Russia's oil export revenues fall 11 pct in 2014

The like-for-like oil export of Russia declined by nearly 11.4 percent to 153.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2014, the Federal Customs Service of Russia said Monday.

The physical volume of oil export edged down 5.6 percent to 223. 4 mln tons in 2014 against 236.6 million tons a year earlier, the agency said in its 2014 export and import data of essential goods.

Meanwhile, a monthly report released Monday by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) estimated that Russia' s oil exports in 2015 would drop by 60,000 barrels a day, and oil production by 70,000 barrels a day.

On gas exports, the statistics given by the Federal Customs Service showed that Russian gas giant Gazprom lost a 18.6-percent gas export revenue in 2014, totaling 54.73 billion U.S. dollars, as the company cut its export volume by 12.1 percent to 172.6 billion cubic meters.

In 2014, the annual average contract price for Russian gas stood at 317 U.S. dollars per 1,000 cubic meters, a year-on-year 7. 5-percent drop, according to the agency.

In total, the country last year suffered a decline of 7 percent in foreign trade which amounted to 782.9 billion U.S. dollars compared with 2013, as the foreign trade surplus totaled 210.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2014.

Under the pressure of Western sanctions and oil price slump, Russia is trying to guard its economy that has been highly depending on oil and gas exports.

Last week, Central Bank chief Elvira Nabiullina said Russia would lose about 160 billion U.S. dollars in oil exports over a year if oil prices averaged at 45 dollars a barrel. Endite