Outside price cap
\nIndia is now Russia\u2019s largest oil customer other than China
\n NEW DELHI
\nThe United States is happy for India to continue buying as much Russian oil as it wants, including at prices above a G7-imposed price cap mechanism, if it steers clear of Western insurance, finance and maritime services bound by the cap, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Friday.
\nThe cap would still drive global oil prices lower while curbing Russia\u2019s revenues, Yellen said in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of a conference on deepening U.S.-Indian economic ties. Russia will not be able to sell as much oil as it does now once the European Union halts imports without resorting to the capped price or significant discounts from current prices, Yellen added.
\n\u201cRussia is going to find it very difficult to continue shipping as much oil as they have done when the EU stops buying Russian oil,\u201d Yellen said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to be heavily in search of buyers. And many buyers are reliant on Western services.\u201d
\nIndia is now Russia\u2019s largest oil customer other than China.
\nFinal details of the price cap to be imposed by wealthy G7 democracies and Australia are still coming together ahead of a Dec. 5 deadline.
\nThe existence of the cap would give India, China and other major buyers of Russian crude leverage to push down the price they pay to Moscow, Yellen said. Russian oil \u201cis going to be selling at bargain prices and we\u2019re happy to have India get that bargain or Africa or China. It\u2019s fine,\u201d Yellen added.
\nYellen told Reuters that India and private Indian oil companies \u201ccan also purchase oil at any price they want as long as they don\u2019t use these Western services and they find other services. And either way is fine.\u201d
\nThe cap is intended to cut Russia\u2019s oil revenues while keeping Russian crude on the market by denying insurance, maritime services and finance provided by the Western allies for tanker cargoes priced above a fixed dollar-per barrel cap. A historical Russian Urals crude average of $63-64 a barrel could form an upper limit.
\nThe cap is a concept promoted by the United States since the EU first laid out plans in May for an embargo on Russian oil to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Outside price cap India is now Russia\u2019s largest oil customer other than China NEW DELHI The United States is happy for India to continue buying as much Russian oil as it wants, including at prices above a G7-imposed price cap mechanism, if it steers clear of Western insurance, finance and maritime services bound by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294906,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-294887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n