The European Commission has determined a "discount" on Russian oil

The European Commission has proposed to set a floating price ceiling for Russian oil "at a discount" of 15% to the average market price over the past three months. Approximately at this level, Russian oil is traded.

The European Commission has proposed to set a floating price ceiling for Russian oil 15% below the average market price of oil over the past three months. It is reported by Reuters, citing sources.

With the current value of the benchmark Brent at $ 68, the cost of Urals should be about $ 58. That's how much Russian oil is on the market.

While there is a fixed ceiling that The EU and the G7 countries set it back on December 5, 2022, at $ 60 per barrel. The West does not want to reduce the supply of Russian oil, but seeks to reduce Russia's revenues.

"The new floating bar will be reviewed in accordance with the average price every three months," one of the diplomats told the agency.

The technical details of the proposal still need to be discussed, but this idea seems to have dispelled the fears of the EU maritime states — Malta, Greece and Cyprus, the source told Reuters. Shipowners of these countries actively transport Russian oil, but they are forbidden to do so if the cargo costs more than the price ceiling.

Also, future sanctions are offset by the US refusal to join the revision of the price ceiling.

Earlier, the European Commission proposed to revise the ceiling and lower it to $ 45, but after a 12-day war between Israel and Iran, they abandoned the idea.

"In reality, it doesn't matter what the price ceiling is. It is important whether it exists or not. $60, $ 40-70, $45 — if there was no ceiling, it would be possible to use other vessels besides the shadow fleet, and then the cost of transporting Russian oil would be lower. But since it exists, we will be able to export all our oil exclusively by the shadow fleet. Therefore, I think that there will be no effect, the fleet is enough to export all volumes," says Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at the National Economic Development Fund and an expert at the Financial University under the government of Russia.

The expert notes that the current ceiling should have been revised every few months, but this was not done.