Sechin: Russia was able to provide economic results better than the leading countries of the world

Russia was able, in the face of unprecedented sanctions, pressure and confrontation with almost the entire Western world, to provide a result more significant than that of many leading economies, said the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, during a speech at India Energy Week.

“Implementation of major economic programs has already become, regardless of the current situation around us, a great psychological victory. Which will predetermine our success in other areas,” Sechin emphasized.

According to him, the actions of the world hegemon, who is trying by any means to maintain his hegemony, have destroyed the single energy market. He stressed that today there is no single global energy market, energy security has ceased to be global.

“As a result of these actions, all the principles of market trade have been destroyed, in fact, market pricing, contract law have been abolished, and logistics chains that have been built for decades have been broken. The illustration is the blown up Nord Stream,” the head of Rosneft noted.

A striking example, according to Sechin, is the reformatting of the European gas market, when “contrary to common sense” Europe was forced to abandon long-term contracts and switch to spot pricing. As a result, Europe has completely lost its main advantage – energy security – access to cheap and reliable Russian energy carriers and is now forced to pay 3-5 times more for gas, he added.

In 2022, after the strengthening of anti-Russian sanctions, the EU, the US and the UK imposed restrictions on the supply of Russian oil products, and then decided to limit fuel prices. From December 5, 2022, a price ceiling imposed by unfriendly countries on offshore oil supplies from the Russian Federation is in effect. At that time, a ceiling was set on Russian oil at $60/bbl.

At the end of January, the European Commission proposed the structure of marginal prices for oil products from Russia. The parties agreed to introduce two price limits – for oil products that are sold at a premium to Brent (for example, diesel), and for those that are sold at a discount (fuel oil). Bloomberg sources reported on January 26, 2023 that the EU is considering limits of $100/bbl. for diesel (about $730/t) and $45/bbl. for fuel oil (about $330/t), European countries agreed on them this week. At the same time, Poland and the Baltic countries insisted that the price ceiling be even lower.