SINGAPORE: The Group of Seven’s price cap on Russian oil is still effective in limiting Russia’s revenue and oil supplies, a senior US Treasury official told the Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference (APPEC) conference on Monday.
The group will stay nimble and continue to watch the market, said Eric Van Nostrand, assistant secretary for economic policy at the US Department of the Treasury.
The remarks came despite market data showing that most Russian crude and fuel exports from the Baltic and Black Sea regions are sold above the price cap.
“Over the course of the past year, we feel very good about where we are,” Van Nostrand said, with respect to the price cap limiting Russia’s revenue while keeping oil supplies flowing.
“We want to extract that natural resource (out of Russia)… but to do so while limiting Putin’s revenue as best we can,” he added. There is meanwhile no concrete plan to raise the Russian oil price cap, he said.
The G7, the European Union and Australia imposed the $60 per barrel cap last December on sea-borne exports of Russian crude in retaliation for Russia’s war on Ukraine.
It bans Western companies from providing services such as transportation, insurance and financing for the oil sold above the cap, even as some market participants remained skeptical about the effectiveness of the price cap.
Van Nostrand said last month that the average reported price for Russian Urals had hovered around $60 a barrel, which was the level of the crude price cap.
This came despite widespread expectations that the price would rise further in the second half of 2023 and despite recent price increases.