Russian oil firm Rosneft will follow the lead of Gazprom and LUKOIL to sell crude in rubles amid the ongoing depreciation of the dollar.

"Our specialists are looking at all possibilities that could be beneficial for the company," Rosneft Spokesman Nikolai Manvelov said. "Everything depends on economic viability."

Russia's largest independent oil producer, LUKOIL earlier announced that the company will switch to the ruble in its gas and crude deals within two years.

"Selling for rubles is much more attractive," Deputy Chief Executive Officer Leonid Fedun said on December 12. "Gazprom is considering introducing ruble-denominated contracts and I think that technically Russian companies can do it by 2009 if the banks are ready."

“We consider the idea of selling our resources for rubles to be quite possible,” Gazprom's Vice President Alexander Medvedev said at a recent conference in New York.

Last month, Iran and Venezuela proposed to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to switch to a basket of currencies in its oil deals.

Iran, the world's fourth most prolific oil exporter, has already abandoned the dollar, Iran's Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari said on December 9, describing the currency as unreliable.