“This, in some sense, serves as a basis for a crisis; many countries will suffer losses. The forecast of oil prices is an unthankful business, but I think that the created tension is of a temporary nature. There is a tendency of price spike in oil-drilling, the companies work with prices lower than the cost price. This looks like a dumping policy which does not last long,” Vilen Khachatryan said.

The drop in oil prices will have a negative influence on all the countries that export oil. It is not right to single out only Iran and Arab countries. Russia, Azerbaijan, South America etc. will also suffer losses, economist Gor Tsarukyan told “Armenpress”.

The economist also emphasized that the prices will have impact also on the countries which have close ties with the above-mentioned countries. For instance, the devaluation of the Russian rouble has influence on the situation in Armenia. A similar situation was in 2014, when the Russian rouble devaluation led to the deterioration of the situation also in Armenia. However, Armenia was able to stabilize the situation, Azerbaijan was not.

“The drop in oil prices is connected not only with the political developments in the Middle East.  One of the reasons is that the demand for oil in the international market has decreased preconditioned by the reduction of the demand for oil in China.  On the other hand, there has been some increase in the US oil supplies. As we know, the US Congress confirmed at the end of 2015 the decision on lifting ban on oil exports, according to which the USA could export oil. This also influences the oil prices,” Tsarukyan said.