Kremlin says it hasn’t seen cases of oil price caps

MOSCOW -The Kremlin said on Wednesday it had not yet seen any cases of price caps on Russian oil imposed by the West last month, in comments about possible losses from such measures.

Some analysts have previously said that the caps will have little immediate impact on the oil revenues that Moscow is currently earning.

Currently, Russian flagship Urals crude blend, is traded below the price cap level of $60 per barrel, imposed by the West as part of the sanctions against Moscow over its military actions in Ukraine.

“As far as the losses are concerned, no one has especially seen the caps yet,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a daily briefing.

The price cap allows non-EU countries to continue importing seaborne Russian crude oil, but prohibits shipping, insurance and re-insurance companies from handling cargoes of Russian crude around the globe, unless it is sold for less than $60.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last month signed a decree that banned the supply of crude oil and oil products from Feb. 1 for five months to nations that abide by the cap.

Russian oil traditionally sells at a discount to international benchmarks, such as Brent. The discount has widened following the Western sanctions imposed over the conflict in Ukraine and now stands at some $25-$30 per barrel to dated Brent.

Peskov also said that Russia would do everything to protect itself from plans by the Group of Seven (G7) leading economies to impose two sets of price caps on Russian oil products.

A G7 official said on Tuesday that the coalition would seek to set two price caps on Russian refined products in February, one for products trading at a premium to crude oil and the other for those trading at a discount.