G7 to hold off revising Russian oil price cap this week - EU officials

Some EU countries including Poland have sought to lower the G7 price cap level to further restrict the revenue Moscow can use to fund its war in Ukraine. The cap on Russian seaborne crude exports was set at $60 per barrel, a level designed to sit below the market price and therefore curb the revenue Moscow can receive from selling oil, while keeping it flowing to avoid a global supply shock.

Group of Seven Nations are not likely to revise a price cap on Russian oil this week, two European Union officials and one official from a coalition member told Reuters on Monday.

The G7 was due in mid-March to revise the price cap put in place in December, but the officials said EU countries' ambassadors were told by the European Commission over the weekend there is no appetite among the G7 for an imminent review. Some EU countries including Poland have sought to lower the G7 price cap level to further restrict the revenue Moscow can use to fund its war in Ukraine.

The cap on Russian seaborne crude exports was set at $60 per barrel, a level designed to sit below the market price and therefore curb the revenue Moscow can receive from selling oil, while keeping it flowing to avoid a global supply shock. "We have always reserved the right to support future changes to the price cap levels to meet our dual goals, should market and economic conditions warrant," an official from a coalition member country said on condition of anonymity.

Brent crude oil was trading at around $73 per barrel on Monday. The G7 stance shared with EU countries was first reported by Bloomberg News on Monday. The G7 measure bans companies from providing transportation, insurance and financing services for Russian crude oil and oil products if they are sold at a price above the cap.

In addition, the 27-country European Union halted its own imports of Russian crude oil delivered by sea from Dec. 5. The United States and Britain have also imposed restrictions on Russian oil imports. Russia’s revenues from oil and gas exports dropped by nearly 40% in January as a result of price caps and Western sanctions, the International Energy Agency said last month.

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