Why the US wants to limit the price of oil: “That would immediately destroy Putin”

The twenty-seven states ofEuropean Union reached an agreement on ceiling on the price of Russian oil: is fixed at 60 dollars per barrel. This is yet another move, according to Group of Seven and Australia allies, to deprive Russia of one of the main sources of funding for the war against Ukraine.

“The EU agreement on the oil price ceiling, coordinated with the G7 and other partners, will significantly reduce Russia’s revenues – said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – will help us to stabilize global energy prices, to the benefit of emerging economies around the world, and will be adjustable over time so that we can react to market developments.

The cap, therefore, prevents countries from paying more than $60 a barrel for maritime exports of Russian oil. It should go into effect from December 5th. In particular, the measure will prohibit companies from providing services that allow the transport and insurance of Russian oil beyond the ceiling established to limit the revenue Moscow earns from its supplies to countries such as China or India.

An announcement about ‘black gold’ received “favourably” by the US. US Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellenhe said the deal would limit Putin’s “main source of income to his own illegal war in ukrainelimiting the income you are using to fund your brutal invasionpreserving the stability of global energy supplies”.

The price cap was proposed in September by the group of G7 nations (US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and EU) in an attempt to hit the odds of fly to finance the war in Ukraine. The European Union approved it after convincing Poland to support it: it leaked that the EU wanted to set the limit at US$ 65-70, a hypothesis rejected by Lithuania, Estonia and Warsaw precisely because it was “too high”. Poland announced its support after being assured that the cap would be kept at 5% below the market rate.

“Crippling the energy revenues of Russia it is the essence of stopping the Russian war machine,” said Prime Minister Kadja Kallas, who said he was “happy” to reduce the cap a few “dollars more” than previous proposals. While British Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the UK would not waver in its support and would continue to look for new ways to “block Putin’s funding streams”.