Russian President praises OPEC role, says oil at $60 is 'normal'

Russian President Vladimir Putin said current oil prices at $60 a barrel are normal and acceptable for his country.

“It is acceptable because we form the expenditure part of the budget under $40 a barrel assumption, and slightly above $43 a barrel for the next year’s expenditure part. And the levels at which shale oil production is economically viable are $35-45 a barrel,” Putin said while speaking during the investment conference "Russia calling" in Moscow.

Putin also talked about the success of Russia’s cooperation with the OPEC and 12 non-OPEC member states, and thanked Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for this initiatives for this cooperation.

“You know that we have established cooperation with OPEC’s 15 member states and 12 countries that are non-OPEC member states. We agreed to work together on the global market in order to balance the supply and demand. And I should say that for the first time, I think it is for the first time in the history of this organization, that we managed to comply with the agreement by 100 percent,” Putin said.

He said this 100 percent agreement has never been seen before in this organization itself.

“And I should say that it happened largely thanks to the position of Saudi Arabia. This is, as a matter of fact, an achievement of Saudi Arabia and the Crown prince himself – he was an initiator of this work. And it led to positive results,” Putin added.