The US urged global traders to trade oil from Russia, but within the price ceiling

Alexey Belogoryev, Deputy Principal Director on Energy Studies of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to Business FM on the purpose of the US Treasury's call to Western traders not to be afraid of participating in the Russian oil trade:

“Western experts and politicians have strong suspicions that Russian companies, that is, oil suppliers, control a significant part of this trading. Accordingly, despite the sharp drop in prices for Urals at the port of shipment in the Baltic Sea, in the Black Sea, which is fixed by the pricing agency, in fact, Russian suppliers can receive quite large incomes already outside the jurisdiction of Russia due to the control of freight and trading. Most likely, the United States would like to change this situation and seize the initiative, return part of the supplies to its control zone, transferring them to large Western companies. It is unlikely that US efforts will lead to anything, rather, on the contrary, we will see fewer transactions and deliveries that are carried out with the help of companies that remain on the radar of Western regulators, and more transactions will go into the shadows, as first of all, Russian suppliers are interested in this, and importers themselves too.”