The countries of the European Union reached an agreement this Friday (2) to limit the price of Russian oil to a ceiling of US$ 60 per barrel, as part of the retaliation against the Russia agreed with the G7 due to the war against Ukraine, informed diplomatic sources.
The limit, however, does not directly affect the EU bloc, which from next Monday will apply an embargo total imports of oil from Russia, except what Hungary buys by pipeline.
However, the measure will prohibit European shipping companies from transporting Russian oil to other countries if it is sold at a price higher than established.
The new political agreement ensures that if the market price falls below US$ 60 per barrel, the limit will be updated so as to be at least 5% below the market price.
With this, Poland lifted the veto it had maintained for the last ten days, as it wanted the maximum limit agreed between the EU countries to price was considerably lower than the US$ 65 set by the G7.
On the other hand, Greece, Malta and Cyprus wanted the price to be higher, so as not to harm the business of its shipping companies, which transport a large part of the oil that Russia sends out of its borders.
In addition, the cap on Russian oil means prohibiting insurance and reinsurance, as well as like other financial services, on all ships that carry oil purchased at a price higher than the maximum limit, which in practice will make it difficult to acquire or transport the oil itself.
In exchange for unblocking the agreement , Poland assured the commitment of its European partners to accelerate the ninth package of sanctions against Moscow.
The agreement signed this Friday, at a political level, will have to be formally adopted in the coming days.
