The majority of G7 countries are ready to lower the Russian oil price cap even without US
Four sources with knowledge of the situation said that most countries in the Group of Seven are willing to lower the G7 cap on Russian oil if the U.S. president Donald Trump opts out.
The G7 leaders will meet in Canada on June 15-17 to discuss the price caps first agreed upon in late 2022. The cap was intended to allow Russian oil
Since the fall of global oil prices, the European Union and Britain are pushing for a lower price.
Sources who refused to be identified said that the EU and Britain were ready to take the lead and to go it alone. They are backed by other European G7 nations and Canada.
The Europeans insist on a unanimous decision during the meeting, but they said that it's still unclear what will happen with the U.S. They said that the position of Japan is also uncertain.
"There's a push in Europe to lower the cap on oil prices to $45 instead of $60. Positive signals are coming from Canada, Britain, and perhaps the Japanese. One source said, "We will use the G7 in order to try and get the U.S. to join us."
The White House did not have a comment immediately. During the G7 Finance Ministers Meeting in the Canadian Rockies, last month, U.S. Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent remained unconvinced that there was a necessity to lower the cap.
However some U.S. Senators, such as Lindsay Graham who told reporters in recent weeks that he supported lowering the cap, may support the idea. Graham has proposed a new, hard-hitting set of Russia sanctions which could result in steep tariffs for buyers of Russian oil.
In its 18th package, the EU proposed to lower the price of oil to $45 per barrel. It could take weeks for the package to be approved by all member states.
Urals, the largest Russian export grade, is currently trading at a discount of around $10 per barrel to Brent Dated benchmark
Sources say Washington's buy-in is not necessary to lower the cap due to Britain's dominance of global shipping insurance and the EU influence on Western tanker fleets that adhere to rules.
However, the U.S. is important when it comes dollar-denominated oil payments and its banking system.
The EU, along with its Western allies, has been cracking down more and more on the shadow fleet of Russian tankers as well as other actors who are working to circumvent this cap.
Western allies are hoping that the pressure will bring more oil trading back under control. Rosneft, the state-owned Russian oil company, reported a 14.4% drop in profits for last year. (Reporting and editing by Jan Harvey; Additional reporting in Washington by Jarrett Renshaw)
(source: Reuters)
