MOSCOW, October 16. /TASS/. The contraction of the discount for the Russian Urals oil export blend has already become a realistic trend, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov said at a meeting with lawmakers.

"If we look in particular at parameters of oil prices, they have been more conservative in recent years than we have provided. Forecasts may not become true but deviations should be present. This time we considered and developed a realistic but a bit less conservative scenario in forecasts. There is no Urals indicator from the next year. We are using the Brent and the oil export price," Reshetnikov said.

"We regard the discount reduction as a fairly realistic trend that has already surfaced. Our Energy Ministry confirms such opportunities. We relied on their estimates when preparing the outlook. The forecast of 70 [dollars a barrel] is not a forecast to form budgetary expenditures. This creates a certain budget’s safety margin. This is a critical value for us; we form the trade balance using it," the minister noted.

According to the Russian Finance Ministry, the average Urals price in September 2023 climbed to $83.08 a barrel, 1.2 times above the year earlier. The North Sea Dated Brent reached $93.98 a barrel.