Russia is backing a system of long-term oil deliveries and thinks the world should expand the range of oil blends traded on exchanges, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said Friday.
"The oil price should be determined by fundamentals - supply and demand," Sechin told an investment conference in St. Petersburg. "But at the moment the market doesn't work like that."
Sechin slammed the strong relationship between oil prices and global equity prices and said geopolitics also played too big a role in price fluctuations.
Separately, Sechin - Russia's top energy official - urged the oil industry to reduce its focus on the Brent and West Texas Intermediate oil blends as new types of oil appear on the market.
Russian s produce the Urals blend.