World Oil prices surged on Wednesday following the Russian government’s decision to cut exports by 150,000 barrel per day.

Thus, Russia has eventually yielded to insistent the demands of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and shied from the oil price war OPEC had threatened to unleash. On Wednesday Mikhail Kasyanov met with representatives of Russia’s major oil firms to discuss the situation on the world oil market and possible measures that could be taken to stabilize prices. Mikhail Kasyanov chaired the meeting attended by the vice-prime minister Viktor Khristenko, the Energy Minister Igor Yusufov and the representatives of Russian oil companies. After the meeting the long awaited decision was announced. As from the beginning of next year Russia will cut oil exports by 150,000 barrel per day, which amounts to around 7% of the nation’s total export volume. "Given the current situation, Russian companies consider it possible to carry out a deeper reduction of oil exports, which will reach 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) from January 1, 2002," a government spokesman told reporters. However, no explanation was given as to how the reduction would be made.