The ambassadors of the European Union are close to agreeing on the 18th package of sanctions against Russia, which provides for a reduction of the maximum price for Russian oil by 15% of the market value. About this informs Reuters.
The main points of the package were agreed during the meeting on July 13, but one of the EU member states still expresses a technical reservation about the new price cap mechanism. Slovakia is pushing for compensation or exclusion from the plan to phase out Russian energy sources under the EU’s RePower program in exchange for supporting the sanctions package.
It is expected that the final agreement will be reached on July 14 – on the eve of the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the EU in Brussels, where the documents can be formally approved. An agreement was also reached on the introduction of a dynamic pricing mechanism. According to the proposal of the European Commission from July 11, the new price limit will be 15% below the average market price of crude oil for the last three months.
The starting level will be approximately $47 per barrel, calculated on the basis of the average price of Russian oil over the last 22 weeks, taking into account a discount of 15%. In the future, the price is planned to be revised every six months, instead of quarterly, as previously proposed.
Slovakia, which until recently delayed approval of the document, is still waiting for guarantees from the European Commission regarding its concerns about the gradual cessation of Russian gas supplies, but has agreed to the proposed sanctions, the sources said. Unanimity of all EU member states is required to make a decision.
The new package will also include a reference to a Russian oil refinery in India, two banks from China and a system to control the registration of ships’ flags. Russia, according to the investigation, used foreign flags to hide vessels and tankers involved in the shadow transportation of oil.
It will be recalled that in December 2022, the G7 introduced a maximum price for the price of Russian oil in the amount of $60 per barrel. Due to the decrease in market prices, its influence weakened, so the EU together with Great Britain initiated the lowering of the threshold, which the European Commission announced at the beginning of June.
