Rosneft has reconsidered reduction of oil prices for China, the company’s head Eduard Khudaynatov said. Prices dropped by $1.5 per barrel. The new price formula has been used since October 2011, the Center for Energy Expertise reports.

The official clarified that price regulation allowed China to pay for oil. Some say that the new price would mean a loss of about $3 billion for Russia (at a supply rate of 15 million tons of oil annually).

China announced its discontent with the prices a year ago. The Chinese National Petroleum Company (CNPC) stopped paying full price for Russian oil, insisting that the real price was exceeded by 2-3%.

Rosneft and Transneft considered the case at the London Arbitration. Russian Vice Speaker Igor Sechin announced settlement of the problem in a diplomatic manner after returning from China in autumn 2011.