MOSCOW, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- If there were no drastic plunge in the U.S. dollar's exchange rate, then the oil price may be down to60 dollars per barrel within two years, said Russian finance minister here Wednesday.

    "A weak dollar" raised the oil price, said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin at a financial forum, quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency.

    He said the oil price may stay at the price level between 70 and 80 dollars per barrel in the year to come, or possibly experience a short-term surge, but it would decline after the rise in two years.

    Crude prices fell on Tuesday as investors expected an increase in the U.S. crude and gasoline inventory. Light, sweet crude for January delivery lost 1.54 dollars to settle at 76.02 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

    The International Energy Agency (IEA) launched the new World Energy Outlook 2009 (WEO) on Nov. 10 in London.

    As the annual flagship publication of the IEA, the WEO 2009 foresaw the oil price to reach 100 dollars a barrel in 2020, 115 dollars a barrel in 2030, based on the dollar's estimated value in 2008.

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