Russian minister of finance Anton Siluanov.
Russia's budget will require 500 billion rubles ($ 125 billion) from the Reserve Fund if the current situation with the national currency and the subsequent drop in oil prices remains in 2015.
According to RIA Novosti, this was stated by Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.
"If the current oil price of 87 $ per barrel remains in 2015 with the exchange rate of 40 rubles to the dollar ... we will have to refer to the Reserve Fund," Siluanov said at a meeting of the Budget Committee of the State Duma.
"We lack about 500 billion rubles due to the situation that is emerging today, if it continues in 2015," Siluanov added.
The Minister appealed to the lawmakers with a request to secure the possibility of obtaining funds from the Reserve Fund at the legislative level.
Oil prices continue decreasing with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia ready to bear the drop and keep up the output
Global oil futures lost more than a dollar on Monday after Saudi Arabia and Kuwait signalled ample supplies and their willingness to bear lower prices to defend market share, although better than expected trade data from China pared oil's losses.
China's export and import growth unexpectedly trumped forecasts in September, while the world's largest energy consumer increased crude oil imports by 9.5 percent from a month ago, data showed on Monday, Censor.NET reports citing Reuters.
"That's very good news for oil prices," Rikio Ishikura, a commodity broker at Newedge Japan said, but he was cautious about whether China has really embarked on a recovery track as the global economic outlook remained gloomy.
Brent crude oil briefly touched its lowest since December 2010 at $87.74 in early trade, but pared losses after the China data to trade at $89.04 a barrel by 0323 GMT, down $1.17. U.S. crude fell $1.13 at $84.69, after slipping to a low of $84.25 on Monday, near July 2012 levels.
Contrary to market expectations, OPEC producers Saudi Arabia and Kuwait look set to keep output steady, and their willingness to bear with lower crude prices sparked another round of sell-off in oil on Monday.
The world's top oil exporter Saudi Arabia has privately told oil markets that it is ready to accept oil prices perhaps down to $80 a barrel, probably to fend off competition as rival producers expand.
Kuwait's oil minister Ali al-Omair was quoted as saying by state news agency KUNA on Sunday that OPEC is unlikely to cut oil production in an effort to prop up prices because such a move would not necessarily be effective.
Omair said $76-$77 a barrel might be the level that would end the oil price slide, since that was the cost of oil production in the United States and Russia.
Oil ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are scheduled to meet in Vienna on Nov. 27 to consider whether to adjust their output target of 30 million barrels per day (bpd) for early 2015.
Some OPEC members are clamouring for urgent production cuts to push global oil prices back up above $100 a barrel.
Saudi Arabia reported September production of 9.704 million barrels per day (bpd), up from 9.597 million in August, according to a monthly OPEC report issued on Friday. The lack of a Saudi cut could add to perceptions of traders and analysts that the kingdom is looking to defend market share, not prices.
EU lifts sanctions against Iran's main oil tanker
European Union sanctions on Iran's main oil tanker firm NITC have been annulled after the EU did not appeal against a court ruling that the measures should be lifted, the shipping group's lawyer said on Tuesday.
An EU official told Reuters the European Union was working to resolve the issue, adding: "The time for appeal had elapsed but work is still ongoing on remedial action for maintaining the entity on the list,"Censor.NET reports.
In July the Luxembourg-based General Court, the second-highest court in the EU, ruled there were no grounds to blacklist NITC in the bloc after the company contested the designation. Rulings are typically suspended for two months pending appeals.
"We are glad to see the (European) Council accept the judgment of the EU court that the sanctions were unlawful, although it is regrettable that they did not see fit to lift the sanctions sooner," said Rovine Chandrasekera of law firm Stephenson Harwood, which represented NITC.
EU plans for Iran gas imports as alternative to Russia's - Reuters
The European Union is quietly increasing the urgency of a plan to import natural gas from Iran, as relations with Tehran thaw while those with top gas supplier Russia grow chillier.
Two "ifs" - the removal of sanctions on Iran and the addition of some pipeline infrastructure - are not preventing EU planners preparing, a European Commission source involved in developing EU energy strategy told Reuters.
Iran has the world's second largest gas reserves after Russia and is a potential alternative given talks between Tehran and the West to reach a deal over the Islamic Republic's disputed nuclear programme.
"High potential for gas production, domestic energy sector reforms that are underway, and ongoing normalisation of its relationship with the West make Iran a credible alternative to Russia," said a paper prepared for the EU's Directorate-Generale for External Policies following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea.
"Iran can be a secure energy centre for Europe," its President Hassan Rouhani was quoted on Wednesday telling Austrian President Heinz Fischer in New York.
"Iran is trying to position itself in Europe as an alternative to Russian gas. It's playing a very sophisticated game, talking with Russia on the one hand about cooperation on easing sanctions and also talking to Europe about substituting Russian gas with its own," said Amir Handjani, an independent oil and gas specialist working in Dubai.
"Given Russia's current strategy politically, which is one of confrontation with Europe, I see the EU having little choice but to find alternative gas supplies," he added.
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