Bleak outlook for oil has Russian investors pulling back

As international sanctions push Russia toward its first recession since 2009, market analysts are predicting a worse outlook for the prices of crude oil, the country's biggest export.

The bleak outlook for the price of crude oil has prompted money managers at Franklin Templeton Investments and Paribasto to cut back in Russia, Bloomberg reported.

"For now there's stability, but the price of oil seems to be settling in at a new normal," Ruchir Sharma, the head of emerging markets at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, told Bloomberg Business. "It's a stability, but stability with stagnation. I don't know how long they can coexist, but this seems to be the prognosis for now."

Brent crude oil dropped 19 percent from this year's high as the ruble went from the best-performing emerging market to its worst. Economic sanctions linked to the Ukraine crisis has curbed investment, and limited access for foreign markets has dampened speculation that recession will be milder than previously projected.

All total, the ruble declined 2.8 percent last week. The Bloomberg Russia-U.S. Equity Index slumped 4.7 percent to 52.10.

Oil prices, which entered a bear market last week after falling more than 20 percent since hitting its peak in May, are facing more "headwinds" beginning this summer, analysts say, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Baker Hughes Inc. also said last week the total number of rigs deployed in the onshore U.S. oil sector is down by more than 900 from last year.