US Treasury: Washington’s allies are ready to introduce two price ceilings for petroleum products from Russia

The Price Cap Coalition, which includes the countries of the European Union, the G7 and Australia, agreed on the need to introduce two price ceilings for Russian oil products, follows from statementspublished on the US Treasury website.

Further steps to limit prices for petroleum products from the Russian Federation were discussed at a virtual meeting of deputy finance ministers, which was held by the deputy head of the US department, Wally Adeyemo. Its participants agreed on the need to introduce two price ceilings.

“One ceiling is for products that typically trade at a premium to crude oil, such as diesel or gasoline, and the other is for products that trade at a discount to crude oil, such as heating oil,” the statement said.

According to the countries of the coalition, the introduced measures help to achieve the goal, which is to limit the income of the Russian Federation from oil exports and stabilize world supplies of energy resources.

Reuters on January 10, citing a G7 representative also informedthat the coalition intends to set two price ceilings for Russian oil products in February.

“Covering the price of Russian oil products is more difficult than limiting the price of oil alone, because there are many oil products and their price often depends on where they are bought, not where they are produced,” the agency quoted an unnamed official as saying.

On December 3, 2022, the EU countries agreed on a price ceiling for Russian oil of $60 per barrel, which is expected to be reviewed every two months so that the ceiling level is 5% below the price of Urals. The restriction came into force on December 5, along with a ban on the supply of Russian oil by sea to the EU countries. For oil products, the restriction will come into effect on February 5. In addition to the EU countries, the G7 countries and Australia also joined the ceiling.

The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation reported that the Russian budget in January may receive less than 54.5 billion rubles. oil and gas revenues. President Vladimir Putin signed decree “On the application of special economic measures in the fuel and energy sector in connection with the establishment by some foreign states of the maximum price for Russian oil and oil products.”