EU top diplomat supports lowering price cap on Russian oil
Photo: Kaja Kallas (Getty Images)
Ukraine's allies must work to lower the maximum price for Russian oil to deprive the Kremlin of revenue to fund its war against Ukraine, Bloomberg reports, citing European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas.
"I'm really pushing for this to be lowered because it has a clear effect," Kallas said.
According to the EU top diplomat, "Russia is struggling because their national fund is depleted, and they don't get the same revenues that they did from oil and gas."
"But there is still room that we can use. Definitely, countries need to discuss that," Kallas added.
The "Group of Seven" countries are exploring ways to strengthen the price cap on Russian oil because they want to deprive Moscow of the ability to finance its war against Ukraine.
The options being considered range from replacing the mechanism entirely with a full ban on refining Russian crude oil, to lowering the price cap from the current $60 to approximately $40, sources said, though there is currently no consensus on how to proceed.
As reported earlier, six EU countries have called on the European Commission to lower the price cap set by the G7 countries for Russian oil to $60 per barrel.
The price cap for G7 countries was set at $60 per barrel for Russian crude oil, while the cap for refined products was set at a maximum of $100 per barrel for premium products and $45 per barrel for other refined products.
These price limits have not changed since December 2022 and February 2023, when they were introduced, while the prices of Russian crude oil on the market have generally been lower than this level in 2023 and 2024.
