US believes introduced cap already drove Russian oil prices down

The US assesses that the newly implemented price cap on Russian seaborne oil has already had an effect on the country’s generated revenues.

US State Department Spokesman Ned Price noted on this during a press briefing on December 12, as published on the department’s website.

“Even before [the price cap] went into effect, the price of Russian oil was reduced as a result of the promise of the oil cap”, Price said, answering a question by a reporter.

“We have sought to limit the revenue-making ability of the Kremlin. We’ve put in place a number of steps, including on December 5th, a week ago now, putting into place the price cap on the export of seaborne Russian oil”, the spokesperson said.

He further stated the US government’s position that they “do not think that countries should be deepening their economic ties with Russia at a time of its brutal aggression against the people of Ukraine”.

Price noted, that even for countries that are not formally part of the oil cap, the cap has the effect of depressing the price of Russian oil.

“So whether countries are formally part of the price cap or not, we encourage them to take advantage of the implications of the price cap when it comes to the price of Russian oil, which in turn will deprive the Russians of revenue they would otherwise accrue from those sales”, the department official said.