The Ministry of Energy assessed the actions of the G7 on Russian oil prices

VLADIVOSTOK, 7 Sep — PRIME. The Russian Ministry of Energy considers the attempts of the G7 countries to set a limit on the price of Russian oil as a tax on the world economy, said First Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin.

On September 2, the finance ministers of the G7 countries (Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, the USA, France and Japan) confirmed their intention to impose price restrictions on Russian oil as part of expanding the range of their sanctions. Russian representatives warned in response that countries that would apply the limits would be left without oil exports from Russia. In addition, the European Commission plans to discuss on Friday the price limit for gas imported from Russia.

As Sorokin noted, Russia has no problems with the deployment of its energy resources, since the world market is arranged in such a way that if Russian supplies to Europe are stopped, then this vacuum will be filled by other oil, thereby freeing up other markets for Russia. But this will lead to inefficient supply chains.

“The actions of the G7 are essentially a dues and a tax on the entire world economy, because they force them to break the logical chains that have been built for decades,” Sorokin said in an interview with Izvestia.

“If earlier the goods were delivered to the consumer in Europe in 10 days, now it will have to be delivered within 30-50 days to other markets. That is, the actions of populist politicians lead to the fact that the tanker, instead of being involved in round-trip flight, 80-100 will be involved. Someone will pay for it, and these will be citizens of the whole world, but first of all, of countries that are trying to influence the economy in this way,” the deputy minister continued.

Oil production in Russia is stable at about 10 million barrels per day, and the Ministry of Energy expects to maintain this figure. The ministry is starting from the fact that the price of Urals will be in the range of $70-90 per barrel “in some foreseeable future.” “This can change very quickly, but we are competitive at this price, at a lower price and of course at a higher price,” he noted, adding that the situation with gas is generally similar.