The West will extend price limits on other Russian oil products
The gap between Russian and international oil benchmarks is widening
The price cap imposed on Russian oil shipments appears to be starting to have an impact on the country's declining revenues, US Treasury officials said.
G7 countries, Australia and the European Union (EU) have put a $60 per barrel cap on seaborne Russian oil sales on December 5, 2022.
In fact, that is not enough, the coalition is said to extend the price limit on its oil products such as petrol and diesel on February 5.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, a senior Treasury official said Russia was losing a lot of money every day because of the imposed limits.
He also said that losing every dollar in his income would prevent Russia from investing in financing its war in Ukraine.
It points to the widening gap between Russia's oil benchmark and international Brent trading to get a partial picture of how Moscow's earnings are affected.
Russian Urals-grade crude for delivery to Europe was quoted at about $53.43 on Wednesday compared with Brent crude, which was trading around $82 a barrel.
Separately, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said the country's oil producers had no difficulty finding buyers despite Western sanctions and imposed price caps.
However, he admitted that the main problem for Russian oil is the widespread discount to international benchmarks and rising transport costs.
