OREANDA-NEWS  Russian oil companies were able to earn an additional two trillion rubles due to the increase in gasoline prices, which was caused by the agreement on the reduction of oil production under the OPEC+ agreement. This was stated by the Minister of energy of Russia Alexander Novak.

He also praised that thanks to the agreements with OPEC, the budget received an additional five trillion rubles. "For two and a half years, the budget of the Russian Federation received an additional five trillion rubles, and oil companies received an additional two trillion rubles. This helped to stabilize the situation, including with our budget, and partially gave growth to the economy, " the Minister said.

However, the head of the Ministry of energy did not say a word about the fact that largely due to the agreement, which pushed oil prices up, gasoline prices began to rise in Russia, which is why the government has twice had to conclude an agreement with oil companies to freeze fuel prices in the domestic market.

The agreement with OPEC, in which Russia has taken and continues to take an active part, has led to the fact that selling oil and fuel in the domestic market has become unprofitable, which led to an increase in prices for gasoline and fuel in Russia. The first round began in may 2018, the second-in late August and ended only in November. At the same time, for the second time the authorities fixed gasoline prices at peak values with a high oil price, and the mechanism in case of a sharp decline in oil prices was not thought out.

As a result, for a month and a half, prices fell from $ 85 per barrel in early October to $ 59 at the end of November. At the time of the agreement between the authorities and oilmen, a barrel of oil cost 71 dollars. Fixing gasoline prices at peak oil prices has made the sale of fuel for oil companies in the Russian market more profitable than abroad.

The relationship between growth of prices for gasoline and oil is acknowledged even by the Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, who said bluntly that the oil industry took offense and decided to cover their problems at the expense of ordinary Russians.