Russian oil transport targeted for invasion of Ukraine

The Treasury on Tuesday issued new guidance on sea transport of Russian oil ahead of a planned price cap in early December.

The guidance, which complements the UK’s newly released guidelines, outlines how US service providers can continue to carry Russian sea oil shipped before 5 Australia.

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This so-called Price Gap Coalition aims to deprive Russia of a source of funding to continue its war against Ukraine.

A senior Finance Ministry official told reporters on Tuesday that the ministry expects other coalition countries to release similar guidance to implement the price gap policy in the coming days.

“We are taking these steps to make it as easy as possible for market participants to implement the price cap policy from December 5, in line with the coalition’s goals of allowing the Russians to limit (in)flow from foreign countries oil while reducing the Kremlin’s revenues. ‘ said the officer.

Shipping and customs clearance are among several services covered by an executive order dealing with the transportation of Russian oil by sea.

The guidelines state that service providers will not be financially penalized for transporting Russian-origin crude oil that is loaded and shipped before 12:01 a.m. ET on December 5 and unloaded at the destination port before 12:01 a.m. ET on January 19.

The guidance also outlines a “safe haven” from enforcement for providers who follow a record-keeping and attestation process showing that the oil was purchased at or below the price cap.

Russian oil imports are banned from the US under the directive, which takes effect on December 5.

Treasury Department officials said they had already seen evidence of the product being diverted from the US and European markets, which are no longer in the market for Russian oil.

“I think the latest count at this point put less than 90,000 barrels of oil into Europe,” an official said.

Russian oil production is set to drop to 1.4 million barrels a day by next year.

The Price Cap Coalition has yet to decide how high to cap the price of oil, but the cap will be set after a “technical exercise” being conducted by the Coalition under guidance.

The decision will be made “in the coming days,” a senior Treasury official said.