The oil game: is everything according to plan?

Alexey Gromov, Principal Director on Energy studies of the Institute for Energy and Finance, gave comments for an editorial in Oil and Gas Vertical magazine about the prospects for the global oil market development.

"Fundamental changes are brewing. It is becoming obvious to an increasing number of countries that the binding of world oil prices to the European (Brent) or American (WTI) price benchmark is becoming increasingly vulnerable in geopolitical terms and flawed in economic terms. Therefore, the future belongs to the accelerated development of regional price benchmarks, where Russia has good starting positions to create its own price benchmarks and independent oil hubs both in the east and in the west of the country," Alexey Gromov believes.

"In the face of the threat of an oil supply shortage, which persists, given the proactive policy of OPEC+ to "ration" oil production and exports to the world market, I believe it is unlikely that any further tightening of sanctions against Russian oil exports. In the current situation, Western countries are interested in maintaining the volume of exports from Russia. Otherwise, the market situation may become difficult to predict. Another thing is that they are also interested in reducing Russia's revenues from the export of hydrocarbons. And I think that it is in this direction that sanctions measures from "unfriendly" countries will evolve. But we are ready for such a development," the expert concluded.