G7 finance ministers to discuss limiting price limit for Russian oil

MOSCOW, Sep 2 — PRIME. The finance ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) countries at a meeting on Friday will present a plan discussed since the summer that provides for limiting the price limit for Russian oil.

As the Wall Street Journal wrote earlier, the meeting will be held in a virtual format. According to sources of the publication, the plan also involves the establishment of a “ceiling” of prices for petroleum products from the Russian Federation. At this stage, officials in the G7 countries are trying to resolve “several difficult questions” regarding how exactly the price cap will work, and the final mechanism is scheduled to be presented by December, the interlocutors noted.

On Wednesday, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, at a meeting in Washington with her British counterpart Nadeem Zahavi, said that members of the Group of Seven had made significant progress in limiting the price of Russian oil. At the same time, the authors of this initiative, as pointed out by the Wall Street Journal and a number of other influential media, fear that such tough steps could force the Russian Federation to cut oil production, which would lead to an even greater increase in world energy prices.

At the same time, in their official statements, Washington officials are doing their best not to show concern on this score. Thus, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, anticipating the virtual meeting, said at a briefing that the United States considers setting a “ceiling” for Russian oil prices the best way to reduce Moscow’s profits from its sale – and at the same time global prices for “black gold” .

The head of the US Treasury, Yellen, in turn, believes that the introduction of a price ceiling will not only cut Russia’s revenues, which, according to the minister, are necessary to continue the special military operation in Ukraine, but also support reliable supplies to the world market and help fight inflation.

The United States and the European Union themselves had previously imposed an embargo on the purchase of Russian oil, thereby provoking a rise in prices and allowing Moscow to redirect exports of raw materials to other markets. Against the backdrop of these events, the G7 countries at the summit in June agreed to consider the possibility of limiting oil prices in the Russian Federation. Since then, they have been trying to win over China and India, big buyers of Russian fuel, which they now get at a discount.

Moscow, meanwhile, criticized the idea of ​​establishing a “ceiling” on oil prices, calling it “absurd.” As Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak said on Friday, such restrictions will lead to destabilization of the industry and “completely destroy” the oil market, which will have to be paid, first of all, by European and American consumers.

At the same time, Novak stressed that, if the G7 plan is approved, Russia will stop the supply of oil and oil products to unfriendly countries, since Moscow does not intend to work on non-market conditions.