US Eager to Limit Russian Oil Revenues

The US is undertaking “extremely active” discussions with EU countries to limit the revenue Russia can make by selling oil according to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday.

• To avoid an oil supply shock, the US is open to Russian oil still hitting the market but wants to limit the revenue generated when doing so. “What we want to do is keep Russian oil flowing into the global market to hold down global prices and try to avoid a spike that causes a worldwide recession and drives up oil prices,” Yellen said, "But absolutely the objective is to limit the revenue going to Russia."
• One of the methods touted is to group buyers together and introduce some form of price cap or introduce tariffs.
• Introducing caps and tariffs is expected to be very difficult to manage and could be seen as politically divisive.