US signals harder push on enforcement of Russia oil price cap

The US will ramp up enforcement of the price cap on Russian oil exports, a senior Treasury official said on Wednesday. 

Since October, the US and its allies have been imposing sanctions on entities deemed to have breached the cap on Russian crude exports, which came into effect late last year and was set at $60 a barrel. For much of the summer prices breached that threshold. 

Now US officials say that they’ve moved into a second phase of the cap regime, which will focus more tightly on enforcement. That will include an emphasis on compliance by service providers in G-7 nations that continue to help in the transportation of Russian oil, ensuring they remain within the cap. 

Crude prices had been in retreat until the diversion of shipping away from the Red Sea in recent days. That prior drop, and a lack of price reaction to recent sanctions imposed by the US, have helped to strengthen the Biden administration’s confidence that it can push harder on enforcing the cap, the official said.