The government will instruct Russian oil companies to ensure that in the event of further resale of oil, a price ceiling is not applied to it. This was reported on Monday, January 23, by the Kommersant newspaper, citing sources familiar with the draft resolution of the Cabinet.
“Russian legal entities and individuals supplying oil for export will not only be “obliged not to allow” the presence of a price limitation clause in contracts, but also “ensure monitoring of compliance by foreign buyers, including traders, agents” with the fulfillment of this requirement in the event further resale of Russian oil, ”the publication says.
According to the newspaper, the draft resolution was prepared by the Ministry of Energy and will be approved by the government in the near future.
It is noted that if monitoring reveals contracts with a ceiling price, companies must notify the Ministry of Energy and the Federal Customs Service (FCS) within five working days. Exporters will be required to send to the FCS contracts with the determination of the prices of goods, as well as a written statement that these documents do not contain references to the price ceiling.
In case of violation, the Federal Customs Service will be able to prohibit the supply of raw materials under such contracts until they are corrected. Fines or other penalties are not yet envisaged.
According to the publication, every month the Ministry of Energy will request data from exporters on the terms of their contracts and, based on this information, prepare quarterly reports to the relevant interdepartmental working group.
On December 5, an embargo on oil supplied by sea from Russia to the EU came into force. The EU countries have set an adjustable ceiling on the cost of seaborne oil from Russia at $60 per barrel. It is assumed that from February 5, the European embargo on the import of Russian oil products delivered by sea will come into effect.
On December 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on retaliatory measures, according to which the supply of oil and oil products to foreign legal entities and individuals is prohibited, provided that the contracts for these supplies directly or indirectly provide for the use of a price cap mechanism.
Later, on January 20, the US Treasury Department announced that supporters of limiting prices for resources from the Russian Federation agreed to introduce two ceilings on oil prices, depending on the category of petroleum products. It was noted that this issue was brought up for discussion in the framework of a virtual meeting of the Deputy head of the US Treasury, Adewale Adeyemo, with foreign colleagues.
Moscow has repeatedly spoken about the boomerang effect of anti-Russian sanctions. On December 15, 2022, Putin stressed that Europe, trying to hit Russia economically, first of all harmed itself, and anti-Russian sanctions caused a jump in inflation in Europe.
