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Russia’s former energy minister Yuri Shafranik: â€œOil price will hit $100 by the year-endâ€ â€“ EXCLUSIVE

Russia’s former energy minister Yuri Shafranik: â€œOil price will hit $100 by the year-endâ€ â€“ <font color=red>EXCLUSIVE </font>

30 May 2009 11:26 (UTC +04:00)

Yuri Shafranik exclusively pointed it out to APA US Bureau. According to him, it connects with increasing of global demand for oil.
In his answer to APAâ€™s question â€œYou represented Russian government in the signing of the â€œContract of the Centuryâ€ on September 20, 1994 in Baku. A â€œNew Contract of the Centuryâ€ regarding gas will likely be signed in the years coming. Do you believe in it?â€, Yuri Shafranik said: â€œIn 1993 we conducted discussions whether to support Azerbaijan or not. Iâ€™m glad that our ministryâ€™s position was backed. Despite we had opponents. I received a note of protest from our Foreign Ministry for signing the â€œContract of the Centuryâ€. It was nonsense. Why am I talking about it in details? Russia has always supported Azerbaijan. All agreements reached by Azerbaijan and other neighboring countries should be based on not political, but the economic point of view. There has always been a policy in oil and gas industry. However, if the oil and gas pipelines are economically important, at least Russia will not create obstacles to them. The third countries involved in this issue will always inflict damages onlyâ€.

Yuri Shafranik stated that the best option for Azerbaijan was to sell its gas to Russia taking it into account that Russian government applied for European prices in price formation of gas.