shale oil rosneft
© Aleksey Nikolskyi / RIA NovostiRosneft president and chairman of the board Igor Sechin
The break-even price for difficult to extract shale oil is $85-$98 a barrel, according to Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, which is putting US producers deep in debt. "The total debt of only 25 companies engaged in the extraction of shale oil is about $150 billion," said Sechin speaking at the Eurasian Forum in Verona, Italy, TASS reports.

According Sechin it's the United States not to OPEC that controls the global oil market. "OPEC is no longer the regulator, its meeting on October 21 [with non-OPEC members] did not bring any decisions," according to Sechin.

Last week, the head of Russia's biggest oil company said Riyadh has been actively dumping and cutting prices to secure its share of the market and gain new ones. Some European countries are now buying Saudi oil for the first time.

Speaking about trends in the global energy market, Sechin said that Europe's share of world energy consumption will decrease from 19 percent in 2015 to 16 percent in 2030.

Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak said shale oil is losing its influence on the world market, and there has been a steady decline in its production in the recent months. According to the minister, dropping prices cause investment outflow.

Subsequently, the number of drilling rigs in the United States is also reducing: a year before there were 1600 rigs with about 600 now.