Futures for Brent crude oil dropped to $36.18 a barrel Monday, reaching an 11-year low, the RIA Novosti agency reported.
Around 8 a.m. Moscow time, Brent oil futures dropped 1.21 percent to $36.21 per barrel, earlier sliding to $36.18, less than the 2004 low of $36.2 per barrel.
West Texas Intermediate also saw its futures slide 0.98 percent on Monday, to reach $35.7 per barrel.
“The market is quite weak right now and for Brent to fall to $35 a barrel is very possible in the near term but soon bargain-hunting by some hedge-fund managers will likely kick in to lift prices,” Daniel Ang, a Phillip Futures energy analyst told the Wall Street Journal Monday.
Russia's 2016 budget bill, signed by President Vladimir Putin on Dec.15, projected the average price of Russian Urals oil at $50 per barrel in the next year.
The budget deficit limit was set to 3 percent GDP. The Finance Ministry estimated Russia's GDP at 78.7 trillion rubles ($1.15 trillion) in the 2016 budget bill. Its deficit forecast, because of the oil price and falling ruble, was 1 trillion rubles ($14.4 billion).
With an oil price baseline of $40 a barrel, Russia's budget deficit is expected to reach 1.5 trillion rubles ($21.7 billion) in 2016.
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