OPEC could ‘define oil price’ with Russia, says minister

Russia should join OPEC so the oil exporters’ group could dictate the price of oil, a senior executive of the country’s second-largest oil producer said yesterday.

An enlarged OPEC including Russia would control 51 per cent of world output and could do away with oil futures by returning to fixed contract prices, said Leonid Fedun, the vice president of Lukoil.

“We could define the price precisely. We could decide that tomorrow the oil price would be US$100 per barrel. Unfortunately, Russia’s political leaders did not go this route,” he said in an interview published in Russia’s Kommersant newspaper. He added: “Russia should join OPEC and move to direct contracts. Then we will jointly control 51 per cent of world output and we can dictate the price by directive.”