The article attempts to analyze the degree of impact of changes in the ruble exchange rate on the oil market in the conditions of economic instability caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The statistical data for the calculation cover the time from January to May 2020. The importance of the further development of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of the dependence of the country's economy on external shocks is substantiated. The approach described in the article is considered by the authors based on the analysis of non-stationary time series. The transformation of the post-industrial economy indicates the duality of this process, which manifested itself both in expanding opportunities for the development of the world economic system and in the emergence of new factors of its instability. The main factors complicating its development include the volatility of world prices, the growth of protectionism, the spread of trade wars, the coronavirus pandemic.