The EU leadership has reportedly settled on a $60-a-barrel cap for Russian oil prices — but now it has to get its members to agree
- The EU will ask its members to cap Russian oil at $60 a barrel, according to the Wall Street Journal.
- The trading bloc is trying to hit Russian oil revenues as the war in Ukraine drags on.
The European Union's leadership has decided on a $60-per-barrel price cap for Russian crude oil – and now needs to get its members as well as the G7 group of countries to back the plan, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The price limit, if finalized, would take effect from December 5, according to the report.
The Russian Urals oil benchmark traded at $66.54 a barrel at last check. That's a significant discount to Brent crude, which was priced at $88.91, and WTI crude, which changed hands for $82.82.
The EU wants to cap the price of Russia's oil to curb the country's revenues from energy exports, undermining Moscow's chief source of funding for the ongoing war in Ukraine.
But the trading bloc will be able to implement those sanctions only with the support of its 27 members and the G7 group of countries – which includes the non-EU members Canada, Japan, and the US.
The EU's efforts to forge a consensus on such a price ceiling have previously been frustrated by Poland, Estonia and Lithuania, who have all called for Russian oil to be capped at $30 a barrel.