The year 2017 proved to be crucial for the oil market, which managed to overcome peak instability, but further development requires that unilateral sanctions be abandoned, Igor Sechin, the CEO of Russia’s Rosneft oil company, said at an annual shareholders’ meeting, TASS reports.
"The year 2017 proved crucial in many aspects, as the global oil industry overcame the most acute period of instability and we even saw a new trend for price stabilization," he said. "At the same time, the industry’s further sustainable development requires that the policy of unilateral sanctions, investment restrictions and tariff decisions be abandoned," Sechin added.
According to the Rosneft CEO, the year 2018 "continues to bring troubling news about this unilateral policy taking the form of a potential full-scale trade war, which definitely runs counter to the goals and objectives of the industry’s sustainable development."
At the same time, Sechin noted that decreasing oil production in Venezuela and Iran had played a role in the overall market situation and one should be cautious when speaking about stabilization. He noted that in 2017, oil production in Venezuela had declined by 13% compared to the previous year, and as a result, prices grew and the level of stocks decreased.
While commenting on the 2017 oil supply dynamics, the Rosneft CEO pointed out that shale oil production in the United States was likely to stop growing. According to him, "the industry is already facing a lack of pipeline infrastructure, service companies and well-trained staff, as well as increasing expenditures and technical issues stemming from rising water cuts and the depletion of productive fields."