Oil hits new seven-year low

Russia is battening down the hatches for a Biblical collapse in oil revenues, warning that crude prices could stay as low as $40 a barrel for another seven years.  Maxim Oreshkin, the deputy finance minister, said the country is drawing up plans based on a price band fluctuating between $40 to $60 as far out as 2022, a scenario that would have devastating implications for Opec.  It would also spell disaster for the North Sea producers, Brazil’s off-shore projects, and heavily indebted Western producers. “We will live in a different reality,” he told a breakfast forum hosted by Russian newspaper Vedomosti.  The cold blast from Moscow came as US crude plunged to $35.56 , pummelled by continuing fall-out from the acrimonious Organisaton of Petrol Exporting Countries meeting last week . Record short positions by hedge funds have amplified the effect.