Russian oil has begun to be transported to India by tankers insured by Western companies, in what could be the first sign that Moscow has backed away from its initial threats not to sell oil at all at the G7 ceiling price.
This is reported by the Financial Times.
According to the limit price introduced by the countries of the "Group of Seven", buyers of Russian oil can use the brokerage and insurance services of Western agents only on the condition that this oil is purchased no more expensive than 60 dollars per barrel.
The publication analyzed data on supplies from the Kpler company, from which it follows that after December 5, Russian crude oil was loaded onto at least seven tankers insured by Western companies. They include only vessels for which there is certainty that this oil is not from Kazakhstan. The publication also checked that all tankers have Western insurance.
In total, these seven tankers are transporting about 5 million barrels of crude oil and indicated the point of arrival in India, which after February 24 became one of the largest buyers of Russian oil.
In a comment, the Singaporean operator of one of the tankers said that he has assurances from partners that this cargo meets the requirements according to the limit price for oil. The owners of the remaining six did not provide comments.
As you know, the Kremlin has previously stated that Russia will not sell oil to countries that will comply with the conditions for limiting gas prices. At the same time, Russia stated that most of the oil is already sold at a price equal to or below the marginal price.
It will be recalled that at the beginning of December, the countries of the G7 group announced that they agreed to set a "price ceiling" for oil exported from the Russian Federation by sea at the level of $60 per barrel.
The functioning of the limit price mechanism will be reviewed every two months in order to respond to the development of the market situation, and will be set at a level at least 5% below the average market price for Russian oil and oil products, calculated on the basis of data from the International Energy Agency.