The actions of the countries included in the OPEC+ deal allowed the global oil market last year to avoid the crisis faced by the gas and coal markets, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said.

The global rise in gas prices in 2021 led to a sharp rise in fertilizer prices and, as a result, to the closure of more than a dozen major fertilizer plants in Europe, while the shortage of coal and soaring coal prices put significant pressure on generating companies, according to Novak’s article in the journal Energy Policy.

At the same time, the oil market was relatively stable, Novak said. Prices last year sometimes exceeded $85 per barrel due to lower production in the U.S., Norway and Kazakhstan, as well as the transition of some consumers to fuel oil in conditions of gas shortages, but in general during the year the oil market managed to avoid sharp price fluctuations and supply shortages due to the actions of OPEC+ countries, which leveled the imbalance, said Deputy Prime Minister.

In the second half of last year, the countries participating in the pact demonstrated high fulfillment of the OPEC+ deal – at the level of 110-122% – due to the lack of spare capacity for oil production in some countries, which was caused, among other things, by underinvestment in previous periods.

In February, the cost of oil – around $93 a barrel – is close to a seven-year peak due to supply constraints and tensions between Ukraine and Russia, one of the world’s biggest oil exporters.