Our country actively fills the world market with black gold. Such a conclusion can be made based on the annual review of oil and gas markets prepared by the BP oil company.

Russian exporters of black gold show special activity in the last two years, and if before that the sales of Russian oil companies on the international market were declining, in 2015-2016. Were marked by a 14% surge.

The most interesting thing is that the growth in exports of Russian black gold occurred against the backdrop of a very weak increase in its production in Russia itself. Moreover, the growth in the volume of Russian exports coincided with the global increase in the supply of oil, which led to a fall in its world prices. That is, the country increased sales in the world market when the price of its proposed oil was declining.

As reported in the annual BP review, the main markets for Russian oil are Europe and China, where about 84% of Russian oil was delivered. Oil and gas from our country occupy leading positions in the energy balance of Europe. According to BP, shipments to the Old World increased by 11.9% to 177.4 million tons of oil, accounting for more than a third of the total volume of European oil and gas imports.

China, which exported Russian exports by 23.8% to 52.5 million tonnes (by 13.7%), also stayed on the sidelines.. As a result, Russia became the third largest supplier of black gold to the Middle Kingdom, behind only the countries of the Middle East (68.4 million tons) and West Africa (59.5 million tons).

In addition, BP analysts note the growth in Russian oil supplies to such exotic destinations as the United States (by 35% to 1.9 million tonnes), Central and South America (three times to 2.9 million tonnes) and India Three times - up to 300 thousand. Tons).

One of the main reasons for such a sharp increase in exports in the face of greatly reduced world prices is the continued strengthening of the ruble. The fact is that the Russian budget and the financial plans of oil companies have laid down certain values ??of oil prices, on the basis of which the income is calculated.

Because of the more intensive growth of the ruble exchange rate, when converting foreign exchange earnings from the sale of oil, the actual volume of ruble revenues turns out to be lower than what is planned by companies and the budget.

The only way to compensate for the gap between planned (and pre-allocated) and real income can be covered only by increasing exports.

It is worth noting that the current growth of these same volumes has not yet caught up with the appreciation of the ruble, which for the same period amounted to about 20%. This means that this year Russia's oil and gas exports could set a new record. And the only factor that can stop the sale of raw materials at low prices, may be a weakening of the ruble, which is too early to talk about.

We must admit that the sale being observed today does not lead to anything good, as its consequence will inevitably be another decline in world oil prices.

Not only Russia but also other leading oil suppliers are faced with the fact that it is possible to maintain the necessary levels of income only by increasing exports.

Given that OPEC and Russia are bound by the reduction of production, the need to fill the market with cheap oil can push them to abandon the agreement. In this case, producers openly or secretly begin to increase drilling, in order to be able to continue the race for income and not lose their market share. A consequence of this will be a new wave of lower world prices, which will serve as the reason for a new round of this carousel.