Moscow mulls options over oil price cap

MOSCOW — Russia is considering three options, including banning oil sales to some countries and setting maximum discounts at which it would sell its crude, to counter the price cap imposed by Western powers, a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The price cap of $60 per barrel, set by the G7 nations, the European Union and Australia, came into force on Monday as they try to limit Russia's economy.

In response, Moscow is considering banning oil sales to all countries that supported the restriction, business daily Vedomosti reported, citing two unidentified sources close to the government.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Wednesday that Russia has been assessing different options regarding how to respond to caps on its oil price, RIA news agency reported.

That option would also ban sales through intermediaries, not only directly from Russia. The second option would prohibit exports under contracts that include the price ceiling condition, regardless of which country is the recipient.

The third option would set maximum discounts of Russia's Urals crude to international benchmarks for sales to be allowed, the daily reported.

Bloomberg reported that Russia was also considering setting a price floor for its international oil sales.

According to industry sources, at least 20 oil tankers queuing off Turkiye face more delays to cross from Russia's Black Sea ports to the Mediterranean as operators race to adhere to new Turkish insurance rules added ahead of the Western price cap.

The disruption in tanker traffic was not the result of the price cap on Russian oil agreed by a coalition of G7 countries and Australia, an official with the group said.

The price cap of $60 a barrel was imposed at a level above the current price for Urals crude from Russia, the world's second largest oil exporter.

Third drone strike

Meanwhile, a third Russian airfield was set ablaze by a drone strike, a day after Ukraine demonstrated an apparent new ability to penetrate hundreds of kilometers into Russia with attacks on two air bases, Reuters reported.

Officials in the Russian city of Kursk, about 90 kilometers north of the Ukraine border, released pictures of black smoke above an airfield after the latest strike on Tuesday. The governor said an oil storage tank had gone up in flames, but there were no casualties.

On Monday, Russia said it had been hit hundreds of kilometers from Ukraine by Soviet-era drones — at Engels Air Force Base, home to its strategic bomber fleet, and in Ryazan, a few hours' drive from Moscow.

Ukraine did not directly claim responsibility for the strikes, but nonetheless celebrated them.

Late on Tuesday, sirens sounded on the territory of the airfield in Engels, Russian state-run news agencies reported, citing Yevgeny Shpolsky, first deputy of the Engels district administration.

In Washington, Secretary of State Antony Blinken repeated the United States' determination to provide Ukraine with equipment, while saying it had neither encouraged nor enabled the Ukrainians to strike inside Russia.

Lawmakers agreed to provide Kyiv at least $800 million in additional military assistance next year, according to an $858 billion defense policy bill unveiled on Tuesday.

On battlefields in eastern, northeastern and southern Ukraine, Russian forces kept up their shelling, the Ukrainian military said late on Tuesday.

Agencies Via Xinhua