G7 May Manipulate Oil Price To Punish Russia

Plan Will Let Moscow Sell Oil To World But Will Sharply Limit Price

Krun (Germany): Struggling to choke off the revenue that enables Russia to finance its invasion of Ukraine, and hoping to shield consumers at home from the war's economic pain, leaders of the G7 nations on Monday moved close to embracing an aggressive but untried plan to manipulate the price of oil, the largest commodity market in the world. The plan which would allow Russia to keep selling oil to the world but would sharply limit the price is an acknowledgment that the embargoes the US and allies swiftly imposed on Moscow's lucrative energy exports have not dented Russian oil revenues. And they have driven up gasoline and other fuel prices, prompting consumer backlash in the US and Europe.

At the same time, the broader economic sanctions the West put in place to try to cripple the Russian economy have so far fallen short, though economists forecast that it will shrink almost 10% this year. The rouble has fully recovered from sharp early losses.