Oil price cap looks set to keep Russian oil flowing even as war continues

Lavrov said the cap was irrelevant, the strongest hint yet of a possible softening. With such a generous cap, buyers and sellers can easily claim it's just business as usual

The Group of Seven is set to impose a price cap on Russian oil that’s well above where it now trades. If there was ever any doubt what the premise of the cap was, it’s now clear: the US and its allies want Russia’s crude to keep flowing.

European Union ambassadors backed limiting the price of Russian oil, a key source of income for President Vladimir Putin’s war machine, at $60 a barrel after fraught talks that dragged into the night more than once. Crucially, that’s above the $50 that Russia’s flagship Urals grade already trades at, according to data