MOSCOW, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Russia is examining the possibility of settlements in national currencies for oil supplies, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Friday.

"There is a common understanding that we need to move towards the use of national currencies in the settlements," TASS news agency quoted Novak as saying.

"This applies to Turkey and Iran," he added, without disclosing when such settlements could begin.

Generally, oil is priced and traded in U.S. dollars.

In February, Iran's Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that Tehran had signed a contract with Moscow to export three million barrels of crude oil to Russia every month and the settlements would be made in euros.

Russia is one of the main suppliers of crude oil to Turkey.

Novak was part of the delegation, which accompanied Russian President Vladimir Putin on his visit to Ankara earlier this week, where Putin met with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani.