.6 in 2026, a ministry representative told reporters, adding that the ministry had submitted to the government the key parameters of scenario conditions for 2023-2026 agreed on with the Finance Ministry.

The document will be sent to regions and agencies shortly as part of the work on 2023 budget adjustment and drafting budget and financial plan for 2024-2026.

"The outlook contains expectations on Brent oil prices that are projected on the basis of futures prices, expectations of world analysts, with a gradual decline from the current level towards $70 by 2026 expected," the representative said.

Meanwhile, a federal official familiar with the course of the outlook’s drafting told TASS that "a shift away from the Urals price indicator is envisioned within the framework of scenario conditions (due to it being not representational)."

"The estimation of the export contract price as reported by the Federal Customs Service was used for the outlook," he said, adding that "due to countering sanctions-based decisions in the open part of the outlook all indicators were excluded, whose disclosure may damage activities, those mainly being data in the fuel and energy sector." In particular, projections in the fuel and energy sector on production and export, as well as export prices, have been closed.